I have been retired now for 8 1/2 years. I love that i am getting paid to stay home everyday. If you don't have the home paid off, don't retire yet. We had everything paid off. Now it is just utilities,food,insurance bills and taxes. Being that we have been in our house almost 42 years, we pay taxes based on a $125k home. To me, that is the biggest positive. Have had friends who spent a lot on big vacations, house remodels, etc who refinanced their homes several times. Refinancing retriggers rates, and now they pay taxes based on the new value of the home. At retirement time, they were pretty much forced to sell and move out of state because they couldn't afford to pay property taxes based on a market value around a million dollars. So a little advise to younger homeowners, NEVER REFINANCE.