Barbara Clark:  

It has been over a year now since my boss made me retire (01/31/2011). Unfortunately, since not being prepared at all, it was more of a shock to me. Funny thing was, I began to feel such a huge relief that I did not have to go back there and work again. It was such a stressful job. I was just basically unaware how much stress my body was under. Depressed, I stayed in bed for at least a month and finally started doing things that had been neglected, like trying to get organized and cleaning house. For the last year I have shredded and recycled hundreds of papers, including bank statements and cancelled checks. It seems like nothing had ever been discarded since starting work (09/18/1985) and soooo many things had never been opened. When my house sold in (04/1999) I threw the $8,000 in my checking account and stopped reconciling. Knowing what I know now, that was not a wise thing to do. An online credit card company has been takin...Expand for more