First of all you said you were retiring soon and then asked us to take you down off the ledge. Maybe that should be telling you to put on the brakes. There will always be more machines with more bells and whistles that will tempt us, just like our cars. I just refinanced my house and got rid of my car payment and it still has lots of trade in value and there are some great temptations out there, especially when I'm trying to get something moved and no one has the time. Then I think of the car payment and that stops me cold. I included my Viking Diamond Deluxe in my refinancing and then I did buy Brother's latest serger and taking classes each month, so far I've done on jacket, a heirloom nightgown, tablerunner, doing another jacket this week. I'll be so happy when this machine is paid off. I'm hoping that when I retire I can still live in my house and be able to do the upkeep but that is yet to be seen. I'd wait until I retire and see how that goes. As we get older things come up that we don't expect. I can't explain the piece of mind I have now that I'm no longer struggling to pay my bills. I've got lots of repairs to do on my house and trying like crazy to do them as I go and not have lots of added debt to it. So you should ask yourself, is the payments on the machine going to effect your lifestyle after you retire in a negative way. Does the machine have things you will really take full advantage of or are they just pretty features that its nice to have but won't get used enough to justify the cost. Other than buying another small regular machine, since I'm giving my daughter my Janome I'm hoping I don't have to get any more machines. My house and bills will be paid off in 10yrs and I'm hoping at that time (I'll be 70) then I can do some traveling or at least buy things for my kids, grandkids or great grandkids without balancing the budget each time. You need to decide the impact this machine will have on your budget if any and if the cost is worth it. I bought my Ruby and my Diamond as used but they had new machine warranties and I saved thousands on them. Make a list of pros and cons.