Retiring early is am ambitious goal, and one you likely have to work hard to achieve.

Once you get into the habit of aggressively investing to build your net worth, it can be hard to give it up.

You’ll have to consider whether you’re working longer because you love your job or just want to run up the score financially.

Some investors get rich while others struggle because they never learned there are two completely different strategies to building wealth. Don’t make the same mistake, learn about both here.

When you’ve been working hard all your life to save up a lot of money for retirement, it can be really hard to pull the plug and start spending down your retirement money instead of continuing to build up your nest egg. This is the dilemma that one Reddit user is currently facing.

The original poster (OP) explained that he had always planned to retire at 55 and that he saved and invested in order to hit that goal. When the time came, he had double the amount he needed to retire – but he said his spending had exploded by that time, and the people he was working with begged him to stay.

He ended up sticking it out for another year for the promise of another $6 million but said that he believed the amount he’d be left with after tax was immaterial – so now if he keeps going, he’ll end up retiring at 57, which isn’t even early after all.

He’s wondering why it is so difficult for him to give up working, despite the fact that this is something he has wanted his entire life.

This post was updated on November 9, 2025 to detail psychological studies on purpose contributing to wellbeing later in life, research on “affluenza”, and research on overvaluing future earnings.

While the OP’s problem is one that many people would love to have, it is an issue – and one faced by a lot of people who have worked diligently to save up millions of dollars to buy financial freedom and retire early.

When you are earning huge sums of money, it can be hard to just walk away from that when you think about how you can trade only a few extra months for extra millions. Seeing your net worth grow can be addicting, especially if you were not born a millionaire and you are impressed with the success that you’ve been able to achieve.

This aligns with research on “affluenza” and “loss aversion.” As income rises, people adapt to higher spending levels, which has been labeled “lifestyle creep”. Such individuals get emotionally attached to their professional identity and status. Studies from Harvard Business Review and the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization show that people overvalue future earnings compared to current life satisfaction.