For me Retirement is a time to check things off my bucket list. I hope I stay healthy enough and live long enough and have enough money to get most of them done. So far so good.

A friend of mine had a younger brother who decided our system was backward; we should be allowed to "retire" for a few years in our 20's and then work a few extra years at the end of our career.

Retirement means different things to different people. Men in particular are wired to feel like they are doing something with meaning. It could be working for pay or working without pay, also known as volunteering. I think most of us would be quite happy if we could just have more time off, more flexible hours and more opportunities to do whatever it is we like to do. Financially and emotionally, I could walk away from my professional work tomorrow and never miss it, but I do think I would miss the people and the occassional intellectual challenge.

I just decided a few years ago that I would do a 25 mile or so ride every Tuesday and Thursday morning unless something really important got in the way. I get to work a little late, but it hasn't really affected the bottom line at all. My hope, at age 61, is to take more and more time off over the next few years, and kind of go gently into the night of retirement.