Yet how many of us give the same consideration to retirement?
For most, it is a late afterthought, myself included. But, I am getting there piece by piece now.
And, as you say, it's about a lot more than financial plans.
If you could go back and give yourself advice thirty years ago, what would it be? Also, now that you are close to retirement, what other things outside of money is important?
I believe it is valuable to get perspectives from experience.
My best advice would be phased retirement. Obviously, some people just want an immediate change. But for me, I wish I had reduced my hours by one or two per week. Maybe retiring completely at 2 days per week.
Spending more time with friends and family is much more important to me than money. Between social and financial considerations, I value travelling locally by foot, bus, train, or taxi. Because driving has lost all pleasure for me.
A staggered retirement would be great! I think that this would also be perfect if combined with grandchildren, in the sense that they would be able to spend a lot of time with grandparents, giving some space to parents, but also setting up the scene for experienced knowledge transfer in the things that are important.
I believe that one of the reasons the world is the way it is now, is because a lot of knowledge is not transferred, as we live so isolated from each other, even within families. We used to all be in the one house.