I retired early (age 49), but I took a four month leave of absence about 5 years before that. Trying a leave instead of retiring was one of the few things I re

I retired early (age 49), but I took a four month leave of absence about 5 years before that. Trying a leave instead of retiring was one of the few things I read about early retirement that made a lot of sense. I gather some people "miss" work or get bored. I didn't miss it when I took the leave and definitely was not worried about being bored when I did retire. Anyway if you are thinking of early retirement I highly recommend trying to take a leave of absence first. You might have to be willing to quit to make it happen though.