The one thing Medicare still does not do a good job on detailing (unless you know how to specifically look for it) is if spouse birthdays turning 65 ‘overlap’ during initial enrollment eligibility for Medicare and you choose to not pick up Medicare Part B until the second spouse retires during that first spouse’s initial window (for the spouse with the earlier calendar birthday). This affected both DH and me, as well as SIL and BIL. DH turned 65 in June, and I stayed working until Oct 1 when I turned 65 and was eligible to begin Medicare (so I carried medical insurance for both of us, to have the switch to Medicare B and supplement, also Part D drug plans). The problem is, Medicare has initial enrollment ‘gap’ – which we found out later after SS had messed up DH’s file and sent it onto regional - where no one did anything. The bottom line was that he could enroll Sept 1 with one month overlap, or “back date to Oct 1” (not risking that move). We enrolled first with online since they did not have local office open to public (could drop off documents, but we had a lot of misinformation). My Medicare (and I also filed SS to begin Oct 1) went through fine. We did not get DH’s Medicare card until the last week in December — after our local office manager spent two days communicating with regional to get it straightened out. The system kept saying “in process” and NO ONE was willing to do the work. Kept calling (and being stressed out about having no Medicare card for DH), but finally would not take any answer from local office by phone saying it is ‘in process’; called every day to local office asking for senior person to review, and their manager said she was taking care of it – and it did take her two days.
Our BIL retired a few months after his wife turned 65. They also fell into this gap situation – she thought her local office had everything right; I told her to ask them about her initial enrollment period and those rules – and yes, they then identified the issue and didn’t mess up their Medicare files; I believe they also did a month of insurance overlap. BIL is a few years older and his birthday on the calendar falls after SIL, but he was retiring after he was receiving the annual bonus – and they both have major health issues; had worked out their Medicare Supplement and Part D fine. I saved BIL and SIL the grief we had with Medicare not processing things right for DH and the delay in getting SIL’s Medicare card - since it was her initial enrollment window (if they put the start of the incorrect month/not following initial enrollment rule like we had initially done).
As soon as DH got his Medicare Card (off the gov’t web site), that last week in December, he went to get a flu shot. The following week was when he needed a big cardiac work up and later cardiac day surgery for Paroxysmal A Fib. Believe me, if he needed any health care from Oct 1 until we got his Medicare card, I would have needed to tell medical provider to ‘suspend billing’ until Medicare issued his card. We had our Supplement and Drug Plan cards that said effective Oct 1. Medicare had the card say Sept 1, and we got back billed for those months.
I believe the reason Medicare has this ‘gap’ after initial enrollment date (they have rules that you have to know about to find on their electronic system – skips the 4th month on being able to enroll after month of birth) is due to their shared SS/Medicare data base or the way their programs (code) were added on/patched together. This initial enrollment rule supersedes other enrollment rules. Not stated in the Medicare guide book printed each year - I looked and continue to look.
You can’t tax loss harvest in an IRA, only taxable. But one reason for keeping some money in a traditional IRA or 401k is if you need the money later for large medical expenses or long-term care and will be itemizing the medical deduction, you can use the money from your IRA for the medical expense and not ever have to pay tax on it.
Also, if you plan to make charitable contributions in retirement, you can do it from your traditional IRA as a QCD and not have to pay taxes on the withdrawal, and it can count towards your required minimum distribution for the year.
lol it took me (76) a while to link the right credit card to my google wallet, but I did it. I must say that token booth attendants (LOL, no tokens for many years) have been very helpful. Almost every major subway station has a visit every two weeks by the MTA bus (search on MTA.info). And there’s an office at Stone St/Whitehall St. near the Staten Island Ferry and a zillion subway stops.
I guess that would depend upon whether you are eager to shift more money into the Roth accounts. If so (due to concern about increasing tax rates and/or desire for a bigger bucket of money available for untaxed witdrawals), just make sure the higher 2024 income level does not impact anything such as ACA qualification.
I’m still using my auto refill MTA senior citizen card. It is lighter to use than a credit card or cell phone when swiping. They haven’t come up with a similar new tap card for senior citizens yet even though they promised a new one by last spring.
Looking at Schedule A, it’s only the portion that exceeds 7.5% of your adjusted gross income that can be possibly deducted as an above the line deduction, correct? According to current tax laws, I qualify it as “possibly” depending on if the standard deduction works better than an itemized deduction. I just want to be sure I’m understanding that accurately. It’s likely LTC or large medical expenses would exceed the standard deduction.
