I can say that the fantasy stage of pre-retirement planning is the fun part.
Our investment consultant encouraged us to to what is called "Imagineering", to create a loose picture of what we desired retirement life to look like. Write down as floridly as you are able. Fantasize to the limits of your imagination.
Then, block out the time pieces. Then make personal estimates of what resources they require.
Then, and here's the hard part, look at your wife's sheets, and then she looks at yours.
It is entirely possible the life you want and the one she wants are incompatible.
That's when the reality of a relationship enters the picture.
Blending the two different views of the next third of your lives is what the consultant gets paid to help with.
