It’s me or them. Either they won’t have college or I won’t have anything. I will be borrowing for college up to my equity, which is all I have to pay it back.
@UCDProf I just sent you a DM
UCDProf - before you give away all your future finanical security, maybe look into community college for a few years for kids (if they transfer, same degree on diploma as if went for four years!) as well as applying to schools where your kids’ stats (SAT/GPA) are in the higher range, to make scholarships more likely?
One motivator for me to save for retirement is ‘don’t want to be a burden to my kids in the future.’ So it’s not always ‘them or me’ - sometimes it’s interrelated and taking care of yourself can help your kids!
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Well…if you are on Medicare…and your SS is subject to the offset and windfall provisions…you are going to have a little increase in your Medicare bill.
Medicare increased by 12% and SS will increase by 5.9%. My increase isn’t covering my Medicare bill…so I got a nice bill for the upcoming year.
It also didn’t help that our IRMMA went way way up due to some extra earnings that will continue in 2021. So…oh well. First world problem…
Your dedication to kids education is admirable. But… do think it through very carefully before you make any commitments to pricey schools that require depleting your savings/equity. (You may have situation that makes paying refi mortgage off starting at age 62 easy, but I’m mentioning it because many people don’t).
Years ago we had to make the hard choice to son if he didn’t get a particular scholarship (which til that year had been totally based on stats) that school was off the table. In retrospect we probably could have afforded it, but at the time the stretch was not comfortable when both our jobs were iffy and other variables concerned us. But no regrets - it turned out ok.
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In general, students who need a large enough scholarship to make the college affordable need to make reach/match/likely/safety categorizations based on the scholarship, not admission. Parents should make this clear before the application list is finalized.
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Some people have problems even affording state school costs. Not every state is affordable. Not every kid can get scholarships to offset state school costs.
Something to think about. That it’s not always an issue of finding a cheaper school, when the cheaper school is still not affordable.
Yes I know there is community college and staying home.
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I agree with other posters about seeing what is affordable and what kind of options for your college age students, when that time comes. Maybe you are young enough to build up to replace after borrowing off of your home, or you may end up being able to sell your home and downsize to less pricey area if you plan to retire before paying off your home.
Certainly it is ideal for your students to concentrate on getting everything out of HS and getting strong grades and strong ACT/SAT test scores. If they have a way to earn money on breaks and summers, and are good at saving for college personal expenses, that is a plus.
However if sleep away schools can’t be attended w/o borrowing, I would suggest attending local area schools for at least first two years, and only borrowing what the student can borrow. You may be able to help out with their transportation and cell phone. If a student wants a sleep away school, consider having them work a year to save up to do so - having them keep in mind what the room and board costs are and how much to save to pay for that ‘luxury’. It doesn’t pay to have more debt for undergrad than necessary.
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Another thought if you have any free time (especially once empty nest hits): a side hussle. Lots of options. I know a couple of adult teachers in my town (with kids), one male one female, who wait tables at a busy nice restaurant in town on some Friday and Saturday nights. I know from other servers there that they should average about $200+ in tips per night, plus the measly check for their hours. One night per week would be a bonus $10,000 per year; they also work there more full time in the summer. I also know a young woman who works full time but started a custom candle company. She pours her own scented candles with beautiful labels that can be customized, markets on social media, and is making a great income from that. People in many locations will pay mature babysitters $100 for a 5 hour shift, no taxes. Etc etc. I’m sure each person has unique talents that they could use to come with an appropriate side hussle, and maybe it takes a hit to the pride to add on certain side jobs, but it really can be very doable (and possibly fun) to add $10-30,000 per year doing some not-very-skilled extra work. This could be enough to cover state schools if you get any aid. To me, a more compelling option than forfeiting retirement funds.
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Spouse will retire at 65. I will retire at 58. We have a significant age gap so my earlier retirement is so we have time for travel and other adventures
. We are both federal employees that invested aggressively in the Federal Thrift Savings Plan.
We’ve met with a financial planner and feel like we have the resources to have a decent lifestyle podt-retirenent
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Congratulations @jmnva06 ! Great that you have the federal insurance to cover you before age 65.
Having enough money sure does help enjoy retirement and SWAN. Anybody asks my DH how he is and his response is ‘fantastic’.
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Yes. My federal health insurance continues into retirement so that isn’t a concern
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What is SWAN?
I think SWAN refers to Sleep Well At Night - meaning peace of mind.
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SWAN - I love it! I am a very SWAN person. Maybe I could have taken more of a risk here or been more aggressive there, but SWAN usually wins out… 
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I know many of you are on Medicare here, so I thought I’d ask the brain trust instead of spending days researching this, as there’s only a couple of days left to sign up for Medicare part D!
My parents are long retired, and live pretty inexpensively. My dad never signed up for part D, prescription drug coverage, so he has been paying out of pocket all this time. My mom thought the penalty would be huge for him to sign up now, but I don’t think it is, since they only charge since 2006, when they started the penalty. Looks like the monthly premium would only be about $33 plus $61 penalty.
We want him to start on Xarelto instead of Warfarin, but Xarelto is crazy expensive ($500 ish per month). VA might cover it, we won’t know for awhile, well past the part D signup.
Looks like it would be quite a savings to sign up for part D, but it looks like a hassle, you have to select from many different private plans, etc. We only have a couple of days to decide, my mom isn’t good with extra hassles and decisions, complications. Is this worth looking into? Or would it not save much money anyways? If so, is there a particularly good drug plan people recommend? Do you have to pay that premium and penalty to Medicare, plus the monthly premium for a private insurance?
This is really confusing!
We typically go to the Medicare website every year during open enrollment, type in our location, and drugs, and the site outlines annual costs, drug costs, and deductibles for each plan available in our area. Both of us use very few drugs, however, so we typically choose the cheapest alternative. The downside, is what can happen if a more expensive drug is needed the following year. Then, the cheapest alternative may turn into a very expensive one.
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Check also to see what the charge for that medication is using Good RX.
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Sadly, GoodRx only saves a couple of bucks, still close to $500.
@kjofkw I’m guessing you have to pay the additional specific plan costs along with the part D premiums, or does it give you the cost all inclusive?