Nobody is advocating that one should work until drop dead. It is about striking a balance. Far too often we hear of people saying there are "other things in life" other than just work. But what is this "other things in life?" Unless one is very clear what other things in life we want to do, it is not wise to just leave work for it.

Looking at your networth: $3m tied up in your home and $1m in other assets, you are not making them "work" for you. At age 50, you should have established or establishing your passive income sources. Believe me, it will be difficult to do it only when you are retired.

First, you will not dare to put all your money into what you called safe investment to generate your 3% return. You will take a step at a time. But in the meantime you will need to finance your daily expenses. So you will have to chip away your capital even before you can make them generate passive income.

Secondly, you may not be getting into the investment at the best of timing. You have to be consistently and gradually building that investment over the years, and not only at the point of retirement.

Thirdly, you will be surprised that you may not be able to get even 3% return for all your investment as there is every likelihood you will be spreading your money over some very safe investment like FDs.