Retirement Planning

I haven't talked much about retirement, but I'll tell you now, I think about it a lot.  Not about actually not working.  Although, that will be nice, not have to be any where specific each day.  But I think about if and when I'll be able to retire.  Will I have enough money to retire?  At 60?  70?  Ever?

I spend more time researching and trying to invest my money wisely these days.  But in my earlier working days, I wasn't so interested in 401k or Roth IRAs.  Today, I think about them often.  Am I investing wisely?  Too aggressive?  Not aggressive enough?  Ugh, it's enough to make your head spin.  I do what I can to at least invest up to the company match into my 401k.  we also try to fund our Roth IRAs with what we can each year. 

Then if thinking about retirement constantly weren't enough, I think about if we're too focused on saving for retirement and not enjoying things more today?  What if one of us is in poor health and all that money saved would be for not? 

While I don't think I will stop working altogether, I would like to not work for about a year or so before then so that we can travel a bit.  Can you tell I'm working on the finances today?  lol  I researching mutual funds so we can start putting a few dollars into our Roths.  I side with our broker's own funds.  They have little to no expenses.  I do all the research for our retirement funds and pick what I think will be good performers.  I did pretty well last year, 6.7% ROI last, I'll take it!

We've also been considering a small real estate purchase.  Something for some supplemental income now and after retirement.  Real estate is still somewhat reasonable where we live.  While it's been on the rise, there are still some deals to find.  It's hard to pull the trigger though.  The unknown is always scary.

Jane