What is the appeal?

I ran into a couple of old friends today. One was a FERS and retired just last November, as soon as he got his 30 year at MRA. Now he is a contractor working on base. The other is a CSR, today is his last day. He will work as a contractor working on base in a couple of weeks. It's obvious the CSR guy gets 70+% pay raise just by retiring and get another same-paying job. But for FERS, what's in it?

A significantly higher paying contracting job. I knew someone who did that @ 60 years old. I tried to talk him into sticking around another 2 years and he'd get a 10% bonus (1.1% per year instead of 1%). It wasn't worth it to him being a GS 13 so he got out to make the big bucks as a contractor. I wouldn't have done it but we are all different and have different priorities.

Things never said on a deathbed - "I wish I had spent more time working." :)