My mother worked for the state for 27 years. She fudged her birth certificate and her driver's license so that when she retired at 78 (yes, 78) everyone at work thought she was 72. She did this because she had been poor her whole life and my dad died without any life insurance or pension. So she planned on getting the largest monthly retirement she could. She finally quit in October of 2004, and about the same time developed a degenerative heart condition and passed away in August of 2005. She basically worked an extra 13 years so she could make a few hundred dollars more per month for the last 11 months of her life.
There is more to life than money and buckets.