Why more people are retiring early, and loving it

Retirement used to come with a pension, a farewell sheet cake, and maybe, if you were lucky, a gold watch.

 

Then you’d settle into your golden years around age 65, trade your briefcase for a beach chair, and call it a life well worked.

 

But for a growing number of Americans, that timeline feels about as outdated as the gold watch itself.

 

Call it a midlife reboot, a career mic drop, or just a well-timed exit strategy; early retirement is trending. 

 

According to a 2024 study by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, 58% of workers end up retiring earlier than they expected. On average, people leave the workforce at age 62, about three years before the traditional retirement age of 65.

 

Another study by the Federal Reserve found that a growing number of Americans between 55 and 64 are stepping away from work voluntarily. Whether it’s the fallout from COVID-19, burnout, financial planning, or just a shift in priorities, more people are ditching the old script and rewriting what life after work looks like.

On Daniel Island, a few early retirees are proving that leaving the workforce doesn’t mean slowing down. For some, it’s just the beginning.

 

FROM CEO TO A LIFE REBALANCED

Steve Ferber was 39 when he walked away from the publishing company he co-founded in Washington, D.C. The decision wasn’t part of a grand plan, but it turned into a turning point.

 

“Early retirement was never part of the plan,” Ferber said. “I co-founded a publishing company... and at the 10-year mark I decided to take a sabbatical to spend more time with my wife and our young children. Two months into the sabbatical, my internal question changed from ‘When should I return?’ to ‘Why should I return?’”

 

Ferber sold his share of the business and chose to step off the treadmill and spend the next dozen years volunteering in his children’s schools. But he never fully left the working world behind.

 

“Transition is always challenging,” he admitted. “Mentally? Emotionally? Both were quite taxing, as it was a major and unsettling decision.”

 

Today, Ferber works full-time at Sideline Sports, a company he founded and helps lead with two of his daughters. His daily schedule feels familiar: managing people, solving problems, but with more perspective.

 

“The key, in all, is listening and observing,” he said. “And recognizing that not every business decision you make has to work for things to succeed.”

 

What’s new in this chapter? “Writing columns!” he said.

 

Ferber has found that writing for The Daniel Island News in his free time fulfills his love for storytelling and curiosity. “I’m a reporter at heart... I adore the research.”

 

Ferber doesn’t endorse early retirement as a goal in itself. Instead, he encourages a life filled with connection, curiosity, and intentionality.

 

“It’s all about priorities and where you wish to spend your time, both physically and mentally,” he said. “Make the life experience more of a flow... that’s what I would recommend.”

 

A BREAK FROM THE GRIND

For Konrad Stierli, early retirement was part planning and part pandemic.

 

“It was a combination of both,” said Stierli, who retired at 59. “I had hoped to retire early and save to that end, but COVID’s effect on my job also was a factor.”

 

Working in human resources during the pandemic meant navigating a flood of new rules and regulations, something that shifted the tone of his work dramatically.

 

“There was no one specific incident, but the overall change in my day-to-day work was the main catalyst,” he said.

 

He and his wife had long contributed the maximum to their 401(k) plans and worked toward paying off their mortgage by retirement. But mentally? He didn’t prepare much.

 

“I really did not put a whole lot of thought into that part of it,” Stierli said. “I knew that I was tired of the daily grind and assumed that it would be relatively easy to move into the next phase.”

 

And it was, eventually. His daily rhythm now starts with coffee and the news, then CrossFit, a passion he never had time for before.

 

“CrossFit has provided me a community that filled what might have been a bigger void for me,” he said. “This is an area that I definitely did not think about.”

 

In his free time, he devours two crime novels a week, plays golf when he feels like it, and travels between his homes in Davidson, North Carolina, and Daniel Island.

 

“I have friends that are recent retirees that have found it more challenging to be less active. I have not had that issue. I figure that I worked hard for 40-plus years; it’s OK not to be busy all the time.”

 

To the younger generation, Stierli has simple but practical advice: “If you don’t plan for retirement, in general, much less to retire early, it could be elusive. Know that at times it will be a challenge.”

 

A RESEARCHER REWRITES THE RULES

Vijaya Bodach was a research scientist when life, and motherhood, called her to a different path.

 

“I always expected to work,” Bodach said. “However, I was in between research fellowships when I discovered I was pregnant with my first child, and something primal kicked in, so I canceled my interviews.”

 

She was 34 when she left her career in microbiology and biochemistry. The shift wasn’t planned, but she had intention.

 

“Anybody with a background... could do the work I did; however, nobody would love my baby like I did,” she said. “I wanted to stay home with my baby.”

 

Now, with grown children and years of homemaking behind her, Bodach’s days are filled with singing in her church parish’s Latin Mass choir, doodling at Crafternoons with Edie at the Daniel Island Library, writing, puzzles, and a musical life she never expected.

 

“I started playing the recorder with the Captain Daniell Pipers two years ago, and that led me to singing in a women’s a cappella chorus, Charleston Sound Chorus,” she said. “This past spring, we competed at regionals and brought home three medals. Music has taken over my life. I never expected this, but I love living a creative life.”

 

The intellectual hunger from her research days never left. She writes books and reflects deeply on faith and identity, calling herself a scientist at heart.

 

“My identity is that of a wife, mother, writer, teacher, and a beloved child of God,” she said. “I will die pen in hand and a psalm upon my lips.”

 

Her husband is approaching retirement himself, and she sees a generational shift in what people seek from life and work.

 

“I think retirement is a strange concept. We are happiest when we do productive work. More and more people are looking for work that is satisfying, that feeds not just the body, but the soul as well.”

 

Her advice? “Do the work that you enjoy.”