RM> > At least if you own a place you can always sell it to get funds as
  > > you always have to keep in mind that some day you may get to the
  > > point where you end up in a care facilty where the monthly cost can
  > > be 2 or 3 times what your pension pays.

AR>I will admit that the idea of becoming too old and frail to keep my
  >current home scares me a bit because I have no current contingency
  >plan for it.

Yes, you don't tend to think about things like that if you are not
too old or in pretty good shape. I'm 71 but my doctor says that
a 50 year old would be lucky to be in as good a shape as I am, but
time catches up with us all eventually if we don't die suddenly
from something..

AR>I don t think my house is sellable. It is like a Roman Villa at this point. I
  >ten see big rural properties for sale in classified ads but they don t sell b
  >use they are not cheap and there is not many people in the need for those.

That can be another issue.. My current place is simple and old but it's
in a vacation area where water frontage building lots sell for a million
dollars and are hard to find so it has a built in market, although in my
case my family expects me to pass it on to the next generation rather
than ever sell it, which is another problem. But I have a decent amount
of savings and got a fair amount in an inheritance this past year so I
have other options at least.

I remember a line from an old TV show where one of the characters
was working out if he would be able to retire or not, and when a
co-worker asked him if he was going to be able to do it, he replied
that he should be okay, as long as he didn't live too long..   B)

('Fish' on Barney Miller)

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 * SLMR Rob  * Don't take life too seriously, it's not permanent...
 * Origin: Capitol City Online (618:250/1)