I retired early from running a daycare for over 20 years. I was just 50 but my motto was then "life is too short" to continue working that many hours, often 12 hour days. I have loved the freedom of not being gone to work all day and having time to do other things. (I do some marketing and sales on the side just to pay for trips and extras.) Little did I know what our last 7 months would be like!! It has been wonderful having the time to go to all of my husbands appointments and concentrate on him with research and diet. Would of been impossible if I was still working. Hopefully I'll have him retired in 5 years or maybe sooner so we can enjoy life at a slower rate.