Going to go against the grain here a bit and offer a different approach.

Since you seem to indicate that MM is likely not happening, and you currently have 2 mio award miles, I propose to not try and cram it all in this year while you're still GS, but instead, hold on to a good portion of the miles.
It wouldn't be too far fetched to think that in 2024 or 2025 you will get travel-withdrawal-symptoms, get itchy feet and the urge to travel again.
Since there will be no work that will necessitate or pay for J travel at that time, it might not be bad to have some miles in the vault to use for some UA mileage deals.

Yeah, you won't be GS anymore and the miles are going to devaluate even more over time, but if you can score some good deals, you could still travel up front to some great destinations and continue to benefit from all your previous work travel.

Yes, I was thinking that OP can buy Y tickets which will give him BIS lifetimes miles and upgrade with miles, he has enough for that. And possibly reach one million in a reasonable amount of time. But if travel is not part of retirement all that is moot. I find Star Gold is invaluable on intra-European or intra-Asian flights if I am in Y. Just flying domestically in Japan having Star Gold helps. But I am not retired, so maybe I will feel differently if I stop traveling.

what advice do you want ?
 

Wait, you forfeited 400,000 MP miles and now you are asking for advice? IMO, seems like the worst decisiojn is behind you.

400k Plus Points, not miles...

I retired last year, thankfully hitting 1MM in 2019 before Covid hit. I pretty much only fly United, as I'm based south of EWR at the Jersey Shore. Having Star Gold for Lounge access when flying internationally, being able to get economy plus seats, gifting Mr jtwiz Gold status, boarding group 1, etc. have all been very useful perks.

I used to be 1K or Platinum most years, but honestly don't miss it now that all my travel is leisure-based. Four domestic and two international round trips for 2023, with a similar outlook for next year. I don't miss schlepping to SFO, LAX, DFW, etc one bit. I do miss the international business travel, loved adding on some personal time when possible!

So I'm going to say work on getting to 1MM! Unless you have no intention of traveling in retirement.

Huh?
- OP had let 400 PlusPoints expire on July 31, 2023.
- OP still has ~600 PlusPoints.
- OP still has ~ 2'000'000 award miles.

OK, so your not close to MM... I might give a different answer if you were within striking distance of a lifetime tier (like sitting at 950,000, 1,875,000 etc).

But your status will be good thru Jan 31, so I'd book revenue trips until the PP are expired (or exhausted).

Beyond that, burn the RDM once your done with revenue tickets.

Its nothing official, but you might get lucky with a soft landing next year.

OP is at 850k lifetime miles, so he is not THAT far away. Depends a lot how much traveling he is planning for retirement. But I would go for one million and secure lifetime Gold while it is still on offer.

It's still 15 trips of 10,000 miles.

Tough one for the OP with LT Gold at MM. As JiminOhio noted it is still 15 10K trips, not really easy. I am in a similar situation in that I have about a 3 year horizon on retirement but I am a LT Gold with MM. 2 MM is too far for me to catch. Having had a recent taste of on Gold status having been 1K or Gold for over 10 years I must admit it has been a definite let down. Gold status is definitely worth something so not overly complaining but never expect an upgrade. First have of this year with extended PPs and Gold status I was basically never upgraded. My location on the upgrade is always pathetically low. I think I can hit 1K again by years end (no thanks to UA but that was another post) and will ride that out for a couple years. But as many noted above I'll probably retire with UA LT Gold and pay for F class when I want it and on what ever carrier looks the best. I actually do that a lot of that already. Good Luck

Even at 2MM you'd "only" be lifetime Platinum, which really doesn't add much of anything. :tu:

Totally agree and have like 500K I think to hit 2 MM, believe me I am NOT pushing it. Although it looks like I will finish off my work carrier with a bit of a travel bang.

I'm pretty similar to you, hoping to retire in 3-5 years and at 1,593,000 miles. I don't see making it to 2 million as I'm flying less than 25K miles/year for work now. It would take a job change for the last few years before retirement to get me to 2 million. I'm happy with lifetime Gold (I expect not to be upgraded, so that way I'm not disappointed). I agree with the others who noted the major benefits of Gold are lounge access and E+ (and exit rows) at booking.

To the OP: Congrats on the retirement. I'm in the camp that you might hold on to the RDMs to redeem later. You may also want to grab a UA credit card to help with things like checked bags for when you lose status. I'm not sure whether you can get a better sign-up bonus as a GS or not. I do like the idea of trying to do some travel to use the Plus Points, but also consider using them to upgrade friends and family instead of letting them just expire.

I was around there when COVID struck. Knew that the Premier hurdles were increasing to undesirable levels. Organically I would have crossed it easily within 2 years (if the world hadn't locked down). Never had thought I would have to do domestic mileage runs just for BIS credit.

I finished 2021 at 890K. United algorithms weren't very nice to me. No soft landing. Dropped me all the way down to my actual earned level regardless that my flight pattern had a significant amount of Asian travel.

Wasn't thrilled to do so much domestic flying without any meaningful elite protection. So at the urging of another MM, I called the MPSC and asked why I wasn't given the Asian travel exception (that my spouse had automatically been given). Luckily my call was answered by someone who agreed with me. So I used my 1× 5 year (I believe that is what she said) exception, got to keep my 2021 status another year. Boy was it handly in 70+ domestic segments! Received 20 CPUs across 30 RTs while avoiding the awful summer madness.

Now I no longer have to worry about annual spend. (The 110K BIS travel cost me only about $3,600.) I finally am spending my 1 million RDMs on Polaris upgrades now that the world has re-opened. Haven't seen a CPU in 2023. But also I no longer have to fly only UA for BIS reasons and I'm happy with LT Gold (including my spouse with the companion status)!

So long story short, go for the MM. It's actually within reach. Then sit back & truly enjoy retirement!

Hey, a happy story! Glad things worked out well for you in the end.

One last comment I will add to this thread is IF the OP continues to travel in retirement Gold status is so much better than no status. It does not matter that Gold is worth less than before, it is still worth quite a bit more than nothing.