Most people were shifted up 3-5 levels recently, it'll probably be easiest to test the waters with a STF character.
Level 35 is the new retirement level (Slightly under 8 million exp).
Build for level 34 if you plan on retiring, use
San's calculator.I'd suggest having at least 6-7 athletics as a baseline so that you don't get s-keyed all the time, though most people seem to have more nowadays.