Okay, we get it. Jobs are changing, salaries aren't going up andit gets harder and harder to make that slog into the office everyday.

But even if you're close to retirement, you might want to thinktwice before planning to make your grand exit.

A Motley Fool report points out that there arefive very good reasons you might want to reconsider making plansfor that long-awaited fishing trip, ski vacation or long laze inthe pool at home.

And we've added a couple of our own, just to impress on would-beretirees how different retirement is from a workday life and howquickly circumstances can change and require a new course ofaction.

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Back just after the turn of the century — not this one, the lastone — American artist Winslow Homer had the great good fortune towrite, “With the duckets that I now have safe, I think I willretire at 66 years of age, praise God, in good health.”

Of course, that was then and this is now — Homer, reports theFool, “planned to retire at age 66 because he felt he hadaccumulated sufficient funds for retirement.” But Homer actuallyworked longer than the average American retirees these days, itadds, pointing out that recently the average retirement age forAmericans was 63.

But then, too, Homer died back in 1910 — when it was a loteasier to get to “enough.” So before you decide to follow today'slower-than-Homer's retirement age, you might want to think it outagain.

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The best time to retire, of course, depends on one's particularcircumstances — not just money, but health and even familyobligations.

But people do often make plans without taking all these factorsinto account, and set their sights on a particular age forretirement that may or may not be in their own best interest.

So here, without further ado, are some factors to take intoaccount when jotting down all those reasons in the pro-and-conlist:

7. To keep from getting bored.

Yes, avoiding boredom is one of the Fool's Big Five, althoughthere are certainly plenty of people who would never get bored withall they had to do even if they retired at 50 and lived to be90.

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But for people who defined themselves by their jobs, this is aviable reason not to head out the door on the stroke of “HappyBirthday.”

Some people do get bored in retirement; others never thoughtabout what they might do once they weren't reporting to an officeevery day and are at a complete loss once they're facing that longempty day after breakfast.

Not that it's a big problem for most people.

According to a 2014 MassMutual survey, just 10% of retirees, theFool says, “found themselves lonely, bored, with a lost sense ofpurpose, and/or depressed in retirement.” On the other hand, 72%“reported feeling quite happy or extremely happy inretirement.”

6. To maintain social contacts.

If you're a creature of habit — and if that habit is social —you might feel out of the loop, particularly if you had a regularroutine of lunch with coworkers, evenings with the company bowlingteam or a busy day of interacting with all sorts of people.

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Rather than feeling isolated, if you stay on the job—or ona job, since there's no law that says you have to keepworking at the same one — you might even find that the opportunityto build a whole new network of friends can be exciting.

5. To play it safe.

The Fool points out that if you don't like risk, staying on thejob past age 66 can keep you from feeling anxious over thepossibility of running out of money at a point in your life whenit's a lot harder to make up lost ground.

That way, if life throws you a curve ball, you'll still have aregular income to throw back — and you'll sleep better atnight.

4. Because you can't afford to retire at 66.

If the retirement plan balance is low (or nonexistent), youprobably already know that retirement isn't in the cards even atfull retirement age.

Leaving the office behind, for example, even at age 66, and thenliving till 95 can put a serious crimp in your bank account,however big or small it is, when you consider it has to last foranother 29 years.

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According to the 2017 Retirement Confidence Survey, about 24% ofworkers admit to having less than $1,000 stashed for retirement;55% admitted to less than $50,000. Just 20% had managed to approacha more realistic level of savings, at $250,000 or more.

Taking 4% out every year, according to the 4% rule, from suchsmall balances means they won't last long — even $400,000 will onlyget you $16,000 annually.

And if you think Social Security will make it okay, the averageperson only gets $16,000 from that, too — over the year. Can youmake it on $32,000?

3. To have a bigger nest egg.

The longer you work and save for retirement, not only the largeryour balance will be, but the less time you'll have to live on thatbalance once you do retire.

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The retirement account can grow for a longer period of timewithout being raided, while you might also be able to capitalize onemployer-provided health insurance (provided the system doesn'tcollapse under the current chaos in Washington) and thus not haveto spend as much of that retirement cash on medical expenses.

2. A bigger Social Security check.

For every year between your full retirement age and 70 that youdelay, the Fool points out, your payout will grow about 8% larger —up to a total of 32% larger if you keep working all the way to age70.

That can turn that monthly check for $2,000 (at age 66) into onefor $2,640 — a sizeable difference.

1. The unknown.

There's always the unknown to consider — everything fromaccidents, illness, divorce and death to volatile financialmarkets, changes in laws (think health care and taxes),catastrophic weather events that might take out that littleretirement villa you've been paying on for years and the rise ofhitherto-unknown-in-the-U.S. diseases (the Zika virus rises tomind).

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There's no need to turn alarmist, but do consider the potentialfor unexpected events to upset your retirement plans.

If you work longer, save smarter, and keep abreast of what'sgoing on in the world, there's less chance of being surprised byunexpected events even elsewhere in the world that could affect theplans you made maybe years ago for your retirement.

After all, something as unexpected as losing your plannedretirement haven to catastrophic storm damage or the danger ofinfection from Zika (if your kids are having kids, would you wantthem to visit?) could completely overset your plans and require acomplete rethink.

If there's regular money coming in, it won't be quite asdifficult to switch gears.

Marlene Y. Satter has covered the financial industrysince 1997, first for InvestmentAdvisor magazine, then at ThinkAdvisor.com and BenefitsPro.com.Email her at [email protected].