Yakers,
Sorry, that I did not respond to your question before, but I honestly don't feel that I know enough to give anyone any advice. I figured that Helen and Donner know a whole lot more than I do and I would not want to steer anyone in the wrong direction.
It does sound like we have quite a bit in common. My 16 year old is a daughter and she is a sophomore also. Sounds like you are doing pretty good on saving for his education. We did the pre-paid tuition plan for our daughter and hope that it is okay when it comes time to use it. There was some talk awhile back, that the plan was in trouble, but we received a letter stating that our state legislature was going to make good on it. If it was not any good, then that could derail my retirement plans by a few years. I would have to crunch the numbers as Donner states!
Congratulations on your first grandchild also. It should be a fun experience!
We do not have any debt either, except for the monthly Discover Card bill and we pay it off every month. We put just about everything on it, so that we can get the bonus. They have a double bonus with Blockbuster, so we normally get our movies for $2.00 per movie.
I am glad to hear that the growth on your head was not cancerous and that your health is good. I had a brother who died of lung cancer shortly after his 45th birthday. He was way too young and I miss him greatly! Cancer is not an easy way to go either. I wish that I could wave a magic wand and take away every one's nicotene addictions! He stopped smoking approximately 2 years before he was diagnosed. I am a former smoker who quit 12/31/85. I wish that I had all of the money that went up in smoke between my spouse and myself. We could probably be enjoying an early retirement, if we had invested it properly. Oh well, live and learn.
I noticed that you mentioned traveling by canal boats in England. There is a site that I read called Unconventional Ideas by John Anderson. I do not know how people are able to have the blue links post, so that one can just click on it, but you can go to
www.unconventionalideas.com/england.html. His family did the canal boat trip in England and he has some pictures. I would be interested in hearing about your canal boat traveling. John Anderson has some pretty neat ideas on alot of things. He has some good common sense ideas, but a few that I would be afraid to try. I think that I have gotten too conservative in my old age!
I think that there is a lot of Baby Boomers out there who will be running into trouble. I see people who are retiring, who do not have the assets to retire and they do it anyway. I see people's income, assets and expenses, when they state that they are financially unable to repay an overpayment. It amazes me! I could not sleep at night, if we had as much debt and we are both still working full-time and these people are retired. I would not count on the majority of boomers to keep working. Some may have to end up going back to work at a later time, but they want the instant gratification of retiring the same as they wanted the instant gratification of stuff that ran up their credit cards and had them taking out second mortgages and refinancing their houses. I hope that I am wrong and that they will grow up! LOL.
Keep posting. Dreamer