[Tim]

Usually my tax refund pays for a yearly vacation. A little different this coming winter as my wife and I have purchased a house in my home town (Prince Albert) and will be moving in the next few months. Our house here has been paid off for over 5 years but our new house cost almost $100,000 more than the value of our current one. We have money saved up but will still end up with a mortgage around 30-50,000 depending on how much we sell for. Add to this my wife doesn't have a job in PA (yet) so there might be no vacation this winter. (
BUT - she had a really good phone conversation with the HR person with the catholic school board yesterday. Sounds like they are hurting for french immersion teachers which would suit her perfectly as she is fluent in french. So if she gets on this fall then it will only depend on time off for her. My employer is pretty lenient so I can pretty much take time off as I please. This will be my first full year with this employer and they give very generous xmas bonuses, I can expect $3-4000 which will go straight to vacation fund.
As for retirement well thats a ways off for me. I will probably work full time in my trade for another 10 years at least. Right now our union contract dictates we get over $4 hr paid into pension fund plus I contribute a fair chunk every month. My wife has 10 yrs teaching and will probably put in another 20 then retire at 57 with a great pension.
We won't be rich by any means but barring any serious health problems we should be able to travel plenty when the time comes.