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Bull market gains and the workday grind of the high-pressure "new economy" are fueling dreams of easier living and early retirement for workers across the USA.

Droves of baby boomers and Gen Xers say they'll skip the gold watch and head into retirement before age 60.

But theirs is a new vision of retirement, laced with more fulfilling, less demanding work and lots of leisure time -- all financed by fat 401(k) accounts and a growing feeling of wealth.

Many early retiree wannabes say they are avidly saving and investing for the future. And they are flocking to Internet calculators to find out how soon they'll be able to get out of the rat race. A full 46% of Generation Xers say they'll retire by age 60, according to a leading annual retirement survey. About a third of baby boomers say they'll do the same.

"No one wants to hang around until they're 65 anymore," says Nancy Langdon Jones, a financial planner in Upland, Calif. "They're itching to retire."

But it's not an easy job to make sure that retirement nest eggs last the 30, 40 or even 50 years that longer life spans will require. And workers may have gotten lulled into expecting continued economic strength. So, financial planners caution, make sure plans for early retirement are a realistic goal and not a pipe dream. Douglas Griffin, 36, says he is reasonably confident he can retire at 52. But the financial analyst from Mesa, Ariz., admits that may change if the stock market goes into a prolonged downturn.

Like many other workers, Griffin has taken time to plan for retirement, using computer programs that calculate retirement needs. And like many others, he intends to continue working at a low-stress job after he retires. He'd also like to do volunteer work. "Retirement means a time when I don't have to worry about going to work, and my investments from work will now work for me," he says.

Many Americans say they are optimistic about their retirement prospects because of the savings they've accumulated in 401(k) plans. "I believe my generation's retirement will not significantly differ from my parents' with the exception that I will be better prepared," says 39-year-old Mark Jeansonne of Houston, who plans to retire at 55.

About half of all workers say they expect personal savings to be their most important source of retirement income, compared with 20% of current retirees, according to the 2000 Retirement Confidence Survey sponsored by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), the American Savings Education Council and Greenwald & Associates.

The popular 401(k) plans are only 20 years old. Yet by 1998, 79% of all U.S. families had a 401(k)-type of employer-sponsored retirement savings plan, according to a recent Federal Reserve survey. And many of those accounts are starting to accumulate tens of thousands of dollars. An EBRI study found that in 1998, 13% of workers had more than $100,000 in their plans.

A fortunate 22.3% of households had both a pension and a 401(k)- type of retirement plan in 1998. That combination affords retirees a greater sense of financial security.

Julio Galvez, 55, retired last week after a 20-year military career and 11 years at Lockheed Martin. He's eager to start enjoying life -- gardening, traveling and learning to play golf. Thanks to a military pension, a small Lockheed pension and a 401(k) plan, he won't be cash-strapped.

Galvez started seriously considering early retirement only about a year and a half ago when he was looking at retirement calculators on the Internet. He used a conservative 8% as the investment return he expects to earn in the future. And instead of estimating that his expenses would be lower in retirement, he added $10,000 onto his annual expenses at the time. The result: The calculators said he could afford to retire at 55.

"I thought, 'Why wait when I can enjoy life now?' " By the time he said goodbye to his co-workers, Galvez and his wife, Enaida, had sold their home in Exton, Pa., and purchased one on a golf course in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Though he has yet to master his golf swing, Galvez smacks the ball firmly into a long-standing U.S. trend toward younger retirement.

Over the past century, increasing American wealth and the expansion of Social Security and private pension plans allowed workers to retire at earlier and earlier ages. And many private pension plans encouraged early retirement.

But a curious thing is happening with retirement ages: Back in the mid-'80s, the average retirement age abruptly leveled off at about 63. Experts say it's because mandatory retirement was largely outlawed and because the new cash-balance pension plans and 401(k)s do not reward early retirement, among other factors.

But it's also because workers today are not necessarily leaving the workforce when they retire.

A new lease on life

In fact, retirement is no longer viewed as just a point that marks the end of a working career. Instead, it is increasingly viewed as a process that begins when a worker no longer has to keep up the pace of a stressful job in order to make ends meet.

Today many Americans say they plan to continue working in some capacity after they retire but want to work fewer hours, be their own boss, or switch to a career they find more personally rewarding, even if it pays less. "People are looking for purpose in life," says Janet Briaud, a financial planner in Bryan, Texas. Others have plunged into a more traditional retirement at a young age only to find they weren't ready for a life of total relaxation.

About 10 years ago, at age 51, Brad Ansley was burned out. He sold his businesses in North Dakota and moved with his wife, Myrna, to the San Diego area. "After about six months, I was bored," he says. So Ansley started a new business as a broker for plumbing and appliances to builders of high-end homes. "I can control my hours," he says. "But I find myself working as much as I ever did. I'm turning away business." By age 65, Ansley plans to start slowing down. Galvez also plans to continue working, perhaps teaching computer classes at night school or working at Home Depot.

"It's nice not to have to work for a living," he says. "But staying at home is not my type of thing. I like to be around people."

More than two-thirds of workers say they plan to work for pay after they retire, according to EBRI's survey.

"There does seem to be a difference from the good old days when people said 'I want out,' " says Dallas Salisbury, president of the non-profit research organization.

And many Americans say they are better prepared mentally and financially for retirement than their parents ever were. Nearly three- quarters of workers say they are somewhat or very confident they'll have enough money to live comfortably throughout their retirement years, according EBRI. About half say they have tried to calculate how much they will need to save to prepare for retirement.

But that doesn't mean the calculations are realistic or the confidence is well founded.

For one thing, longer life expectancies mean American workers need to make sure they don't outlive their retirement savings. Fewer and fewer of them can count on a traditional pension that guarantees lifetime payments.

"It's not far-fetched to think that you could live to 110 or 120," Briaud says. "My grandmother had a life expectancy of 45 and lived to be 99."

And despite the handy retirement calculators available on the Internet, they are only as good as the parameters you put in them. For example, people often have unrealistic expectations about the future return on their investments, although financial planners say the rocky stock market performance this year has done a lot to correct many overly optimistic assumptions.

On the other hand, some common rules of thumb about retirement can be too rigid and discourage people from achieving goals. Many experts say retirees will need 80% of their current income to cover expenses in retirement. "I get so furious with that," financial planner Langdon Jones says. "There is no formula that will fit everyone."

Retire, but don't relax

Workers are clearly entering into a more complicated retirement world. They must be better informed than their parents' generation as companies increasingly put the burden on employees to save for their own retirement through 401(k) plans. They will have to manage their retirement savings through ups and downs of the economy. And many younger workers fear they won't be able to count on Social Security benefits.

Still, the complexities haven't shaken the confidence of many aspiring early retirees. "I'm one of the new investor class," says Thomas Frieling, 47. Through his job as a librarian at Bainbridge College in Georgia, he has a 403(b) plan, which is similar to a 401(k) plan, and a pension. "Between the two, if I'm sick and tired of what I'm doing at 53, I can retire," he says.