Been thinking about retirement lately, and the numbers between the US and Mexico are pretty interesting to compare.

So here's what I found out - the average US retirement age is sitting at 62 according to recent surveys. That's when people start pulling Social Security, though you don't get the full amount until later depending on when you were born. If you hit 67, you're looking at maximum benefits. Pretty straightforward system, but a lot of people still feel uncertain about whether it'll actually be there for them.

What caught my attention though is how differently things work south of the border. Mexico completely overhauled their pension system a few years back. Before 2019, it was based on what you contributed during your working years - similar concept to Social Security. Problem was, a huge chunk of Mexican workers operate in the informal economy and never paid into the system, so they got nothing.

In 2019 they switched it up. Now every Mexican citizen 65 and older gets a guaranteed minimum payment. Started at 2550 pesos every two months, jumped to 4800 pesos by 2023. Then just recently they passed new rules where retirees get benefits matching their final salary, capped at around 16,778 pesos monthly in 2024 dollars.

Here's the interesting part - those reforms actually changed when people retire. Before 2019, Mexican men averaged retiring at 67 and women at 64. But after the 2019 changes kicked in, by 2020 both groups started leaving the workforce about a year earlier on average.

It's a reminder that how governments structure retirement benefits actually shapes when people decide to step back from work. The US average retirement age of 62 versus Mexico's shifting numbers shows how policy directly impacts people's choices. Makes you think about what changes might be coming to our own system.