It really depends on the person. Someone I work with just yesterday "retired" for the third time at 83. The first time he said he sat around and didn't do much. Then someone called and asked him to come back on his terms. He did and really enjoyed it, and he said all the stuff at home he had planned to do when he retired was getting done now in addition to his job. He enjoyed his job, all the projects going on, and enjoyed the interaction with people other than his wife. He then retired from that but couldn't stay away completely, he came back part time to help with the logistics of running our facility. During this time he did a lot of traveling with his wife, the job helped pay for it in addition to giving him the social interaction, mental as well as physical activity he needed. The last year he has slowed down a lot, he caught a very unusual lung infection and decided to retire so he could concentrate on getting better. They are treating it now and it is curable if he has enough strength. I am praying for him. We have also had people work literally until the day they died because they liked what they did so much.