Ken, I can add in my experience. In 2015, the company I worked for pushed another early retirement. My name was picked, and I accepted the retirement, not knowing what I would do since I was only 59. I was a telecommunications engineer, having been a technician for most of my working years. I ended up working in an open ended contract for the same company for 3 years until a change in management cancelled the work we were doing. After being out of work for 6 months, I realized how my skills were with old technology and couldn't find anything. I took an entry level position at a cable TV company in technical support. I absolutely hated that job. I couldn't keep up the pace. After less than a year, I finally needed knee replacement surgery, and told them I wouldn't be coming back when therapy was done. Then the pandemic hit. I ended up signing up for social security. I then needed lumbar fusion surgery. By this time my wife was having health problems, so we decided she should retire a year ago. Money was tight, and I looked at several options, but wouldn't be able to keep up the pace. My wife turned 62 in June, and we finally decided to take her social security as well, receiving her first payment last week. I'll be 66 in 2 weeks, and know we are both done working, so we will make due with whatever we have. We can start taking money from some of our investments if we need too.
I am an advocate of retiring as early as you can unless you have a job you really love and can physically handle it. None of us knows how much time he or she has left. Only you can decide since what is good for one isn't good for others. I wish you well on your decision.
