I have been thinking of retiring in five years.
As things stand now I will make that decision after the 2012 election. I have a tax shelter that as of now Congress has not taxes,(although I have heard rumors of a future one time tax before it is taken out). With that and a pension if that still is around, I should be able to pay off my home equity loan and CC and have a nest egg to live off of (If some egg sucking weasle does not steal it)
It is good to try to be prepared. My husband became disabled 14 years ago and with his long term disability we managed to live comfortably and we almost had our mtg paid off then earlier this year the ins company holding the disability pymnts decided that even against doctors advice he was OK and could go back to work so they cut us off and we have lost 2/3 of our income. We are forced to hire an attny for the appeal and are living on the equity in our home which we had hoped to have for retirement. The ironic thing is that they made this decision without even seeing him...just like the proposed bureacratic panels in the health care bill that will make decisions. But Praise the Lord we had our house to fall back on...what about all those out there with no recourse?