Whilst 'early' retirement might sound wonderful, many people would not wish to be pensioned off quite that easily. In fact, worthwhile work in a stretching, yet enjoyable environment is probably much more likely to keep you feeling young, than an enforced early traditional retirement!

And we know that work just is so often not like that - sadly. So, the growing trend for the retirement is based on the fact that people retire early, rather than continue working at something they no longer enjoy at all.

It's likely that upwards of 60% of the population would wish to retire before they were due to - often because of the hassle and lack of fulfilment in the workplace.

Truth is, that there are many benefits in early retirement, though these have to be balanced with the lack of income which can happen if money is taken from the retirement fund and/or that fund is used to pay out earlier.

In fact, significant reductions in benefits occur just because they are going to be drawn from for longer periods.

That's why many people are looking to more unique ways to fund their early departure from the workplace - here are a few ideas:-

1. Property - after the boom at the end of the 90's and early into this decade, property has taken a bit of a slowdown. Yet overall, if you have the vision, the initial funding and are prepared to put your investment on the back burner for a good number of years, most authorities in the subject believe that property will be a good investment.

Bear in mind that you may need to take specialist advice before you buy and that it might be an investment that needs topping up from time to time if you have voids/repairs etc.

2. Stock Market - whilst this is always a difficult one to predict, the value of businesses has, in general, grown to outpace inflation and certainly, over the long-term, to beat simply putting cash into the bank or other forms of cash savings.

It would also be worth investigating other forms of investment in shares, the form of which will vary across countries.

3. In most places in the world there are bonds which are similar to shares yet are spread across a basket, thus reducing the likelihood of disaster (sort of not putting all your eggs in one!).

This also extends to a huge variety of specialisms across all sorts of industries and nations - each with their own special flag-flyer. There is little confidence that these types of investments are any different than sticking a pin in as many have shown poor returns over the years.

4. Online - a growing number of investors are chasing all sorts of opportunities online and it can be a nightmare in finding even a strategy to assess what sort of investment might work best at all. Yet there are reputable business opportunities out there if you look for them, many of which require focus and minimum effort ongoing.

Remember that you can have a lot of fun with online investing e.g. EBay and Google Adwords and you can also lose your shirt. If you can find an investment that involves a one-off payment to get in, rather than one that is the proverbial black hole, you might well be best to give that sort of investment a go - there is no doubt that they can be very lucrative.

Using these as base-lines will set you off thinking about how you can best prepare yourself to quit the day job and get your feet up earlier than the rest. Then it will be fun to work out how you fill your days - you might even go back to the day job, safe in the knowledge that, on your terms, you can always quit if the going gets too rough!