[Penny]

Do you know of anybody who played their cards so that they could actually retire early? The only people I know of were forced into it and got laid off sooner than they intended to quit working.

[randles]

Very few and they all were quite lucky as far as I am concerned. One was in the medial field and the other was retired from the US military who had a very nice retirement plan.

[jason]

The only person I know that took an "early retirement" was forced to do so because of health.

I know some people who have worked for UPS for their 25-30 years and have talked about leaving with their pension and getting a job elsewhere until they hit 65. But to be honest, I see a lot of those older drivers spend as quickly as they make, and therefor will always say one more year and they will "retire".

[carla]

I see people like my mother who moved out of this country to another one in order to work there and retire earlier, then plans to move back here and work again even part time to reach our retire age. I have yet to see anyone I know take a true early retirement though.

[Shannon]

My grandparents did, but they have always been frugal and never intended to live off of social security. They have rental property and that brings in their monthly income.

[frugalgirl]

I know of some who worked for the government and retired early. I've noticed that some people will call themselves "retired" but they might still work part-time or sporadically on short-term contract jobs.

[Mia28]

No one! It's sad too. My mom is retiring at the end of January but she will be 62 (to a lot that is early). I wish I learned to save more in the beginning so I could retire at 40.

[abbys2cents]

My cousin had an in-law who retired from one of the phone companies when they were only 40! I think he saved money like crazy and his employer matched the contributions. That can make a huge difference since you're basically doubling your money not counting the interest.

[randles]

I think unless you can do a job that you love, which has zero chance (or close to zero chance) of being interrupted in your lifetime, most people retire late rather than early.Its like a small chance to start with, very risky to try.

[bornsaver]

Look at all of these early retirees who are going back into the workforce. Of course, that's assuming they can find a job. With the interest rates so horrible (if you're a saver and not a spender), people who counted on their cash investments to generate income have taken an awful hit.