Hi Bob,
If you have planned it all out and can afford to do it then by all means DO IT! Do it for all of us! lol. Man I would just die to retire! I hate my job and am looking for another one currently. I'm 28 and have a LONG ways to go before retirement.
Here are 2 stories to give you some thought:
My mom after 33 years of marriage decided on divorce 2 years ago because my father did not believe in monogomy and now cannot retire anytime soon and she is 62 years old. I really feel for her as life has REALLY thrown her a curve ball. She is looking into every avenue to be able to retire within 5 years. The judge in the settlement decided to let each of them have their own retirement and unfortunately for about 15 years of her working career they owned a business together and they put everything into his retirement and he got all the social security as well. What the judge did was totally unfair in my opinion but that's life. My husband and I are going to try and move into another home with acreage so we can build a small cabin for her so she can retire sooner. She went from a fairly wealthy lifestyle to one of VERY modest living.
Another story:
A friend in our family who worked for Boeing for over 37 years and did VERY well but did not like his job most of his working life, 2 years ago decided to retire at 65 because of the perks of waiting another couple of years. He waited this long because he wanted to be REALLY, REALLY conforatable in retirement and live a rich lifestyle. He was however not aware of his heart condition and died exactly the day before his retirement party.
So in short you never know what life will throw at you, and to live each day to its fullest.
If you can aford to live conforatably and want to retire then by all means you should do it. You never know what life will throw at you.
If you're not ready then your not ready either.
Just some food for thought. Not to scare you or anthing.
-Ali