Actually, this couple isn't in that bad of shape. The solution for them is just to sell their vacation home. ($550kish profit, if I read correctly- discounted by $100k of what the article quoted) The issue is that the wife seems to be pigheaded and doesn't want to get rid of the vacation home, and rather stop taking his/her medication. That's imho stupid. Stop taking medicine, get a heart attack,die and not enjoy the vacation home anyway, or sell your vacation home and stop the financial bleeding. Seems like a no brainer to me. What I don't understand is that with there assets, why oh why would they assume such a big risk over just a measely $100k possible profit….Particularly at their age. at 60-61, you should be converting your assets into cash, not the other way around.

Possibly the worst advice yet:

The Daimlers have too much of their net worth tied up in real estate and low-growth cash investments, Cirino says. He suggests creating a more balanced portfolio by shifting most of the money left in their retirement account out of money markets and into stock and bond funds. The planner urges the couple to pay off their credit cards and start rebuilding their savings as soon as Steve starts working.

Uh..So at 60-61, they should "invest" in the stock market…Uh, yeah, that's the logical thing for them to do. I'm pretty bullish about the stock market these days, but I can take a hit if it happens because I got like 30 years ahead before I retire. These folks are already retired, and won’t have other income sources LEFT.

Another thing I don’t understand about the couple. They have credit card debt of $31k at probably some ridiculous apr (15-18%), and yet they bought investment property?????? Doesn’t make any sense to me. So stereotypical.