<prompt> Human: Close relative of mine has turned 60 years old. Id like to give them helpful advice, if I could. Earns 33kyear working for the government a county in the US. Has about 4k in savings 40k in home equity 55k left on mortgage refinanced a few years ago Lives alone in a 3-bedroom home kids and ex-spouse moved out several years ago After retiring in a few years, will receive only social security, no pension from job.Expenses per month: Mortgage 325 and also pays 50 extra Food 300 Utilities 145 Home and car insurance 60 Dog food 50 Gym membership 35 Gas for car 35 Car parking space at work 30 Misc including home repairs health 100Yes, a 3-bedroom is too much space for one person, but apartments in their area cost more than that mortgage payment. Any advice for them?Any advice for that persons kids who may be able to put a few thousand towards something whatever would help the most?Assistant: They should really try to keep working until they have reached full social security retirement age 66-67. If they retire early as early as 62 they will get a greatly reduced SS payment. Plus obviously the longer they work, the more of that mortgage they will have paid off.Social security is not going to be a lot of money. Probably 15k per year, depending on when exactly they retire and what their lifetime contribution has been. That is not going to be enough to live on, especially if they are still making mortgage payments.Also, Im only seeing 1130 in monthly expenses here. Where is the rest of the take-home pay going? there should be almost another 1k somewhere. Is there other debt that you have not listed?I would strongly, strongly advise them to get the house paid off 100 before they retire.Human: I would strongly, strongly advise them to get the house paid off 100 before they retire.Interesting. I was going to suggest to them that they plan on selling that house and downsize when they retire. Without financial help which maybe their kids could provide they wouldnt be able to get the house paid off in 7 years I dont think.  <response>: Well sure downsizing could work, my point was that SS benefits of 15kyr is going to be very tight and they should make sure all debt is paid off before they retire if at all possible.I dont know what area they live in but if their current house is worth 95k, how much downsizing do you think is really feasible? Keep in mind that selling buying a house is probably going to cost 10k in transaction fees, so it would have to be substantially cheaper to have a meaningful impact. There may be other benefits to moving less maintenance, more comfortable, etc but if they are only 55k away from owning the home outright that seems like one decent option.Note that once they own the home there are ways of getting cash out of it, e.g. a home equity loan or a reverse mortgage. Its hard to know whether those would be good options for your relative but it is one way for them to stay in their home longer, if they desire.In any event, the situation would be a LOT better if they spent the next 7 years working, saving, paying off debt, and building up SS. 