[ian]

I do not know what normal or legal means.

I know people who have retired at 52. Others still working in their 70's. DB's are few and far between now however many existing one focus maximum benefits on years of service or a combination. not age. My DB was based on retirement at age 62. CPP can pay out from ages 60 to 70. OAS from 65-70.

For many there are only two parameters. When they can afford to retire and when they actually retire.

 

[ian]

I retired at 58/59. My father retired at 59.

So this was a 'normal' retirement age for me.

 

[ian]

The private DB pension that I belonged to paid out at age 55, albeit at a reduced amount. Full payout at 62. If you went before 62 the discount was either 5 percent/year or a reduced 3 percent/year based on service years plus age. Fully funded by the employer but only a 1 percent formula. Plus some optional employee/er matching add ons to pay for extras such as indexing, 100percent spouse, etc.

The employer changed the plan in 2000 to enhance the plan, to reflect earlier retirement, and provide optional matching for complementary enhancements.

They had to make significant additional payments to the DB during the mid 2000's to bring to plan up to a fully funded basis. Those who had the option of switching for DB to DC the the time of the 2000 plan enhancement and invested their commuted value did not do very well as I recall.