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Many people use 65 as their target retirement age. At that age you can begin to receive Medicare to cover your health care needs.
However, most people now need to wait until 66 or 67 to collect unreduced Social Security benefits. And if you decide to call it quits at 65 you can expect to enjoy 20 or more years of retirement.
Today’s 65-year-olds are largely healthy and likely to live longer than earlier generations. But that doesn’t mean they’re not starting to feel the wear and tear of an aging body and mind. And it is not going to get any easier. None of us will ever be any younger than we are today.
Even if you don’t feel old yet, you are growing older with each passing day. As your body ages your options to explore and experience new things tends to become more limited. Older adults just cannot do all the things they used to.
The first challenge of retirement is the transition out of the workforce. People who find what they do interesting and inspiring may choose to stay on the job and continue doing it for as long as they can. Or they might try to shift to part-time work and gradually phase into retirement.
For other people retirement is a time to finally get away from all the stresses of the workplace and move on to something new. When the sole motivation for working becomes the paycheck at the end of the week, the promise of days far removed from the stress of work is a welcome sanctuary.
The lure of retirement can be a strong one. The sooner you retire, the sooner you have the chance to live a life doing what you really want to do. Before you can undertake such a move, it is important to make realistic and sufficient financial preparations to provide for the lifestyle you want to maintain. But once you are comfortable financially, you can flip the switch and transition into your second act.

Culled MSN Money