That's exactly why I haven't worked for the last 15months. I got 42k redundancy money and 20k of shares when I got laid off in Sept 05 and I've basically been living off that ever since. TBH, it's been great! I really like not working. The money is starting to run out now though:(
It's surprising how quickly the money goes down when you've got none coming in.
I've dabbled with a couple of different things in this time I've been out of work but neither of them worked out how I had hoped so I won't be doing them for a living. I've got to find something soon though, my Mrs isn't gonna put up with me sitting on my arse any longer.
Try it at 40 mate! It really sucks.