This thread has been a very good read for me, and I will come back to look in more detail at some of the articles linked.
The end of my current working life comes in 144 days. I will be a few days shy of 51 (young, I know, but financially I don't need to keep working and I've come to hate the hustling, so-called "high performance", aspects of my work - they have become unfulfilling for me, the source of stress and health problems, and it is time to put that behind me). My spouse (56) is retiring in 50 days. We've been the very fortunate beneficiaries of collectively 60+ years in very highly remunerative professions (and we have no children). So we'll be finishing work very well off (very good asset base, no debt etc, very healthy superannuation balances, and enough cash and ongoing passive (on our parts) income to support us until we can start drawing down the super in several year's time).
We have next year pretty well mapped out. January we're off to Japan, then Feb/March we're going to New Zealand on a cruise and some touring there with some US friends who are visiting, then in May we move to Vancouver for three or so years. We're basing ourselves there because we can live there and it will provide a convenient-ish base for exploring North and South America. We then go to London for a couple of years (where again we can live freely).
We think we're as financially organised as we can be at this stage. We have part of our retirement savings in each of Canada, the US and the UK. We have enough Australian credit cards (Amex and a bank issued card each with high limits), and we have UK, US and Canadian banking arrangements and credit cards (I've been fortunate that my business affairs have required me to have banking relationships in the UK and US). We'll be renting out our house while we're away as the plan is to return to Australia and to our home in due course.
Once we arrive in Canada, it will take us a couple of months to sort out new digs, and our first visitors are already booked in for August, and then more in October. We have Christmas with the Canadian family so that rolls us around to 2020. Dec, Jan, Feb and Mar are skiing months. But come northern hemisphere spring 2020 I think will be when some of the retirement existential questions will really need some focus.
Fortunately, we each have a solid list of intellectual, cultural and sporting interests, many of which during our working lives have had to be only occasional or dilettante. For me, languages and linguistics study will assume greater importance. We're both keen amateur musicians, and I am thinking of some formal study in that field. We will certainly pursue our shared interest of singing with much greater commitment. We love exercise so we will be getting more of that, and we're keen skiers and scuba divers. And there's cooking and reading and cinema and concerts and plays etc etc.
I'm not worried about where my time will go or what I will do. I have passions and I will pursue those. I am a little bit worried about how I will adjust to not being "an important person" anymore (P1 status will come to an end in October 2019 - boo hoo). I've had an international career and involvement at board level with international organisations, and that will come to an end with retirement. Initially I don't want to keep doing that stuff, but I wonder whether after a year or so I will miss that - it will be something I will need to keep an eye on.
Thanks to those who've contributed to this thread - there are many important things that folks have raised to keep thinking about.
