The LTC policies the fed govt was urging its employees to consider also required 3 ADLs, IIRC. We had a meeting with a MetLife agent and then passed as well.
I wonder if I will be required to pay this payroll tax and get the benefits. I work mostly out of state, and my home base is out of state. Likely theyāll find a way to say that I have to pay the tax, but am ineligible for the benefits ?. Iāll bet you anything they end up means testing this eventually. Wonder what they do with people who have already retired. I have my suspicions that this is all about getting a state tax instituted, getting us used to it, raising it, then spending it on their pet projects. Yes, letās spend it on a safe zone to shoot up drugs, with nurses monitoring. Clean needles, attract as many homeless and drug dealers as possible. And Iām not being sarcastic, our Seattle City council members are idiots.
I do see the wisdom of spending money to keep people at home, instead of Medicaid paying for them to be in a nursing home. However, this transition could be very expensive, and I wonder how the delineation between state and federal funds will be handled, will they be saving the federal government money but costing the state far more?
Bus, are you a WA resident for tax filing purposes? If you only pay WA taxes and you are domiciled here, then I donāt see why you would not be eligible for the benefit.
Any thoughts about the sequencing of retirements? I am younger than my husband, but I have more in retirement funds than he does, and I will get a larger pension if we retire at the same time. (We both make about exactly the same amount, but he got a PhD and didnāt really start work until about 30, and I started at 22). I am thinking of retiring in the next year or so. It would be much better if he retires 3 years from this August. Iām a little worried I may get bored because he canāt travel with me, and I donāt want to take on all the house chores while he works. Itās likely I would stress him out because Iād want to do things while heās worried about work stuff. Has anyone been through something like this?
I am a WA state resident for tax filing, @BunsenBurner, however, I am not domiciled here.Maybe this is partly a ploy to get us used to paying WA state income taxesā¦as most people file no state tax return here.
Maybe go on lots of girls trips without him, @colorado_mom?
Iām still working and my wife has been basically retired since 2009 at the age of 41.
She has a part time job that is 100 percent for social purposes and it pays for some fun things for her time to time. 4 hours an afternoon. Twice per week
She goes to zoomba and personal training. Plays pickle ball. Has a friends night ever Wednesday. Is on a few committees that she enjoys. Walks out two big pooches a couple of times a day. Never home. Does shop and enjoys cooking three or four times a week. We go out on weekends. She plans our vacations and handles all the college planning and interaction with d related to her classes and bill payment for school.
She talks with friends regularity and has coffee in the am everyday with the Today show.
If we have things in house one or two that need to be managed like repairs or new plans etc. thatās her desire to run with it.
It does fall to her to help pick up dry cleaning and some of those chores. Including the normal shopping we all do for sundries and target etc. she also has taken on gift buying duties and planning for holidays.
She feels busier now than her days in thr corporate career. She feels very little stress and loves the no office politics lifestyle. Can wake up when she desires and stay up to finish a good show if she chooses. Itās a very flexible lifestyle that she thinks is lovely.
She ended up developing a serious illness in that time and it was a godsend to have the time to focus on that exclusively.
I would retire when you can and enjoy it. Yes you may pick up a few more chores. But get a maid service once a week as a precondition with your husband.
My H doesnāt like to travel much. Iāve taken many trips with our kids, all of them or one or two of them, or with a friend, or to see a friend. I donāt think it will change much when he/we retire. Iāll be first in 3ish years; H thinks heāll work until 70.
Retirement sequencing - For most couples, a big factor is medical insurance. For the years before Medicare (age 65), it can cost $1000/person per month if neither is working (and no retirement medical benefits). So it pays to minimize those ouch-years ā¦ and do some analysis to ensure there are enough savings to cover your scenario.
We expect to pay about $1500/month each, $3000/month total in the years between COBRA and Medicare. Just has to be part of the retirement budget.
@MomofJandL - how many years do you have to cover? We are looking at 9 and 10 respectively for my husband and me. Assuming, of course, that Medicare is still available at 65 when we get there. Is that the average you are expecting to pay during that time? I think we will start lower than that amount, but have no idea how much to budget for increasing costs. Of course, accessibility could all go out the window at any point. Itās daunting to say the least! And, also depressing, TBH.
I pay $24k now a year for health insurance. And its a high deductible plan so add in another $6k in family deductible before coverage actually starts.
We just started paying $1,700+/mo. for the two of us. Ouch. Dh has three years before heās eligible for Medicare and Iāll be on the current insurance a while longer. Weāve discussed how we might schedule some surgeries (cataracts, for example) in the same year with the hope of doing all major medical stuff in alternate years to minimize out of pocket costs. Of course, any emergency surgery or accident will blow that plan.
Weāll need to cover about 3 years, so while itās going to be painful it wonāt last too long.
Weāve paid health insurance coverage costs with a high deductible for about 10 years and have about another 10 yrs to go. It bothers my husband more than me. Like MomofJandL itās just part of the retirement budget.
@88jm19 - oh, we understand that itās just part of it. Itās just not the fun part of retirement! We have no mortgage/no debt at all, so health insurance will be our largest expenditure by far! Sad to see the COBRA winding down. Shrug.
If you are doing any kind of part-time work, it would make sense to set up a C-corporation to purchase your health insurance. This would make it tax deductible. Depending upon your tax rate, that could make the effort and expense (additional tax return, having the company pay you as an employee) worthwhile.
āJust has to be part of the retirement budget.ā - Yesā¦ but Iāve heard a surprising number of people underestimating medical costs (especially prior to Medicare, but also after 65).
Some just looked at Cobra costs not realizing how much higher real rates would be. Each situation is unique and needs careful individual researchā¦ but itās helpful to have some eye-opening sampling of costs posted here.
For us, COBRA would cost close to $30,000/year for the two of us.
Part of it is because my company only has single and family rates, there is no couple category. My D loves it though, because it costs $0 to have her on my plan, although in 6 months she ages out and will have to do something else.
As FIRE people we planned for high health insurance costs with possible scenarios that include changes to Medicare (like raising the age of eligibility) and even the elimination of Social Security for our age group. We donāt think the latter would happen but weāre not relying on it.