I've see this happen to a number of friends. Most of them have enough saving that they can 'retire', but none of them wanted to retire yet. It often means moving away from friends to implement a lower cost-of-living. Once you are >40, it can be hard to find a job. You are too experienced for mid-level roles, but your core skillset may no longer be relevant. e.g. There are far fewer Win32 developers than 10 years ago, but retraining to be a web developer can be a big challenge. I've also seen people get promoted to a managment level, based on a targetted skillset, where it can be hard to find find a new role.