Most people think retirement is something that starts at a certain age. Work hard now, slow down later. It sounds sensible, but it hides a bigger issue most of us never question. What people actually want is not retirement. It’s relief. The ability to pause without panic. The freedom to say no without everything falling apart. That has far less to do with age and far more to do with how dependent your life is on a single source of income. Once you see retirement as a system rather than a milestone, a lot of common advice starts to feel incomplete. And that’s where things get interesting.