Probably not a fair comparison, because I get a nice pension. So finances have not been a problem for me.

I retired at Age 55, five years ago, and have enjoyed every minute of it. As someone here said - No more putting up with corporate BS results in a LOT less stress. When someone asks what I do all day, I tell them whatever I want and whenever I want. However, as it turned out, I DON'T do the activities that I thought I'd be doing. Because of a bad back, I had to give up golf completely.

If someone had told me that I'd still be happy after that, I would have thought that they were crazy. But I've substituted other, more fulfilling pursuits - namely digital photography and I've recently taken up the piano (after having not played since I was 13 or so). I should also add that I ride my bike in summer and ski in winter, to stay active.

My recommendation for someone considering retirement (early or not) are:

1. Make sure that your financial house is in order. Living with money worries will not make for a happy retirement.

2. Make sure that you have a hobby or two that will keep you busy. There's only so much daytime TV one can take. (Actually, there's almots NO daytime TV that's worth watching IMO).

3. Find something to keep you physically active as well.

If you can accomplish all 3, I say go for it. I highly recommend it!

Good Luck!

Bert

Kawai VPC1 MIDI Controller; Asus A53E Laptop running Windows 7 - 64 bit; BIAB 2017 UltraPlusPak (upgraded from 2014 EverythingPak), running from Laptop's Hard Drive.