These different points of view are all interesting. Although we have made the changes I discussed in an earlier post, things really have never been better for us. My husband works for a company that makes a profit every quarter, He makes a great salary and gets unbelievable bonuses. While we could save a lot more, we haven't been willing to cut our lifestyle that much! I have to decide what to do with the money I left in the state retirement fund when I quit my teaching job. I don't qualify to get a pension now as I was 3 years short of having 20 years here and I withdrew my money from the retirement plan in AZ when we moved, so I can't count those years. We needed it to buy our house here and I do not regret that. If I leave the money in there until I'm 62, I know how much I'll get and it's OK. On the other hand, I feel like if I take it out and invest it myself, I could probably do better. My husband will probably work for at least 10 more years and I figure I have about 5-10 years of working in my new career when I finish school in 3 years. But, most of that will be part time. Also, if I take my pension, I only get about 1/4 of the Social Security I put in when I taught in AZ. because our pension is so high we don't participate in Social Security. One of the things that worries me is that if my husband dies while I am getting the pension, I can't get HIS SS income either and that is a considerable amount. He has plenty of insurance and a a decent 401K, but it pisses me off that the government thinks this is "double dipping," because I live in a state with good pensions for public employees.
We don't have any debt except for our house and the second mortgage we took to remodel. We sold our last house at the peak of the boom in 2005 and got this house for a decent price. We have spent a lot remodeling, but we plan on staying here another 10-12 years. Prices stay somewhat stable here, since it is a desirable town to live in. We spent a lot making our house energy efficient and it is paying off. Our gas and electric bills are half of our neighbor's.