In 2006, I had extensive back surgery due to an old horse injury, with a vertebra that just fell apart. Recovery in 2007 and 2008 didn't go well. My husband was ready to sell our business, and we made a major move across country as well. Bad timing on all counts, as yes, we took a HUGE cut in the price of our final property that we had rolled our equity into, just to get out and be able to move. And that did eat up our 20 years of investment, and work, or most of it. We came out ok, barely, but have recovered very well over the past 15 years in Iowa. Living here is VERY reasonable in retirement. And, yes, the 90's were the hard days of HIV-AIDS for us. We can count in the 50s the number of friends we lost over that decade.