Extreme early retirement thrills and spills
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After some very good luck with California real estate and in the stock market, I now live comfortably on well over $150,000 per year (including some nice depreciation allowances) and have a total net worth of several million dollars.

I live well, am very healthy and have a great social life. I play lots of tennis and enjoy ballroom dancing. I just returned from a three-week trip to China and Tibet. But I am sad that my late wife, who had a major role in reaching this level, died prematurely and was not able to enjoy all this with me.
-- Ray, San Jose, Calif.

Spending time with children
I retired at the age of 42, a year ago. To make up the difference in my income, I plan on working part time until my children are done with school, and then going back, hopefully to full time. I have a common law husband and three children. He is not retired.

The best part of being retired is being able to go to all of my children's events without losing sleep or being exhausted. I knew when I took the job with the New York City Police Department, I would be eligible to retire after serving 20 years or have the option to stay longer. However, the commute from Long Island to Brooklyn was an inconvenience, especially due to the cost of gas, and it is definitely a young person's, and still a good-old-boy's, job.

I have a pension and medical/dental and vision benefits. I worked for 20 years. I will need to make up some extra cash because my children are still young. I also would need to subsidize the benefits as well as fill in the time when they are at school.
-- Dorothy, New York

Finally being able to say 'I quit'
I retired at age 35 and two months. I had my own computer consulting company in Washington, D.C., for the final five years of my career. This was a small firm with a small number of targeted jobs that were quite lucrative.

I started aggressively investing at age 30 (when my school loans were paid off). By "aggressive" I mean using the amazing tax shelter available to self-employed folks, the Keogh. I put away the maximum allowable, which equaled almost 30 percent of my income, for five years. I must have chosen well, because the investments ballooned.

What triggered my retirement was my house burned to the ground and I almost died. The man who saved my life is now my husband. I have not worked since April 1998. I miss working and would like to do something meaningful again. We travel a great deal, so it would have to coalesce with that.