Not necessarily disputing your second paragraph's financial/economic points, but if you're owning apartments (and managing them) or have a medical practice, you

Not necessarily disputing your second paragraph's financial/economic points, but if you're owning apartments (and managing them) or have a medical practice, you're not retired. That does say to me that a lot of this early "retirement" mythos is merely a euphemism for "non-traditional career downsizing." Nothing wrong with that.