How ready are you to retire? Washington Post Financial Futures Columnist Martha Hamilton and Christopher N. Brown, president of Ivy League Financial Advisors in Rockville join me to discuss Hamilton's recent column about an Arlington, Virginia couple who wanted to find out whether they had the financial stability to retire and buy a dream house near a lake.

Where are the best bargain retirement spots in the U.S.? That's the question U.S. News and World Report Money and Business reporter Emily Brandon addressed in the magazine's cover story this past June. Brandon joins me to talk about which cities and towns topped her "10 Bargain Retirement Spots" list, and why.

We're often drawn to writing classes because we long to reflect on our lives and to find a way to record our experiences. We look to our teachers for guidance. But as local writer, teacher and Boomer Cheryl Somers Aubin recently discovered, sometimes it feels as though the teacher gets a lot more from the students than the other way around. Her essay, "A Tapestry of Lives, on Brilliant Display," was published on washingtonpost.com in September. She joins me to talk about her experience.