Lots of good advice on this thread, however you'll never really know until you try it.

I gave-up work about a yearand a half ago, with about the same amount of money in the bank as you. I was 46 at the time.

I enjoyed the first 3-4 months but after 6 months I was starting to get bored and began to realise that I was missing work. This came as a big surprise but there you go. After a full year off I decided to go back to work and, luckily, quickly found a job working in Singapore and now China.

I had a fairly interesting life in Thailand during the year off work. I travelled a lot, both inside Thailand and four trips to Indonesia, plus Vietnam, Singapore and Cambodia, visited the gym almost every day and lost some weight and got fit, kept in touch with friends who were still working but visited Thailand occasionally and made some new friends. However, I am much happier having gone back to work. Funny really.

I intend to try again when I get to 50 or 51.

Simon

Lots of good advice on this thread, however you'll never really know until you try it.

I gave-up work about a yearand a half ago, with about the same amount of money in the bank as you. I was 46 at the time.

I enjoyed the first 3-4 months but after 6 months I was starting to get bored and began to realise that I was missing work. This came as a big surprise but there you go. After a full year off I decided to go back to work and, luckily, quickly found a job working in Singapore and now China.

I had a fairly interesting life in Thailand during the year off work. I travelled a lot, both inside Thailand and four trips to Indonesia, plus Vietnam, Singapore and Cambodia, visited the gym almost every day and lost some weight and got fit, kept in touch with friends who were still working but visited Thailand occasionally and made some new friends. However, I am much happier having gone back to work. Funny really.

I intend to try again when I get to 50 or 51.

Simon

Interesting.....

Some consideration needs to be given to what you will do with all your time once retired. A nice balance is if you can find consultancy work in whatever profession you're involved and stay active for a portion of the year, i like to do about 100 days work a year. As you have mentioned it is always good to stay in touch with people you have worked with so you can stay in the loop.

JH