My neighbor growing up spent his entire working life preparing for retirement. Never went on vacation, deferred everything to save for his retirement. Well the day came to receive the going away watch, and within one week he dropped dead. True story. Since that time as a teenager till today as a 50 year old, I have vowed to never retire.
That kind of what I was talking about earlier. A lot of people out there look forward to retirement as their "golden years" when they are actually in their golden years now but don't realize it. Therefore all those good years are wasted in pursuit of some idyllic dream but when they get there, it's often not the paradise they expected or they have health issues, or worse, to deal with.
To me, the true golden years are approx. when you are between ages of 45-65, this is usually when your kids are grown up and moving out on their own and you are at the peak of your earnings power. Since our kids grew up, my wife and I take trips to places like Hawaii at least twice a year and we splurge a little on things we scrimped on when raising kids, like going out to dinner or seeing movies/shows.
With the money coming in, the bills are getting paid and we still get to put a little aside for if we do retire from work but we don't worry too much about it. When I am too old to work (hopefully not until I'm well into my 70s), all I'm going to want to do anyhow is sit in my yard with my dog and a good book to read, or maybe listen to the radio, so you don't need a whole lot of money for that!
So since I am planning on working well into my 70s (at least), I make sure that I have a job that I am happy to go to. I've given up career opportunities where I could have made more money because I didn't need the stress and aggravation of doing work I do not like. So if you have a job you like going to, you can work literally until you are no longer physically able. While you are physically able, keep making the money and be sure to spend it on fun things WHILE you are still working.