Partist, I find it interesting that you consider tax deductions a form of entitlement. I guess I see them as an attempt at social engineering where the gov't is trying to reward certain behaviors. (i.e. having kids (read future tax payers), donating to charity etc) I would like to see a new flat tax system but I would be against the removal of all deductions from the current system based on the fact that eliminating deductions would give the gov't more money that it would leverage to get into more debt. I don't want to make this a political debate because I don't currently agree w/ the politics of either party. Either way, we will never see a tax system that does not have deducitons or loop holes. D's and R's reward their constituents by changing the loop holes to favor their side. Politicians would loose too much power if they weren't allowed to put loop holes in tax laws. Brining this back to the original discussion, if we live in a society that is going to have a social engineered tax system that favors certain activities, I believe that having children and education are some of the activities that should be favored. There would be severe economic issues that would arise if we faced a decreasing population or a decreasing level of eduction of the population. If you want to get rid of entitlements, I'd like to start w/ getting rid of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Then we could eleminate the coorporate welfare we are doling out to AIG, GM, Citi and the others. Once that is done we could shake down the dept of defense for their waste (they may be the least efficient organization in the world). After that we would need to do something about healthcare inequality where our taxes pay for lifetime healthcare of federal and state workers but almost no private companies offer that benefit. I think our quest for elemination of entitlements should start there and not with working parents trying to find suitable daycare for their children.

I recently lost both of my parents. I have four brothers and sisters and most of them have children. The possessions are not worth a ton of money and luckily none of us are really fighting over anything. Everything is supposed to be divided evenly between us kids. Two important things that I have learned from this experience: Online wills or cheap easy to fill out wills do not hold up in all states. Very few states will recognize a hand written will anymore. My parents did the cheap online version and we had to take everything through court to have it approved by the state. It didn't cost us much but it did drag things out a bit. Saying things like, "when I go, you can have such-and-such" does not mean anything AFTER they die. If someone wants to give you something, they need to hand it over to you BEFORE they die. After they die all their possessions become part of their estate and are no longer theirs to give. So if you father would like to reward one of his children for whatever reason, he could give them something valuable before he dies and then let his will be an equal split. It could be a way around hurt feelings when things start to get divvied up.

I've found that "Volunteering" is a bit like having a "Hobby". Best to find these before you retire, after which you can devote more time to them -- if you wish. I think it's difficult to find *meaningful* work as a volunteer. One thing DH has enjoyed is called Grand Times. About sixty Seniors volunteer in township high schools. Teachers request help with all kinds of things, and the leader of Grand Times matches volunteers to meet the needs. DH is usually 'at school' for a few hours twice a week on some assignment. He's worked with the same kids in a remedial English class for two years. It's sometimes one-on-one; sometimes he's working with a 'team' of kids on an assignment. He feels useful, and the kids seem hungry for help. He also helps judge presentations for the marketing classes and helps with senior essays -- nice mix of lower and higher achieving students. More schools could avail themselves of the Senior talent lying fallow in their communities. "Volunteering" needn't be primarily serving the entertainment or time-structuring needs of retirees with 'make work' assignments to keep them busy. What have some of you found to do in retirement that uses your experience and talents?

@k8cd I’ve actually been told by two locals now that the rental market is even more insane here than the home sales. One person suggested renting out our house because apparently SFH’s in this area are hard to come by. The only way I could make that argument with my husband would be to show that it would be extremely lucrative, though, because neither of us are interested in being landlords. @elcieg Why, yes, and I’m starting with my HOA’s parks and rec committee chair position! Ha! (I really have thought about joining the board, but it would be completely self-serving, so that doesn’t seem like a wise idea.) And thank you for bringing up misophonia. Although I was aware of it, I hadn’t really taken it seriously before now. I did more reading about it today, and I definitely plan to bring it up with my physician this week.