As I mentioned before those were just random examples to depict the year-by-year list. However, my thought process for that random example was that many folks in their accumulation phase are probably dragging around a 15+yr old car with significant mileage and it might be easier to get a 0 or 1% financing on a new one just before retiring than afterwards. I know personally I'll be buying a brand new 3/4 ton truck and outfitting it with off-road goodies and a camper shell and then take off for a year or so of traveling similar to what Fermion did (he built his own pretty cool camper). Anyway, in my case that's a $60-70k 'car'.
Here's a few more subtle tips I've learned in the last couple years.
The military has a huge checklist. Servicemembers have a number of things that can be done much more easily in uniform (medical, dental, service records updates, other paperwork gaps) rather than after leaving the military. (VA disability claims, "Board for the Correction of ... Records"). It's critical to get it right on the first try, so there's a huge administrative burden to clear before the last day in the office.
Civil-service and corporate careers might not feel such a tight connection to their team or their legacy or their final project. You just set your tools on the workbench on your last day, and someone else picks them up to start using them the next morning. The downside is that after you "leave" the office you may get a bunch of phone calls or e-mails about "How did you... ?" or "Where is... ?" or "Who can I talk to about... ?" The good news is that if you've already cashed your employer's last check, then you only have to respond if you want to.
In your personal life, one key item on the checklist should be your access to credit & debt.
The year or two before you ER is the time to boost your credit card limits as high as you can, with the understanding that the hard pull is going to ding your credit score for a month or two. That's more than compensated for by the benefit of your workplace salary and your other income getting you a higher credit limit-- and it's probably higher than anything you'd ever be able to get in ER. You might even choose to apply for another credit card or two in order to have a ridiculously higher overall credit limit. Happily this also gives you a lower "credit utilization ratio", which usually (eventually) leads to a slightly higher credit score.
You may not want to carry a mortgage into ER, but you should definitely apply for a no-fee HELOC. It gives you access to debt at your discretion, but since it's a loan secured by your property it's a much lower interest rate than the double-digit rates on an unsecured credit card balance.
For those who travel a lot with work, take a look at your frequent-flyer miles and hotel rewards points. Different corporations have different rules on who owns the points and what you can do with them, but before you leave the office you want to try to transfer them all to accounts that you're likely to use in ER. That's especially true if some hotel or airline points are hard to use from the location of your ER. Keep an eye on any expiration dates or deadlines for boosting your program to the next level, too. You may enjoy planning your ER travel to take advantage of upcoming benefits, or at least to use the existing ones before they're gone.
