You obviously have a while before you have to concern yourself with retirement, but there are things that you should purchase just before then. Your home should be reroofed and any necessary repairs made. Your appliances should be new unless one of you is able to replace their parts as needed. Your car should be new, or slightly used with very low mileage.

As someone who was forced to retire before these purchases could be made I am finding it very difficult to prevent a steady deterioration of my living standard to accommodate emergency repairs and purchases. As much as one hates to contemplate it, one must also consider what might happen if one of you passes away just before or after retiring. Having one's income cut in half suddenly forces a lot of choices that I never thought I would have to make at this time. Retirement in dignity, it would appear, is also not for the poors.