Personal Finance

I wanted to retire at 55 but I kept grinding to get another few million in the bank - why is it so hard to quit?

Christy Bieber

Published: February 16, 2025 1:05 pm

When you’ve been working hard all your life to save up a lot of money for retirement, it can be really hard to pull the plug and start spending down your retirement money instead of continuing to build up your nest egg. This is the dilemma that one Reddit user is currently facing. 

The original poster (OP) explained that he had always planned to retire at 55 and that he saved and invested in order to hit that goal. When the time came, he had double the amount he needed to retire — but he said his spending had exploded by that time, and the people he was working with begged him to stay.

He ended up sticking it out for another year for the promise of another $6 million, but said that the amount he’d be left with after tax was immaterial — so now if he keeps going, he’s going to end up retiring at 57 which isn’t even early after all. 

He’s wondering why it is so difficult for him to give up working, despite the fact that this is something he has wanted for his entire life. 

Giving up good earnings can be harder than you’d think

While the OP’s problem is one that many people would love to have, it is an issue — and one faced by a lot of people who have worked diligently to save up millions of dollars to buy financial freedom and retire early. 

When you are earning huge sums of money, it can be hard to just walk away from that when you think about how you can trade only a few extra months for extra millions. Seeing your net worth grow can be addicting, especially if you were not born a millionaire and you are impressed with the success that you’ve been able to achieve. 

Even when you already have millions in the bank, running up the score and adding an extra few million can make you feel even better about your professional success and, by contrast, walking away from it all to live an uncertain future as a retiree may feel like it’s both scary and a little bit of a let-down since you’ll no longer be the successful big earner any more. 

What should you do if it’s hard to give up work?

If you are in a financial position to give up work but you don’t want to, you need to sit back and ask yourself what is going to make you the happiest.

Some people genuinely love their job, and if you can do something that you really enjoy, with people who you want to spend time with, and you can make millions doing it, there’s nothing that says you have to retire early. There are many very rich people who keep working into their 80s and even into their 90s because their jobs excite them and give their life purpose. If that’s your situation, there’s nothing wrong with that and you don’t have to walk away.

However, if you are hanging on just because you want to earn more money and there are other ways you’d prefer to spend your time, like traveling or being with family, then you should not trade the limited hours that you have on earth just for extra cash. You eventually get to a point where you can’t spend everything you have anyway and when even future generations are set up for financial success. Once you have reached that place, continuing to work just to grow your bank account is silly when you could be doing things you are more passionate about.

The OP needs to ask himself which of these two scenarios is his situation. If he really wants to keep working because he loves his job, then he should. If he doesn’t, though, then it’s time to call it quits, make peace with the fact he has plenty of cash, and give his coworkers the disappointing news that he’s not planning to stay for another year.