[ssmith]

Ok, here I am whining. You see I feel those my age in the 50's are getting stuck. It looks most likely like we will never see Medicare (not political just practical-they are going broke quickly) and we can't move to TV because we are too old and no one will hire us...since we need full time work with insurance. We too have paid our bills and our social security all these years and I hear that Mr President wants to raise retirement to 67. I am afraid by the time we reach that age they will have raised it again...they simply can't afford Medicare. (I remember being young when my mom read where the government started using the Medicare and social security money and she said mark my words ...they are taking your money...she was right)

Yes, we have a good Financial Planner and we have options but it is mostly the insurance issue that could break the bank. Has anyone gotten "co-op" insurance (like the Amish have) and or just carried Catastrophic insurance. Does anyone understand them well enough to know the plusses and minuses of these products? Cobra is too expensive. I haven't approached our Financial guy about these options yet.

Wow, what a Debbie Downer I am being this a.m. Sorry for that! We run into people all of the time who have been able to retire early but this is not an option for us-since my hubs employer is a small business and cannot afford early retirement options. We discovered The Villages about 5 years ago which was way way too early. Please don't misunderstand thisis not about politics....we all are in the same boat donkeys and elephants.