I wanted to retire at 55 but I kept grinding to get another few million in the bank - why is it so hard to quit?

"When you've been working hard all your life to save up a lot of money for retirement, it can be really hard to pull the plug and start spending down your retirement money instead of continuing to build up your nest egg. This is the dilemma that one Reddit user is currently facing. The original poster (OP) explained that he had always planned to retire at 55 and that he saved and invested in order to hit that goal."

"When the time came, he had double the amount he needed to retire - but he said his spending had exploded by that time, and the people he was working with begged him to stay. He ended up sticking it out for another year for the promise of another $6 million but said that he believed the amount he'd be left with after tax was immaterial - so now if he keeps going, he'll end up retiring at 57, which isn't even early after all."

An individual planned to retire at 55 and saved and invested to meet that goal. By the target date the individual had roughly double the needed amount, but personal spending had risen and colleagues pleaded for retention. The individual delayed retirement for one additional year in exchange for a promised additional $6 million, reasoning that after-tax reductions made the extra income immaterial. Continuing would push the retirement age to 57, undermining the original early-retirement objective. Psychological factors including affluenza, loss aversion, lifestyle creep, attachment to accumulating wealth, and overvaluing future earnings contribute to the difficulty in stopping work. Research also links continued purpose and meaningful activity to well-being in later life, complicating the retirement decision.

Read at 24/7 Wall St.