I turn 55 in a couple of weeks and find myself thinking an awful lot about it more and more. When I retired from the Army at 46, the situation was such that I likely could have stopped working and just lived carefully, but that's too young to retire so took on a fairly busy job that pays well and is rewarding for the most part. We've since bought a place out in the sticks which is great, but incurred debt I didn't have when I left the Army. Next year I'll be eligible for a small state pension from this job if I want to do it, gotta do some figuring to see how I could make that happen.