I also got forced into an early retirement so I wasn't able to buy the last part of what I wanted. In my fabric IRA I have a good deal of yardage, including too many novelty fabrics, but there were things I wish I had bought. They are: neutrals to go with the yardage, the usual neutrals of black, cream, etc., backing fabrics, thread, batting, rotary blades, and a Janome with a big harp for fmq. Even when there are good sales now, it is hard to buy. I would say to take as much money as you can get out of the budget now and save half for quilt shows and classes and new fabric. One thing I did in the 10 years or so before retiring was to buy around a theme fabric, so that I had a bolt of a beloved multi-colored fabric and quite a few pieces to go with them, from FQ to yardage. I'll be able to make a series of quilts out of that.
If you do charity quilting, as I do, you need to lay in extra batting, backing, and thread on sale now.