My wife and I had separate finance guys and both strongly recommended the "paychecks and play checks" approach to retiring. That means having enough fixed income each month to cover all your basic bills, with fixed income meaning pensions (and who offers those anymore), Social Security and annuities (which some folks love and some folks loathe). Leave your remaining investments for the "fun" stuff like travel, hobbies, entertainment, etc. We retired at 62 and our pensions and Medicare wouldn't kick in until we hit 65 and our Social Security wouldn't kick in until we hit 66 so we had 3-5 years of living off savings and investments and we found that pretty uncomfortable. Now that we're on the other side of that, we feel extremely comfortable.
Other folks have mentioned the cost of health insurance and they are absolutely right. That stuff is expensive and you cannot live without it. Individual plans can run a thousand or more per person per month pretty easily. That alone will keep many folks working and getting employer-provided insurance.
Ideally, you should be able to buy your retirement house with cash and not have a mortgage. Having to pay a mortgage for a bunch more years while having a fixed and somewhat more limited income can be a real pain. If you haven't paid off your current house (assuming you own one), try paying that off before you retire even if it means working a couple more years and doubling or tripling your mortgage payments.
Other than finances, think about what you want out of retirement. Is it hanging with friends with similar interests? Being a decade younger than most folks here can make you somewhat socially isolated. My niece retired quite early and managed to make new friends through her many, many sports activities but I've heard of some folks who felt very disconnected from other retirees. And even if you live fairly locally already, you won't be hanging with your current friends who are still working. They just won't have the time you do. And, to be honest, some folks simply do not have interests outside of work and are bored to death in retirement (my brother was one). Most of us here in The Villages just love to play all the time, so moving to this Disneyland for Senior Citizens is the coolest thing ever.
Good luck with your decision! It's one of the biggest ones you'll ever make!
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