SeaHawk - good words, I plan on staying active doing something, just not the daily grind. I am pretty handy when it comes to cars and houses, even though the market is tough in both those areas I thought about working on some flip's, either car's or houses. I have been watching a show out of the UK called "wheeler dealers" it is on the streetfire video blog site all the episodes it is great.
I think part of the problem is that the wife and I just took our first vacation in four years (two weeks) we both have tons of time saved up at work we just need to start using it to get a break from the place, ref the leave of absence thingy, cant do it at my job, she can at hers.
On the money end, if we down size our house we would plug another 150K into our assets by going with a smaller/less expensive house.
I would take a hit if I draw the SS early at 62 for me it would be about 600 a month less if my report I get from them is somewhat accurate.
Todd
PS. have you ever heard of HAL-4 they used to haul me around some