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We personally know of many people who retired too soon. Various mistakes were made from believing that living in a foreign country was almost free, to accepting a buy-out at age 57 and foregoing the pension, to just getting too anxious and not planning.
Sometimes it is best to just brute it out and wait. A mistake can be REALLY costly, psychologically.
I actually changed professions at age 60, and the newness helped me through the last 5 years. I went from self employed salesman to long haul truck driver. My sales field died and I just didn't feel like doing all that sales stuff over again. Always wanted to drive an 18 wheeler, anyway, so off I went.
Glad I got a chance to do it and glad I don't have to do it anymore......
Good to know that one can start doing long haul at 60. Plans A, B, C, D .... etc ....
Being that I was born during the 1960s, my FRA is 67. At that point, 70 (or in the case of my actual plan, 70-1/2+) will hit before I know it. So why not? .... the employment market and Earthly fate notwithstanding.
My actual plan is, 70-1/2 minimum, then eval the numbers (assets, tax forecast, etc, etc).
BTW - My Mom and Dad worked to 75.
Role models .... and maybe nature as well.
Both folks were in tech as their main line full time vocations.
Dad was in it until he was 72. Mom was in it until 70.
Dad's last patent was issued when he was 76. From 72 - 75 he had a second career teaching.
Mom also did a teaching second career from 70 - 75.
I retired very early by others' standards, but for me my stress level at work was off the charts and my number crunching revealed that we could definitely retire if we wanted to and moved to a lower COL state. We did that and things are working great. I can't imagine still being working, and I'm not even 60. 70 years old is way late to me to retire. Of course my mom passed at 65, and my older brothers are already having serious health problems (heart attacks at 52 and 55, extreme diabetes) and so I didn't really even imagine working past 60.
I got my last paycheck the same month as my first SS payment at 62. My wife retired as well and gets half of my SS amount per month. 45 years ago I moved back to NYC from the west coast for better opportunities. I always had an eye toward retirement and only worked for employers with a pension plan and a 401K. We are retired about 9 years. We sold our house and moved about 50 miles south of NYC into a small ranch house with a large lot. In a smaller house, in a quasi rural area, we can save a bit on utilities, car insurance, etc., and it's easier to maintain. RE tax is a bit higher but the NJ state income taxes are way lower so it's cheaper and easier to live here. Neither of us regrets retiring when we did and have not had any desire to go back to commuting and working. We always were liberal in our thinking and conservative in our spending. Although it seemed a bit scary at the time (with all those rediculous estimates of how much you needed to retire on) we have had no money problems. By the time I retired our house was paid for and we had zero debt, and have kept it that way. The simple rule of financial security is just to spend less than you make and save a little. We have been saving about 5% of our income for more than 3 decades and still do.
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