Joined the Navy as soon as I graduated High School, and made it a career.
At 38, I retired from the Navy, with a pension (believe it or not, my pension is more than what people on minimum wage make), full health care benefits and all the privileges that go with it.
I worked for a few years at various jobs, but after a while, when I figured out how to live decently on my retirement (got to the point of no bills, just stuff I have to buy like food and car insurance, but no car payment), decided to quit the rat race and just do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.
And, while the past 15 years or so have been pretty great not having anyone or any job to answer to, I'm actually thinking of getting a job just to have something to keep me occupied. I actually kinda miss the talks with co-workers and being responsible, but I will always keep the option open to stop working if I decide that I want to do something else.
Yeah.................being young enough to work and having a retirement bringing in cash is great. I have all the options I want if I want them.
And, if I want extra cash for something a bit outside my current budget, I can always do odd jobs to raise the money.