Robert Brokamp

I know you're a guy who loves spreadsheets.

Do you have your own spreadsheet or do you use some online retirement calculators?

Yes, and I like retirement calculators, and I'm going to list a few in the next segment here.

You mentioned that there are both really emotional, maybe psychological issues, as well as financial issues.

Knowing you as well as I do, I know that you probably could retire right around now.

What is preventing you from retiring?

Is it the fact that you like what you do, you're not sure what you would do in retirement?

Are you nervous about the financial situation right now, maybe stock valuations?

a Foolish colleague I had lunch with recently, he did leave the Fool.

And at the time, he said, I'm not sure I'm retiring or not.

I'm just gonna just see what happens.

And sure enough, within a year, he was bored.

He's at another job.

And he said to his wife, you know what?

I probably just needed a sabbatical, just needed a break, which, you know, you might, many people out there might be in that situation.

They enjoy their job.

They're not ready to retire, but they're burnt out and they would like to take a break.

The studies on whether retirement is good for us is very mixed.

Many studies have found that folks who retire sooner actually die sooner or experience accelerated levels of cognitive decline, physical decline, higher rates of loneliness, higher rates of depression.

So certainly a big part of it is deciding how you're going to spend your time and who you're going to spend it with.