True, M.Ted, to a point. I have to say, though, that we and most of my friends/relatives either own outright or are close to owning our own homes, moved out of cities 10 to 20 years ago, and have retirement income strategies of some kind, some better than others. Most of us have good credit because we are suspicious of credit, and have used it sparingly, however that goes against the instincts of financial planners/money managers.

So you're right - we aren't really able to give advice about the concerns you express; we just hope we've done the right thing by being very basic about protecting ourselves financially over the long term.