” Where you will Build Memories not Morn Regrets! “
Over a 2 and a half day, intimate retreat.
You’ve planned for retirement. But have you planned what you’re actually going to DO with it?
Palm Springs | October – December 2026
A few years ago, I came to Palm Springs for the first time to work for a month.
I fell completely in love with the place.
The energy. The people. The stories. And this extraordinary LGBTQ+ community.
But something kept happening.
I’d meet gay men approaching retirement or already retired and ask:
“So what’s the plan for this next chapter?”
“I don’t know.”
“What are you going to do with all that freedom?”
“Honestly? I haven’t really thought about it.”
That answer stayed with me.
Because we can spend 40 years financially preparing for retirement without ever stopping to ask:
What do I actually want the rest of my life to look like?
And there’s the uncomfortable bit.
Ten or twenty years can disappear remarkably quickly.
By the time you finally decide what you desperately want to do, your body might have other ideas.
Somewhere on the flight home from Palm Springs, I started scribbling.
The Retirement Revolution was born.
I’ve carried the idea ever since.
Now I’m coming back to make it happen.
For seven weeks between October and December 2026, I’ll be based in Palm Springs launching the first stage of Legacy Lounge: The Retirement Revolution.
At its heart is one simple idea:
Don’t just retire. Retreat into your future.
During my time in Palm Springs, I’ll host two intimate 2½-day non-residential Weekend Retreat Experiences for gay men aged 55+.
Great food.
Great conversation.
Laughter.
Friendship.
Some uncomfortable questions.
Some ridiculous ideas.
And hopefully several enormous:
“Why the hell haven’t I done this already?” moments.
Because retirement isn’t the end of something.
It may be the first time in decades when your time finally belongs to you.
Later life is sometimes described through three stages.
THE GO GO YEARS
You’ve got freedom, energy, curiosity and the physical and cognitive ability to use them.
THE GO SLOW YEARS
Life remains rich, but perhaps the pace begins to change.
THE NO GO YEARS
For some of us, a point may eventually arrive when the mind or body simply won’t cooperate with everything we’d planned, and you will happily go to brunch if … someone picks me up and drops me home lol
Where 17 years before you had hiked up a mountain and camping in Papua New Guinea with a handsome local.
This isn’t about fearing getting older.
It’s about respecting the opportunity you have now.
When my No Go Years eventually arrive, I want to be remembering.
The trip.
The romance.
The adventure.
The ridiculous decision.
The friendship.
The thing I finally had the courage to try.
I don’t want a head filled with:
“I wish I’d…”
And I don’t want that for you either.
Let’s build the memories while we can.
Over one weekend we’re going to start answering that question.
You’ll begin creating your own:
FOURTH QUARTER LIFE MAP
We’ll explore the things retirement planning rarely talks about.
PURPOSE
Who are you when the job title disappears?
ADVENTURE
Where haven’t you been? What haven’t you tried?
FRIENDSHIP & CONNECTION
Who do you want around you for this chapter?
LOVE, DATING & INTIMACY
Because nobody issued a memo saying desire retires at 65.
YOUR F**K IT LIST
What are you finally going to do, stop doing, say, change or give yourself permission to try?
PERSONAL SAFETY
Online and romance scams, manipulation, digital safety, exploitation, boundaries and protecting yourself as circumstances change.
YOUR FUTURE
The conversations and appropriate professional planning that can help protect your independence, wishes and choices later in life.
And finally:
YOUR FIRST 100 DAYS
Because I don’t want you inspired for a weekend.
I want Monday to look different.
Our first two Palm Springs retreats are intentionally designed for gay men aged 55+.
Why?
Because they’re the people who inspired the idea.
But this is a starting point, not a boundary.
The long-term vision for Legacy Lounge is LGBTQ+ inclusive.
Lesbians. Gay men. Bisexual people. Trans people. Non-binary people.
Mixed LGBTQ+ experiences alongside dedicated programmes where particular communities tell us they would benefit from their own space.
