The average person might celebrate retirement with a vacation. John Glenn, on the other hand, celebrated his with a trip to outer space.
At 77, after announcing his retirement from the U.S. Senate, Glenn joined the space shuttle Discovery, returning to orbit 36 years after becoming the first American to circle the Earth. His late-life mission wasn’t a stunt. It was an expression of who he was and what he believed about meaning in the later chapters of life.
“If there is one thing I’ve learned in my years on this planet,” he once said, “it’s that the happiest people are ones who pursue meaning.”
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Of course, you don’t need to go to space to pursue a happy retirement. In fact, most retirees are already happy. A 2025 TIAA Institute review of retirement well-being found that over 90% of retirees report being “quite satisfied” or happy with their lives overall, despite common worries about money.
Percentage of respondents moderately or very satisfied with retirement, 1992 – 2020.
But when you dig deeper, the picture becomes far more nuanced. Not all happy retirees are happy in the same way. These statistics reveal why.
1. Retiring early isn’t always better
It’s easy to assume that the earlier the retirement, the happier the retiree. But the data suggests there’s a “sweet spot,” and missing it by retiring too early can actually lead to lower satisfaction if it wasn’t planned.
According to the 2024 MassMutual Retirement Happiness Study, Americans overwhelmingly view 63 as the ideal retirement age, even though the average American actually retires at 62.
That one-year difference matters. Retiring earlier than planned is often linked to involuntary reasons such as layoffs or health issues, and MassMutual found that while 67% of retirees say they’re happier, those who retired earlier than planned were significantly more likely to report feeling lonely or stressed.
2. Control matters more than age
A major reason early, unplanned retirees are less happy is that control over the exit is one of the strongest predictors of retirement well-being.
ProPublica research shows that 56% of workers over age 50 experience at least one involuntary job separation before they plan to retire. Researchers have also found that voluntary retirees have significantly higher life satisfaction scores than involuntary retirees. Essentially, a forced exit denies retirees the “mental runway” needed to build a new identity and routine, often leading to a dip rather than a bump in happiness.
In short, when you retire matters, but how you retire matters more.
3. The endless vacation myth
Many people dream of an endless vacation, but the happiest retirees aren’t the ones lounging around all day — they’re the ones doing something. SunLife’s 2025 Life Well Spent report, which surveyed over 2,000 adults age 50 and older, found that the happiest retirees spend 43 more minutes per week in nature and significantly less time watching TV than unhappy retirees.
Purpose also plays a powerful role. Retirees who volunteer are 64% more likely to report high levels of happiness. It’s not just altruism; it’s a hack for mental health, replacing the dopamine hit of “being needed” that work used to provide.
For some, the pursuit of purpose even leads them back into the workforce. A T. Rowe Price study found that about 20% of retirees eventually “unretire,” and nearly 45% return for social or emotional reasons, rather than financial necessity.
As one Age Wave survey discovered, 93% of retirees believe it’s important to feel useful in retirement, and 92% believe purpose is key to a successful retirement.
Purpose doesn’t have to mean working. It correlates with “doing” versus “viewing.” Happier retirees tend to have more core pursuits (hobbies like gardening, travel or pickleball) than unhappy retirees.
4. Who wins in retirement — men or women?
Research is mixed on whether men or women are ultimately happier in retirement. Overall, both experience a lift in life satisfaction upon entering retirement, and that satisfaction remains stable thereafter.
Some research finds that men tend to experience slightly higher gains in life satisfaction at retirement, especially when pension security and financial resources are strong. Other studies show that women often do just as well or better when non-financial factors are the focus, such as strong social networks, meaningful routines, purpose-driven hobbies, volunteer work and stable health.
Ultimately, researchers tend to find that happiness in retirement is less about gender and more about circumstances.
5. More money, more happiness? Yes, but with diminishing returns
Are wealthier retirees happier? Generally, yes. But the relationship between money and happiness isn’t linear.
One research paper found that happiness continues to increase “well beyond” an annual income of $500,000, although the impact of each additional dollar diminishes at higher income levels. There is no strict plateau, but the slope becomes shallower.
Debt, however, is a much clearer villain. The Employee Benefit Research Institute found that retirees with low assets, low savings and high levels of debt, including credit cards and medical bills, reported the lowest life-satisfaction scores, averaging 5.8 out of 10. That suggests debt is a stronger predictor of unhappiness than wealth is of happiness.
6. Retirement doesn’t guarantee “happily ever after” for couples
Married retirees tend to be significantly happier than unmarried ones. Research from the Institute for Family Studies indicates that being married is a stronger predictor of life satisfaction than income, age or race. Married adults over 50 are 17% more likely to say they are “thriving” than their single peers.
But retirement can strain relationships, too. The divorce rate for adults over 50 has tripled since 1990, and today 36% of all U.S. divorces involve couples over 50.
Divorce Rates by 10-Year Age Groups, 1990 and 2019
This “gray divorce” phenomenon can have severe financial implications. Women see their standard of living drop by 45% on average post-divorce, compared with 21% for men
7. The “U-curve” of happiness
Happiness follows a widely documented U-shaped curve, hitting its lowest point in the late 40s (roughly age 47-48) and rising steadily through the 60s and 70s.
Retirees in their 60s and 70s consistently report higher satisfaction than people in their 30s and 40s. However, the curve can dip again after age 75–80 as health issues overtake financial freedom as the dominant driver of well-being.
8. Health is wealth… and happiness
Retirement happiness can also get a lift by hitting the gym. MassMutual’s Retirement Happiness Study also found that 49% of retirees who are “much happier” in retirement cited taking care of their health before they retired as a key reason. Among that group, 70% rank exercise as a top activity, second only to spending time with loved ones.
9. A happy retirement is a work in progress
Research has found that happiness fluctuates; it’s a constant work in progress. One study concluded that happy people become more satisfied not simply because they feel better, but because they develop the resources to live well. Retirement may offer more opportunities for finding happiness, but it doesn’t mean happiness becomes automatic.
It’s the kind of job you can’t simply retire from.