celticmoon Thank you so much for the plan outline. I have been thinking along these lines but never really put it on paper and crunched the numbers. I think your plan is as good as you can possibly make it with out a crystal ball. You are right about the unknown. How much will they reduce SS based on income? And how much we will have to pay for Medicare again based on income. We will have to use Medicare and buy a supplement. After all the research I did for my parents I have a pretty good idea how much it would cost today buy who knows what will happen in between now and the 3 or 4 when DH retires or in the future. I agree LTC insurance is to iffy at this point and would rather save that money than take a chance on it. If we live to be 100 one of the issues may be every day living expenses. We all have watched the price of food and most utilities double in the last 10 years. It still blows my mind to pay $4.00 for a loaf of bread or $5 something a pound for a tomato. We could also see our property tax skyrocket here in California. Some politicians would love to get rid of our Prop 13 that keeps property taxes from going up and up. After Joyful referred to my DH as being stupid for not paying attention to household finance in another post, he didn't know the whole story, I got to thinking about it so last month I told DH the bills were ready to be paid, money needing transferred, ect and ask him to do it. I had in the past told him I did most of it on the computer and showed him how to find passwords but really didn't think he paid attention. Guess what it took him all of about 20 minutes to do everything. He then said if I wanted him to do this every month I had better give him a key to our post office box. LOL Never even thought about it but in the 20+ years we have lived in the mountains he has never ever stepped foot in the post office. He now knows where the extra key is. So thanks Joyful for making me think. So all of you out there keep the questions and ideas coming. I can use all the help I can get in trying to think this through. At this point about the only thing I can think of that hasn't been brought up, not really a retirement issue but related, is pre paid funeral arrangements. Not terribly expensive but a great gift to the ones left who have to settle your affairs.

It's hard, but first off - relax. You don't want to be making any decisions when you're in a panic mode. It's just too easy to make mistakes when you feel vulnerable. No matter what, retirement and/or a change in life is always a leap of faith and when you've done your best to work out a smooth transition, it generally all falls into place. In no particular order: Make arrangements to have a talk with your 401k administrator even though retirement is over a year in the future; they're in the best position to discuss options with you. Once retired and no longer actively contributing to the plan (and having reached the age of 59 1/2) you can start either taking the 401k in monthly installments for X number of years to augment the SS payments, or withdraw some funds for a purchase, etc. without the customary 10% early withdrawal penalty and leave the rest to keep accruing until you must start withdrawing funds at age 70 1/2. If you're a member of AARP, they have a personal health insurance plan underwritten by United HealthCare Insurance Company (www.aarphealthcare.com) that might be worth looking in to. I'm always a little torn on life insurance; is that something everyone needs? With grown children, etc., does life insurance do anything more than guarantee funds to cover funeral expenses or provide a few dollars for the surviving spouse to get grounded once again? I have a life insurance policy as a benefit of retirement - and with no husband or children, all these assets will simply plow into my estate for whatever will be left for my heirs after my final expenses are dealt with. I've also made it known I want no funeral of any kind and only a simple cremation. I do have a spot in the family plot (we took care of the cemetery business as a family about 10 years ago) for my "cremains" when the time comes - hopefully, many years from now - and will arrange in advance for my footstone to be placed and for my heirs to have the dates chisled, etc. Have all your legal documents in order - seemingly a less taxing factor while still actively working: wills, Trusts (Trusts are such beautiful instruments for avoiding probate), Powers of Attorney, End of life Documents, DNR's, No CPR's, up to date lists of beneficiaries, lists of assets and where they're located. These things have nothing to do with what is generally considered to be in the process of retirement, but they do tend to get put aside to be taken care of later. Sometimes "later" happens and people are caught unprepared. And I've dealt with a few elerly relatives who left messes behind because they trusted when the time came everyone would "do the right thing". Wow, if they only knew how much time and energy went into doing the right thing...!!! Keep track of your expenditures for the next year or so, no matter how small - it gives you an idea if a corner needs to be cut somewhere or if you're sacrificing some enjoyments in favor of saving. Some things will always be beyond your control - like inflation, the cost of utilities, gasoline, health care, home insurance and property taxes. Is this a time to start using some of the things you put aside for future use - like the nice table cloths, dishes, silverware, glassware? Time to declutter, either finishing or dicarding the old projects laying around? Too many old books you won't reread, old clothes shoved to the back of the closet? These things don't necessarily help with finances, but decluttering is liberating and frees you up for what you're really interested in doing. And some traveling and fishing and spending time with family sounds pretty good.

time for this to drop down

I use the PS Knight book, 'Electrical Code Simplified.' My father is a retired electrician and he recommended it to me. It really is very good. The author is a former electrical inspector and is very clear, both with code requirements and typical house wiring descriptions. It's about $20 at Home Depot and can be ordered directly online. I've put the link below. There may be a version particular to your province so make sure before you order it. Be aware that the code is being updated this year and there are more changes than usual, but I am not aware of what is changing for residential wiring, so I can't say how current the old book will be. Here is a link that might be useful: PS Knight - Electrical Code Simplified