Loneliness doesn’t belong to one letter of LGBTQ+.
Neither does ageing.
Or exploitation.
Or wanting purpose.
Or needing friendship.
Or falling in love.
Or wanting one more bloody adventure.
We’re starting focused so we can learn deeply. Then we grow.
There’s another part of this vision I want to begin building while I’m in Palm Springs.
And this one is intergenerational from the beginning.
Older LGBTQ+ generations carry extraordinary lived history, professional knowledge and life experience.
Younger generations carry different knowledge, technology, contemporary culture and new ways of seeing the world.
But how often do they actually sit down together?
The Legacy Exchange will bring them to the same table.
Imagine an LGBTQ+ network built around reciprocal mentorship.
A younger person asks:
“I’m negotiating my first major salary. Has anyone done this before?”
A retired executive answers.
Someone older asks:
“Can somebody show me how this AI thing actually works?”
A younger member answers.
Coffee.
Zoom.
Walks.
Dinners.
Monthly gatherings.
Mentoring.
Shared experiences.
An Ask & Offer community where everybody can ask for help and everybody has something worth sharing.
No permanent teachers.
No permanent students.
The currency isn’t money. The currency is knowledge.
It won’t be a dating or hookup service and it won’t facilitate transactional or sugar relationships. Clear safeguarding will sit at its heart.
What we’re trying to create is much simpler:
Connection without expectation. Help without obligation.
I’m Marcus Hunter-Neill, an award-winning leadership, culture and belonging specialist, coach and facilitator, and creator of R’DEBI: Representation, Diversity, Equity, Belonging & Inclusion.
My work has crossed public, private, corporate and community environments throughout the UK, Ireland, Europe and the United States.
My R’DEBI and belonging work has received international recognition, including the Tolerantia Award, while my wider contribution has been recognised with an Honorary Doctorate.
But my reason for doing this isn’t sitting on a certificate.
It’s gratitude.
I get to walk down the street today with my head held high and live openly as myself because LGBTQ+ people before me fought battles I didn’t have to fight.
Some risked careers.
Families.
Safety.
Freedom.
Sometimes their lives.
I inherited freedoms somebody else fought for.
I think we owe those generations more than a thank you.
We should listen to them.
Learn from them.
Protect them.
Preserve their stories.
Help safeguard people against loneliness, isolation and exploitation.
And remind people that getting older does not make somebody less relevant, less interesting, less desirable or less capable of having an extraordinary life.
That’s why the Retirement Revolution and Legacy Exchange belong beside my wider R’DEBI work.
Belonging shouldn’t have a retirement age.
Because this is where it started.
An idea born through conversations in Palm Springs travelled thousands of miles home to Ireland with me.
It has been developing ever since.
And now it feels right to bring it back.
For seven weeks between October and December 2026, I’ll be in Palm Springs listening, learning, connecting, building partnerships and putting these ideas into practice.
Palm Springs becomes our pilot.
Alongside the work happening here, we’ll begin developing ways for people around the world to connect with the project online.
We start here. We learn here. Then we see how far it can travel.
I’m looking for:
Gay men 55+ interested in joining one of our first Palm Springs Weekend Retreat Experiences.
LGBTQ+ people across generations interested in The Legacy Exchange.
Community organisations and civic partners interested in ageing, belonging, loneliness, digital inclusion, safeguarding and intergenerational connection.
Venues, businesses, sponsors and supporters interested in helping us build it.
And anyone who has read this far and thought:
“Bloody hell. I need to start thinking about this.”
You probably do.
You don’t need your entire future figured out.
That’s rather the point.
Just start the conversation.
RETREAT INTO YOUR FUTURE.
DESIGN YOUR FOURTH QUARTER.
BUILD MEMORIES. NOT REGRETS.
LEGACY LOUNGE
THE RETIREMENT REVOLUTION
Palm Springs | October – December 2026
Ready to start thinking about what comes next?
GET IN TOUCH
All The Very Best Of Wishes