It is possible to happen. Though all the planning and investing is one of the factor to consider here. Mostly in the first world country, people can have their early retirement due to their economic advantages, sadly to say for us belongs to the 3rd world country, one possible option is really to invest in different investments, meticulous planning, consistent approach to goal and study more to gain more knowledge how to manage the money effectively. We have our own, investments are not a hype in our country, a very few are willing to invest. As long my countrymen eat 3 times a day, we are ahappy about it, even doing the 9-5 job till our retirement age.
Coming from a first world country doesn't mean anything, you can still end up in a bad investment. There are companies that has folded this year and has gone bankruptcy and not because the investors didn't do adequate research before they made the investment but because the company run into some complications and it was beyond them and because they couldn't continue, they have to shut it down and pay out investors probably without interest.
There could be cases of scams, many scammers hide under many of this so called retirements plan because they see weakness and eagerness from people who tend to make investment plan for their life.