The concept of early retirement has become quite widespread in recent years. Its main idea is that by a certain age, you have the necessary means to sustain the desired lifestyle for the rest of your life (and often for the family too, especially if you are the main contributor), without being forced to work (have a job) to provide for it. That doesn't necessarily mean you won't work anymore, it just means you have the option not to, and you can pick and choose what to do. However, some interpret early retirement as a free ticket to stop doing any productive work, which in my opinion is wrong. And the "early" word might be the misleading one.
I know people who retired early. A few who retired at my age, mid-40s. Two cases I know closely. They both took the transition hard. Currently, one commutes often hundreds of kilometers to help take care of his grandchild together with his wife, and the other takes a special interest in her child's girlfriends until he gets married... Even if they have good training in masking what their feelings are, I don't think either of them is very happy with the current situation. I'm not sure if they'd go back to the former workplace (in fact, I bet one of them wouldn't), but I think they both would feel better if they felt more productive using the skills they acquired over time.
Conversely, I know people either directly or indirectly who are retired and continue to work either as before or in a closely related field. They draw energy from their work, even when it's tiresome.
I don't believe in a life of never-ending vacations and cruises. Maybe it would work for some, but to me, it sounds more like a fairy tale.
Actually, I'll revise my position a bit. If someone has been used to this kind of life for their entire life, it would work for them. If someone has different priorities in vacations than when they are productive, then it would probably not work very well.
So, what do I understand by easy retirement, then? Same as retirement (early or not) where the financial aspect is taken care of for the rest of your life, with the condition that some level of productive work should remain a priority. While there shouldn't be financial pressure to work, doing it keeps the mind and body active and the sense of accomplishment present as tasks are completed.
Retirement should be made easy by relieving us of the financial burden, but not early in the sense that once you retire you stop doing productive work.
I hope AI and UBI don't diminish even more the importance of productive work in our lives, or we will end up in a society with widespread severe mental issues.
