Those employees whose employers eliminated pre-retirement medical coverage didn’t have an extra 20 years to save $20-30k/year for the expenses which their employer had promised to pay.
And FBOFW, catastrophic plans aren’t a viable option any longer. I suspect that’s how lots of early retirees dealt with medical coverage in the cap between retirement and Medicare.
And in looking at the Tier 5 prices for a medication I’ll be on forever, the implications are TRULY scary. There is no way we could save enough for the worst possible scenario, which is if DH’s employer no longer allows retirees to continue our current medical plan as secondary to Medicare.
I know several of us are lucky enough to have federal health benefits. We will have to pay for Medicare in addition to our federal insurance, but I understand it’s much better for us than for many.
So work changes were going to make it very difficult for me to stay in current job for two more years. Low and behold, after scheduling an appt for filing Social Security for myself and going in to work with my retirement letter - I got a better job offer from work and am staying. I had called my H before I went in (having texted him from work last night) and he predicted to a coworker of his what would happen. I sure didn’t see it happening, but glad for the new opportunity. After a few more days in current job, have a scheduled personal trip, and when I come back will be in the new job. Really glad to be able to follow through and work two more years.
I’d be willing to give his view more credence if the company valuations in the major indices moved in lock step. They don’t. So, active traders still manage to effect price setting to a noticeable degree. Fwiw, there are traders more than happy to “pick off” erroneous pricing.
@mom60 Your friends are skiers but winter in HI? We have a friend whose main home is in Jackson. Their neighbor had enough of winter there and moved to Phoenix.
I’m still having so much trouble figuring out how to transition to spending instead of saving.
We have more money now than I would have expected due to inheriting some IRAs and other assets late in life.
But we also have huge medical expenses.
But there probably is plenty of money.
It’s hard to switch mindset now, after years of being frugal but having jobs, to both being retired (without employer sponsored health insurance.)
@orangepurple What would you like to spend more money on? What expenditures would make you happier, add to your enjoyment in life, make things easier for you?
You saved this amount for the purpose of spending it down. Just do it. (I know, easier said than done, but all of retirement is a faith proposition. Do you, or do you not, trust the process you used to get here?)
Yes, the uncertainty of various things like medical care costs and future investment returns bothers me, even though I keep looking at the numbers and being fairly confident that we have a reasonably prudent mix of investments. I think some of it might just take a while to get used to…but basically, @ChoatieMom, I have confidence in the decisions we’ve made.
But I think about what @doschicos is saying: what do I want to do with this money?and that’s rather difficult in some ways! I would love to make more improvements to our house but I find it very hard. I wish I could get someone to take charge of it for me. It’s totally not my thing.
I would kind of like to just start over with a newer house that is already fixed up, but I don’t think my husband will ever want to move.
Oh well. We did have some work done this year and survived it. There are some other projects that we should do soon.
Yes, knowing how long (or short) one will live and needs to plan for, what future expenses — medical & long term care will be Are among the big unknowns.
I always read the Seattle Times financial makeover column, but sometimes their advice makes me crazy!
For this couple, the planner should have told them:
Yes, you have totally screwed up, and now you have to get dead serious to fix it. Ain’t gonna be easy. No more pets. Stop giving your grown daughter money. Stop spending for anything except absolute necessities.
Both of them need to get second jobs and work nights and weekends. Maybe third jobs. They have no kids at home, their income is very low for a high cost area, they have to increase their income significantly. They have to get intense about paying off their debt quickly, and a higher income will raise their social security payouts.
This column always tries to make it sound like it’s not going to be extremely painful to fix debt problems, but sometimes people are in terrible trouble, and if they don’t do an extreme lifestyle change, they will never catch up.
And, “what the hell have you got in a storage locker that’s worth paying $160 a month? If it’s worth anything, sell it. You’re paying almost $2k a year, for what?”
We have been financially lucky in the past decade or so. Even before that, I told my kids that I was going to give them 2 very big presents: 1. I think we can afford to put you through college with no student loans and more important is #2: we are saving diligently for our retirement, and you won’t ever hear a knock on your door from us begging you to take us in.
Way back when, we were able to save because we lived below our means, which were not extravagant. As fortune has smiled on us more recently, it has become easy to do, but we could go back to frugal if necessary.
Oh yes, that storage locker. You have got to be kidding me! If there’s anything of value in there, sell it to pay the debt down and get rid of those payments. It just doesn’t seem like they have the intensity, guidance or desire to get it done. It’s so much easier to be lazy, to keep doing what you’ve always done, because it’s comfortable and you have ingrained habits. I’m as lazy and spendthrift as the next person, but I do know how to live low and what to do, should we ever have to do it, like @IxnayBob does . It has to be an obsession, but let’s all hope we don’t have to go down that road again, especially during what is supposed to be our retirement!
Three of my four sibs are in a similar boat, only with lower earnings that the couple in the article. I’m terrified they will one day show up, hat in hand.