I'm very, very happy that I'm retired. But just to add to this thread, here is another article on the case against retirement:
10-reasons-you-shouldnt-retire: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance
A list of of the reasons and my commentary:
1. Your health. Even if it's true that staying mentally and physically "engaged" is good for your health -- and I believe it is -- that doesn't mean it has to be paid employment that stresses you out. You may want to immerse yourself in some volunteer work with great personal meaning, for example -- something that's hard to do with a "career" getting in the way.
2. Your marriage. Sort of depends on the marriage, doesn't it? And why is the assumption that if you are retired, you're constantly home around the spouse 24/7? See above -- this is another stereotype of "retirement" meaning sitting around the house doing nothing.
3. Delay taxes. Say what? I'd say you may wind up with a lower income at an earlier age if you retire instead of w*rk... and you may tap IRAs earlier which will reduce the size of RMDs and keep more money in lower tax brackets. Delaying taxes isn't always the best thing if it results in kicking you into higher brackets when you do pay them. There's also reason to suspect that a higher income in retirement will "means test" you out of a lot of goodies in the future, too.
4. Higher Social Security checks. True, but if you don't need the money, at least at present, you have the do-over option available. And I'd also suspect that ANY SS reform in the future that makes it a worse deal will exempt those already taking it. These factors have convinced me that I'll start taking SS at 62, assuming that (and the do-over) are still options when I get there in 2027.
5. Work adds meaning to your life. Excuse me while I barf. See the response to #1. You can just as easily find it through volunteer work and/or hobbies, and some people may not feel the need for "meaning" at all.
6. Your social life. See also #1 and #5 -- "work" isn't the only way to maintain a social life. A lot more of our social life comes through our church than through our w*rk. And I also think the FIRE gene tends to come with the introvert gene anyway; in that sense I suspect the "social life" aspect here is overrated for many of those who are "wired to FIRE."
7. Health benefits. Yes, for most of us who aren't fortunate enough to have early retiree health insurance, this is THE reason to keep working. And even for many who do have it, there is no promise it will continue to exist all the way until Medicare kicks in. This one can't really be disputed unless you have rock-solid retiree health insurance or are so wealthy that paying for your own isn't a showstopper.
8. Society needs your skills. Society needs our skills so much that we have 10% "official" unemployment and probably close to 16% "real" unemployment. If I have enough to retire on, I'd sooner give the j*b to someone who needs it more, given the scarcity of available good jobs these days. Unless you're a nurse or something like that where merely having a pulse gets you a job, this is a silly argument.
9. Job perks. Travel, free food, employee discounts? If these are important to you, just figure out their "value" on an annual basis and factor those in as added expenses in retirement. If the math still works there's no reason not to call it quits.
10. Haven't saved enough. You shouldn't even think about retirement until you have saved enough -- or, I guess, if you have a secure and generous (preferably COLA'd) pension that more than pays your living expenses. In reality this is a precondition to considering retirement anyway, so one shouldn't (responsibly) even consider retirement unless this isn't an issue. (And I still think it's dumb to talk about "average" amounts saved in retirement accounts unless you know whether or not the people involved have any defined benefit income waiting for them. Someone with a $50K COLA'd pension may not need the $2M in the 401K that someone without will need.)
In summary, so much of this list is the old, tired "work is life" crap that so many of us have already rejected.