For many seniors, the last several years of unstable economic conditions have made the idea of retiring a daunting venture. Even Wes Craven, the creative genius behind Freddy Krueger, recently wrote a column on the nightmare of his own retirement attempt (his story involved a motor scooter, a kickstand, and a hospital, but still).

Seriously, the question of when to retire has turned into a perplexing logic problem including the stock market, the solvency of Social Security/Medicare, inflation, family obligations and ...