LOL, love this!

Personally, I've managed to find my way to self employment, consulting for NASA on technical oversight of their investments in astrophysics technology development.

The self-employed part means I get to decide if there's something I'd rather not do (obviously, if I decline too many requests, I'd get fewer and fewer requests in the future, but that's never been a problem). It also means I get paid commnesurate with the value I bring and the time I commit.

I already have enough to retire today if I wanted it enough to make signficant (but not terrible) changes in my lifestyle. As it is, I expect to reach a point in less than 5 years where I won't need to make any changes or even spend a lot more on travel etc. without any more work.

Even then, however, I plan to stay "nicely engaged" just for the fun of it.