I have enjoyed the peace of mind you speak about with my retirement firmly established in annuities. I simply don't care to 'lose' money - even if it's just on paper. For many reasons, my risk tolerance is very low. The one thing I notice that no one seems to take into their retirement financial planning thinking is the fact that working costs us money. When I retired, I was no longer funding social security, or paying commuting costs. My over all tax burden to state & federal governments plummeted. I found I could live quite comfortable in the lifestyle I had become accustomed to for less than 1/2 my former salary. It was quite an eye-opener!