This essay attempts to do the following: first, offer a definition of early retirement in order to establish boundaries for the discussion. Second, sketch some of the background and reasons why early retirement may be desirable; also it suggests why early retirement might not always be a constructive practice. Then the essay turns to the main objective of the report: the description of certain financial implications of early retirement. Section 3 focuses on some major financial impacts of early retirement on the employee. Section 4 considers several of the financial implications for the institution. In the appendix, there are a brief annotated bibliography and two tables reporting on how some of the literature cited views the subject of early retirement. (Author/PG)