So T. Rowe Price offers a free analysis of your overall investments/savings and recommendations for whatever your long-term goals may be, such as retirement.

The service is free as long as you have at least $100,000 invested with them. The person who works with you and prepares the report is a CFP.

You begin by filling out a fairly comprehensive questionnaire that includes what you'd like to know and listing all your current assets/investments and in my case, when I'd like to retire and how much annual income I'd like and so on.

After that, I scheduled a time to talk on the phone with the CFP; it was about a 40-minute phone call during which time she clarified and confirmed various things and we discussed my personal issues, concerns and points of interest. These included, can I retire BEFORE age 60? Will I enjoy the $40 to $43K annual income I desire? Will I outlast my savings?

Yesterday I received the emailed 20-page report which summarizes my original inputting information as well as their specific recommendations, not only in terms of the overall makeup of my portfolio but also recommended T. Rowe Funds to consider. Becus of course they would like it if this resulted in my investing more with them, even though they're aware much more of my money is now with Vanguard.

They also ran the Monte Carlo simulations to see how likely my money would last til the end (age 95 is the number I used) given different market scenarios.

But that's not all. They will schedule a 2nd meeting with me to discuss the report and respond to any questions I have, and to help me implement the plan if that's what I want.

And with my consent, they will check in with me on an annual basis after this, to see if there are any material changes in my circumstances, and so on.

I have to say, I'm impressed to have these resources at my disposal, at no charge at all. Guilt may cause me to invest more with them, even though I really do want to keep as much as possible with Vanguard, because they have lower fees. I also am very partial to index funds whereas T. Rowe would like me to invest more with actively managed portfolios. They're not being pushy at all.

I am very tired right now but I took a quick read of the report tonight. Based on my risk tolerance, among other things, they're recommending my asset allocation remain roughly 60% stocks/40% bonds/cash for the next 3 years, until retirement. I guess, too, this speaks to my current portfolio not being bad at all since they are not recommending wholesale changes. She commented that she thought it was very well-diversified. In retirement, they're recommending a 50/50 split.

They are suggesting some tinkering/tweaking of my current portfolios in terms of weighting of specific funds and one thing i remember her telling me on the phone is that they would not recommend sector funds. Meaning, I'm now invested in their Health Science Fund and a Vanguard REIT fund, both of which focus on a single sector. They feel these are too volatile given my statement that a 15 or 20% correction now, at this point so close to retirement, would concern me "very much."

I'm not opposed to closing those both out, though I do remember one reason i got the REIT fund is that I no longer have a mortgage, so it represented some real estate diversification that I don't otherwise have exposure to.

Anyway, I do have to study this in more details and I believe some of their numbers were off. I'd also like to get them info on my company match each year. Not sure if it's really that significant given I'll only have that for another 3 years if things go my way.

I will share more tomorrow.

In other news, Patient Saver IS crazy itchy itchy itchy. I have a bad case of poison ivy which i got last week. I'm hopeful that "any day now," i should turn the corner and start to see an improvement. The worst spot is on the inside of my left wrist. I have some also near my right elbow and on my stomach.

The itchiness definitely waxes and wanes. I've been trying to wear short-sleeves shirts when I can because even the slightest brushing up against it as a sleeve would makes it really scratchy. It's usually around this time i go see the doctor for prednisone, but if I can avoid nasty drugs, I would prefer that.

The part on my left wrist looks downright nasty. I was planning on going to a reception at the arts group today and i didn't want to repulse anyone with it, so I did wear a long-sleeved shirt to cover it up.

I spent a few hours at the arts place and spoke to a number of very nice little old ladies. They are all so friendly and sweet and kind. I decided to purchase 2 small framed photographs, one of just 2 sales today. I thought they were really quite reasonable, at $40 each, and then I learned that if purchased together, they were just $60 for the pair. They were photos of shorebirds on the beach with frames that looked "beachy." God knows where these will go, with all my mother's art, but I love birds and I wanted to support the arts.

They all seemed quite pleased, although the woman who took those photos wasn't there. She will get a phone call. I won't be able to take the photos home til the end of the show, when I pick up my mother's work. I had someone take my picture with my mother's work there and someone had prepared a half dozen tabletop tent cards describing my mother and her work. Plus I had her bio and framed photo there and 2 of her larger pieces.