Good questions. Maybe if she knew your thought process, she'd be willing to move back to KS. I have found out that her siblings wait for her to go to them. She said she can go months without them coming to her house. The economy is also better so you might actually have a chance of getting a decent job.

I'm in the same boat as you for retirement, but my new company offers a pension plan. I didn't know ANY companies did that any more. If I stay there, retirement will be taken care of, and I'll have free health insurance for the rest of my life. No small thing. And since I'm also forty-something, retirement doesn't seem like the distant prospect it used to!

Have you talked this over with the rest of your siblings? This isn't something you alone (or just you and the R.C.) should have to decide about. And neither should it be done without input from Mom. Really, you need to talk with all the siblings, then you (and they) need to talk to Mom. Also, even if she has little in the way of an estate, that needs to be fixed so it goes the way she wants (like a living trust), someone needs to have a medical power of attorney and know her wishes, etc.

I wish you luck...but Missouri??? *shudder*