Ask someone why they did not retire at 55 and they will give you a number. Not enough saved, market is scary, kids in college.
Push a little harder and you get the real answer.
"Health insurance."
That is the actual wall. Not the portfolio. A 55 year old with $2 million will keep working because they cannot figure out what happens between the day the employer plan ends and the day Medicare starts.
That is a ten year gap. Ten years of being a 55 to 64 year old on the individual market, which is the most expensive demographic there is.
Early retirement is not a savings problem. It is a health insurance problem wearing a savings problem's clothes.
It is also completely solvable, and the solution is weirder and better than most people expect. Let us go build the bridge.