I retired at 55 years of age. (Made some wise investments). Of course I didn't get Social Security until I turned 62 years of age. Best thing I ever did was retire at 55. Of course I realize that not all can do this. I maxed out my Social Security contribution many years. Life's too short.Don't get me wrong, I'm ALL for retiring early while you can still enjoy life. But I plan to enjoy a long life and therefore I'm going to wait until the last minute to draw SS so that it can get the most out of it that I can. I worked too dammed long and too dammed hard and was forced to pay into SS when I really couldn't afford to so now I want everything out of it that I can get.