Thanks for all the good sggestions. I do have to work to age 60 to be elegible for the pension, so I have until Aug 2015 to prepare. My wife and I both intend to work-one of us for site, the other for $$$. Having grown up in Petoskey, MI; and having lived in Tacoma, WA; Norfolk, VA; and Miami, FL, we really miss the sea, the beautiful great lakes, the mountains, and the tropical sunshine that this amazing country has to offer. I know if we wait too long the dream of living where we want at any given moment will just be that-a dream. But I also want to be wise and not quit my career only to find at age 80 that we made a huge financial blunder. We have lived in poverty and it is no fun. So its a fear thing too.