I think talking through your hopes,dreams,expectations need to be the first move.Perhaps you will find you are both very much planning from the same hymn sheet and therefore there should be no real problems............however if you are both very different with separate hopes and hobbies for instance,you then need a very different approach and there will be a lot of "giving in and taking" until you reach a position you are both happy with and in total agreement.
Retirement is that very important stage and well worth planning and getting the best out of it,whether you have elaborate plans or just simple ones much as ourselves.
Talking though must be the key,with each allowed to put forth their own ideas.Retirement should be a collaboration of two hearts,free now of children and it should centre entirely on just you both.
Wishing you a lot of future planning and I hope your Retirement turns out to be everything you had hoped for ..........and may it be long and happy.
Our lives and retirement was mapped out for us in the most unexpected way.
My DH was strongly advised to take early retirement at age 55 years as he had already been my sole carer for some 11 years........whilst not only taking care of our home but keeping up a 10 hour working day which often involved much driving to and from.
So we were plunged in at the deep end,having planned nothing and in fact the thought of life after 65 had not even crossed our mind.
I will not say it has been a period of sweetness and roses,it has been extremely difficult at times now as I look back on the last 20 + years.
Over latter years we have made plans mainly based on need .......and sadly as yet they have not come to fruition.
However we are rather determined to arrive at our planned destination................very simply a pleasant Retired Apartment within a complex of similar aged folk so that we can have a community around about us making up for the family we no longer have.
Preferably of course in the nearby town of our choice right on the clifftop overlooking a lovely beach,harbour and bay.
We are very alike in a lot of our likes and ways,we ask for little after the hardships we have managed to survive through,and so it would be lovely just having our ideal setting........together........for at least a few more years.
Meanwhile being very resilient,we shall hobble on,counting our blessings and making the most of what we already have,that is a bungalow that we have worked hard to turn into a real home whilst the virgin ground together on better days we have managed to turn into delightful garden areas.
All far more than we need,and much more to the point,too much to manage and now my once robust DH is also troubled with health issues we are busily planning the one and only final move...............our choice little apartment!!