Firesaw: Are YOU on This List of Cushiest Retirement Jobs?

There are so many factors that go into evaluating whether your career is really right for you. But one, undeniably, is the age at which you can stop doing the career that's right for you.

So take a look at this list of jobs and industries with early retirement or other great retirement benefits, and consider how yours stack up. There may still be time to become an air traffic controller yet.

Air Traffic Controllers

Want to retire at 50? Then work your way up into a flight tower, where you're cleared to take off work at any age after 25 years of service, or at 50 with 20 years of service.

Pilots

...And the guys on the other end of the airplane radio don't have it bad either: the average flyboy in United Airlines' retirement plans makes $23,476 annually.

Aircraft Manufacturers

Not to be left out, the people making those radios also have it pretty good too, receiving an average retirement contribution from their employers of $2.87 per hour worked.

Police Officers

No one deserves it more than the men and women wearing badges, who can generally retire after just 20 years of service with a pension equal to half their salary.

Utilities Workers

Thanks to strong unions, employees working in electricity, water, sewage, or nuclear power sectors receive as much as $6.56 per hour worked toward their retirement.

Information Technology Employees

While a major step down from $6.56, US News & World Report found that information technology workers came in a distant second to utilities workers, with the sector averaging an employer contribution of $2.76 per hour worked. Microsoft is particularly generous, matching 50% up to 6% of an employee's salary.

Consultants

While retirement plans can vary widely throughout the consulting sector, industry giant Deloitte topped a recent Wall Street Journal ranking of private companies' annual retirement contributions with an average of $30,806.

Surgeons and Oral Surgeons

Of course, there's no retirement plan that can match the freedom granted by making boatloads of money in your working years, meaning these two top-paying positions (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) may be able to retire earlier and more comfortably than almost everyone else.

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Written by Joe Epstein and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.