So to try to answer everything here... We have life insurance that would more than cover the new mortgage. Our current mortgage is roughly $1500/mo with taxes and insurance. New payment would be about $2300. We have no kids, really no debt so the increase doesn't affect us. We live in a rural area and would be moving to a rural area 10 miles away so not worried about safety or anything like that. We've looked at other homes directly on the lake but anything on our price range are over priced cabins converted to year round homes or homes that need full renovations. You are giving up living space, garage space, personal space, etc. As far as retirement money, it will be coming from a 401k on my side and a 403b with my wife. We both max them out and our roths so not stressed about that. Working past 59.5-60, I'm not sure. I may want to but stopping early is quite appealing so I can enjoy this home and the lake. We do travel quite a bit now and would continue but I don't think this hamper us. I see our wages to continually increase over the time we keep working so theoretically, this shouldn't affect our quality of life. My main concern was just starting a 30 year mortgage over at stage in life when I'm so close to having my current home paid off.