When comparing medical insurance companies, it’s not the company itself that determines what’s covered; it’s the plan you’re in.
@VeryHappy – agree completely, which is why I said that we may have just had a ‘bad’ United plan. Having said that, I have heard more negatives from the pharmacy and doctors’ offices when dealing with United, but perhaps that is because I am complaining to them!
And some claim offices are just better than other claim offices. National accounts will not stand for the error rate or phone wait times that small group plans experience. But our small group Anthem service was superior to our current United. It is all changing so quickly these days…
@IxnayBob Thanks for posting that John Oliver! So funny (and truthful!). Love him. Figures he’d be a boglehead.
@notrichenough,
We most likely, if we do decide to spend a long period of time out there, will rent something from airbnb or something. Separate from the tax implications of having a business in CA, the hassle factor alone is a big enough deterrent.
@jym626, the converse of that is playing out in our house search. My optimal house is a 3BR with an apartment over the detached garage; DW seems to be drawn to 6 BR, each with en suite BA. Why? So the kids can be comfortable when they visit. My position is that the kids, while very welcome to visit, will IRL only visit sporadically as they’re busy launching their lives. And, in any case, Airbnb and hotels are fine for their visits.
Yes, plans can and do vary widely, even with the same company. You really have to read the terms of your policy and can’t assume you will get anything more or better than stated in your policy.
6BR/6BA?? You could run a B&B yourself!
So far, for brief visits, there is room for us, with relative privacy, at the older s’s place. If we went for any length of time, or when I am fortunate enough to have grandkids, there will be no room for us at the inn.
We are not ready to downsize yet- and like your DW, we still like the idea of housing them when they visit (and those eventual grandkids). But if/when we retire, we don’t know yet where we will live. The state they live in is NOT retirement friendly.
I think that so much housing is sized towards Thanksgiving that it’s silly. Thanksgiving is my only preferred holiday, but a formal dining room is, IMO, useless except for that one day, sufficient bedrooms to house everyone downstream of our marriage is wasteful for at least 350 days/year, etc. I’m not a curmudgeon, but . . .
Hope my job interview today will be personally enriching (that they decide to hire me and our income will go up) - this will help us with our financial goals, going from one salary to two salaries. Excellent company. The two bosses seem pretty nice, and are attracted to my business education, skills and experience - I think lesser talent just hasn’t worked out.
People that worry if their nest egg is ‘enough’ most likely need a higher amount for their comfort - or understand how they will be comfortable with the income and expenses in retirement.
Health care costs (and how insurance covers) is a dynamic paradigm and does need to be factored in. Chronic health care issues not only influence spending, but quality of life and often produces many limitations in life.
We’d have to do a massive clean-up/throw away if we downsized, and the attic is a storage unit for many files! I am currently using my terrace level a fair amount, and we do tend to host some holidays, parties (just had a farewell party) because the house flows well for that. Oh, and its paid for!
We are not great at cleaning and are fine with our small 3bd/2bath home that is 1250 sq ft. Bigger would be too much work. If we need more space for visits or vacations, we can rent what is needed.
I’m not looking forward to the cleanup that we will have to do, but I’ve decided that we will find a house first, buy it with a mortgage (our current home is paid off), move in with what we need, give the kids some amount of time to pick if they want any of the surplus stuff, clean it out (yard sale, donations, etc), and then paint and fix. Maybe we’ll have the house staged, maybe not (I’ve seen some examples of good and bad staging during our shopping).
Good luck, @SOSConcern
Ixnay, great plan…that’s what I did…bought the condo, did some modifications, moved in with what I was taking from the house, kids picked, then estate sale, then donations. Ended up with fresh paint and new ceiling fixtures but shown empty. First folks to see it made an offer after a couple of weeks, once their town house got an offer.
I, for one, can envision a house better when empty than when other folks stuff is in it.
A second home never interested me. Too much work and upkeep. We rent a lot off vrbo and airbnb and like to travel to different places.
I like the idea of just renting when visiting kids or having kids visit rather than maintain a mcmansion for a few days or a week or two a year.
VRBO’s rates (that is getting passed along to the renters) is going up notably. I forget the exact date.
Try Tripping.com - megasearch for non-hotel vacation rentals
My plan is to work one room at a time- garage, then basement, then attic and let relatives and friends take whatever they want. Next call you got junk and let them finish the job. I want to start the process about 18 months before I retire.
Someone also recommended booking.com. Have you tried that @mominva?
@jym626 , I think that is the hotel megasearch.
Depends on what your needs are.