Hi Mary,

I retired at the end of 2005.

Now the Holiday Inn sounds good to me!

Do they leave the light for you?

How about my two cats and my two dogs?

Have a great day, you're terriffic!
Herb

Hi, Mary,

I loved your post and am very 'in tune' with the humour of it.

For many people in the YUK, however, provision for retirement has been expensive and pointless.

High, fixed deductions from wages were supposed to finance health care and pensions but the government (and many employers - enabled by the government) have stolen the funds.

Actually, that is not quite accurate, you see, there never were any governement funds! The government used todays contributions to pay todays health and pensions costs - and there was never enough income to cover todays costs.

With the dedication there has been and is to war mongering, the accumulation of weapons of mutual extinction, the protection of the priviledged lifestyles of our rulers and the sheer stupidity of valuing 'administration' above 'production' - most of the western world is virtually bankrupt. 

One thing is for sure, there are many places that are cheap and will welcome the responsible, long term resident. While we have our health (did I really say that? lol) it will not be too difficult to find serviced accommodation for under $100 a week - such accommodation may not be fashionable, but it is functional.

The Old Coot

Hi Mary,

  Age is a state of mind, and I like your state of mind. LOL

Thank you for the helpful hints to retirement. LOL

Have a Happy and Blessed Easter.

Your Good Friend

Deborah

Hi Chuck, Planning for the future is an impossibility. No one could have predicted the costs the elderly have to work with. When I was young, I laughed at the thought that some day my husband would $40,000 a year. When I heard that a shirt would cost $17.00 or that gasoline would some day be more than .50$ a gal I did not believe these facts either. I think the key is to keep a light heart and not to be too hard on ourselves. When the family was young, who could have saved. We fell for the hype about buying a house and pay it off in 30 years. You can afford a bigger house payment so why not choose a more expensive house---upgrade according to the amount of debt you can tolerate. Thanks for stopping in. I didn't expect to serious responses but then they are appreciated.

Rudy, You too brought out some of the reality of life. Who would have thought. When I was young nursing homes were a new concept. Grandma and Grandpa were taken care of by the family. How does one prepare for 50 years from now. We have no concept of what it will be like just as our parents did not ever think a loaf of bread would be more than 20c Thanks for stopping in.