Americans Reveal Ideal Ages for Financial Milestones

NEW YORK – July 18, 2024 – Americans, on average, think the ideal age to retire is 61 years old and the ideal age to buy a first home is 28, according to a new Bankrate.com report which looks at the perceived optimal ages for various financial milestones. Additionally, U.S. adults indicate the best age to open a first credit card is 22, the right time to start saving for retirement is also 22 and the ideal time to buy or lease a first car is at 21.

Younger adults, especially Gen Xers (ages 38-53), are more bullish on the prospect of retiring early. The average ideal retirement age, as indicated by Gen Xers, is 60 years old, while Millennials (ages 18-37) come in a tick higher at 61 years old. Older Baby Boomers (ages 64-72) and the Silent Generation tend to be more conservative in their estimations (64 and 65 years old, respectively). Relatedly, 59% of Gen Xers think someone should ideally start saving for retirement by his or her 21^st birthday, which is 10 percentage points higher than everyone else.

“There is nothing wrong with having an aggressive retirement goal,” said Bankrate.com analyst Amanda Dixon. “However, if you’re striving to retire early, you need to start consistently setting aside money for the future right now. Time will be your greatest ally if you can get into the habit of saving money while you’re young.”

Millennials think you should open your first credit card earlier than older generations; nearly two-thirds (63%) believe you should ideally have a credit card before you turn 21, compared to 37% of those who are older. Millennials are also twice as likely as those who are older to say you should ideally buy or lease your first car prior to your 18^th birthday (14% vs. 7%).

Differences in opinion are prevalent between genders, as well. While a quarter of men think you should strive to buy your first home by the time you are 25 years old, just 12% of women say the same. Women also estimate the ideal age to retire as being two years later than men (62 vs. 60 years old).

Northeasterners seem to have a dissimilar perspective on many of these financial milestones than the rest of the country. For instance, Northeasterners, on average, think you should start saving for retirement the latest (24 years old) and indicate the oldest ideal age for retirement (63 years old). While more than half (54%) of the rest of the country believes someone should buy or lease their first car by the time they turn 21, that number drops to just 41% of Northeasterners. Those who live in the Northeast also have lower expectations for buying a first home than everyone else, including nearly 1 in 5 (18%) who thinks the right age is 35+ (twice as many as any other region).

This study was conducted for Bankrate via landline and cell phone by SSRS on its Omnibus survey platform. Interviews were conducted from June 27 – July 2, 2024 among a sample of 1,001 respondents. The margin of error for total respondents is +/- 3.77% at the 95% confidence level. SSRS Omnibus is a national, weekly, dual-frame bilingual telephone survey. All SSRS Omnibus data are weighted to represent the target population.

About Bankrate.com:

Bankrate.com provides consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. For over two decades, Bankrate.com has been a leading personal finance destination. The company offers award-winning editorial content, competitive rate information, and calculators and tools across multiple categories, including mortgages, deposits, credit cards, retirement, automobile loans and taxes. Bankrate aggregates rate information from over 4,800 institutions on more than 300 financial products. With coverage of over 600 local markets, Bankrate generates rate tables in all 50 U.S. states.