Much truth in the headline to this article. During my entire oil patch career I never held a job with pension benefits. I was petrified of poverty in retirement so I saved diligently and invested aggressively. The payoff being huge pots of money in my retirement since I didn't marry and have a family.

I mostly retired 8 years ago and I am enjoying my retirement immensely. Community volunteer activities take up a fair amount of my time. I have even joined the board of the women's emergency shelter nearest to my farm. quite a stretch for a former tradesman. Winter sports (X-country skiing and snowshoeing), summer gardening, old auto restoration, reading, cooking, investing, and occasional travel fill my days, auto restoration and the travel being my only expensive hobbies.

Living in a rural area, growing much of my own food, is amazingly economical. If I dropped the old cars and the travel I could live comfortably on $20K/yr.