I'm a 58-year-old widow and I have been paying on a 30-year mortgage for 28 years, so I am almost there. I think I owe about $8,000. I am contracted to a job that doesn't offer a pension, but I do have investments (which I think of as retirement money). All three of my daughters moved to Seattle and I want to move there this summer. Right now, I have a little cape cod, which hopefully I can sell for $200,000+. However, my daughters live in the Ballard neighborhood, where a house even a little smaller than mine would cost nearly $400,000. They have condos. I wouldn't mind a townhouse if I get a patch of land to garden. I will be getting a job when I move, but should I just rent at this point? Should I leave the investment money alone? Laura, Ann Arbor, MI

People coping with elderly parents in failing health face tough decisions. But there are warning signs indicating when loved ones should step in.

We have achieved the goal of $10,000 in our emergency fund and now we're looking to put that extra money into retirement. However, in this uncertain market with dwindling returns, we're not sure that a long-term retirement fund is the best place to dump all our eggs. ... We have a fairly good mortgage rate of 4.75 percent. Our question is: Would it be better to focus on paying off our mortgage early while the market is so volatile instead of putting all that money into retirement? Every penny paid off to the mortgage early is money we aren't paying interest on, after all. Cathy, Bogart, GA

We'd like to move into a new home, but we aren't confident that we could sell our existing home without taking a large beating on our down payment. I know there's a dollar/cost average play here (i.e., the house we'd buy would be depressed as well), but I just don't like that. So lately I've been considering purchasing a second home and renting our current one as a way to get past the current housing slump. Question is: If I reduce my 401(k) contributions to save for the down payment and eventually fund the new mortgage, (say, down to 6 percent or so to meet the match minimum), is that a good idea, an OK idea, a bad idea or a really bad idea? Thanks! Dean, Atlanta, GA