[quote=moneymaker]When I was younger I thought my dad was lazy wanting to retire at the age of 50. Now that I’m 50 I feel the same urge, if I could, I would, which makes me rethink, am I using my time wisely. If I were being paid more/earning more then I would be able to retire earlier. Truth be told though I think I would get bored if I were not working. Happily bored, but how do I know until I try it. I’ve worked 34 years continuously and have realitively little to show for it. If I weren’t drinking wine right now I might even be depressed about the whole thing.[/quote]

This is one reason to do the take time off if you can work it thing early in your work career (age 30-40) if circumstances lead to that. There was a discussion earlier about this on someone taking time off and most comments said to do it if you can afford it.

Bottom line is if you don’t take it when you have the opportunity, you probably will never do it…pretty much kids kill any chance of this.

The downside with being a cop is you are generally a bigger target for the bad folks since you are out there in uniform.

I read about all the “downsides , but I think everyone would agree being a fire fighter or a cop is far better than being in the military with less pay, benefits and much higher risk of dieing (I assume, no data) in a very hostile environment with very little choice of where you end up.

Best deal nowadays is to probably work in a low stress public sector job with better benefits (healthcare is probably the most valuable thing now) and then retire once you qualify for the key items.