Yes, that’s what I meant. You’d need to have enough medical expenses that it made sense to itemize, and even then just the amount that exceeded 7 1/2 percent of your income, although that’s all to common if long-term care is needed.
I’ve seen MetroCard machines offer OMNI cards for a buck. Presumably it would link to your MetroCard if you had set it up to refill automatically. I have mine linked to my Chase Amazon Prime card since I remember reading that they give extra points for mass transit and rideshares. But I use it in my Google wallet.
True. As long as my present senior Metrocard works, I will stick to it. Opening the wallet on my cell phone and picking a credit card to swipe seem more difficult than swiping my thin Metrocard especially when I have my hands full of shopping bags.
I think if you’re in the 12% bracket or lower, it’s almost a no-brainer to convert up to the top of that 12% bracket (up to $94,300 taxable income in 2024 for MFJ). Particularly if there’s no plans to touch that Roth money for decades. It’s a “maybe” thing to do in the 22%-24% brackets depending on what your income will look like once you hit RMD age. At 32% or higher I don’t know if conversion makes much sense. With the uncertainty of what will happen to taxes in 2026 once our current tax legislation environment is set to sunset and revert to what it was before (adjusted for inflation), it’s hard to plan very far into the future. I think we personally pay more a bit more in taxes since the 2017 law passed with the loss of personal exemptions. We don’t have a personal jet to write off like some people who got a very nice carve-out in 2017 .
My parents learned from working with their elderly parents…but are doing a lot of the same things to my siblings and I as their parents did to them. I assume I will do the same thing to my kids - I have already apologized for it!
All kidding aside, I think people need to move in their 60s (from family home to downsize) and review/update & get all their legal and financial affairs in order. In their 70s move to a retirement community (while they are still with it and can build a community) and review/update their legal and financials, so when they hit their 80s and their logic goes, it is less stressful to them and to their kids. *ballpark ages depending on cognitive abilities
Yeah, we THINK we won’t be like our parents, but time and biology may not go along with that thinking.
To that end, dh and I are touring a retirement community in town next week. We’ve looked at a place in ds1’s city/neighborhood just to get a baseline, but we are thinking that by moving into a facility, something my parents refused to consider, here in our hometown then maybe we wouldn’t have to rely on the kids at all. The place we are touring has a pricy buy-in, but I found the monthly cost pretty reasonable. It’s run by a nonprofit, which surprised me. I have many friends whose parents were there, and everyone raves about it. Apparently, it’s really popular with the academics from the nearby university. Anyway, couldn’t hurt to look!
This is a really good plan. But every one of those moves brings its own issues and resistance. We hope to age in place and bought a small ranch-style home to allow for that. Still, I am aware of the upkeep that we will need to hire out at some point and the oversight that someone will have to do. My sister just moved to a 55+ community and I can see some benefits there. Unfortunately it doesn’t have any assisted living or higher level of care associated with it. My husband is currently visiting his mother who lives in a continuing care community and it so wonderful to know she has a place to be as she continues to decline (she’s 92 with decent physical health and a short-term memory that is getting worse and worse by the day).
Mom wanted to stay in her house, and that’s where she died. She was mostly independent, but was preparing to move to a continuing care community (if she ever got off the waiting list). It’s smart to think ahead and get on the list to move in if that’s what your want to do eventually. There are three large communities where I live and all of them have lengthy wait lists (5 years or longer, depending on the type of unit). Additionally, they don’t allow people to move directly into assisted living - you can only move in if you’re independent. I believe all three have short term stay options if you require rehab after hospitalization.
I have been spending the past several weeks emptying Mom’s house. I think she kept everything. If you’re going to do anything for your children, don’t keep every scrap of paper. To complicate things, I’m finding boxes with very old family photos (think my great-great-grandparents) mixed with grocery lists and transaction statements. Every box has to be gone through piece by piece. It’s really starting to wear on me.
Some of the problem is that time creeps up on you.
My mil still says she feels young and that’s she’s not old yet. But she is, she’s 88 and forgetting more and can’t do what she used to. It’s frustrating because a decade ago seems like yesterday but it’s not.
I have friends who are turning 80. They aren’t even thinking about the next step. Because in their mind, they have time. That’s something to figure out when they get old.
My mom had a fall. She moved to independent living which she loved. In the town she and my dad retired to 25 years earlier. But then she needed to move closer to one of her kids, that’s what my sibling wanted. So she did but now she’s the new one there. So it’s been difficult.
So although I hope to not make the same mistakes, I’ll probably not be smart enough to know when to move. Or realize before it’s too late and want to stay in familiar surroundings.
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