For me, the term retirement refers to not being forced to do any work, so that if I do not go to work, I will not struggle to pay the rent or buy the necessities of the day. It may not necessarily mean getting older as much as having enough money for the rest of my life if I decide to live a normal life. Or in other words, according to my country, the amount of $2,500 is sufficient for an average life, and therefore I consider retirement as my obtaining one million and $200,000 as sufficient costs for 40 years from now.
If you don't have a job, no boss or manager will force you to work to get paid. It is still possible to have a job and not being forced to do the work. I'm talkin about free-lancing jobs. We are our own boss and manager here, in a way that we can work anytime that we like.
Not working and at the same time not struggling for the expenses is also possible. Just marry a rich partner
, or just build a profitable business. Indeed, we don't need to be old to decide for a retirement but to have an enough money is necessary. $2.5k per year seems cheap but acquiring $1.2m dollars seems insane. And there is still no assurance if we can still live for the next 40 years.