Monetarily Unprepared To Retire (moving, conversation, dump, graduate)

[mathjak107]

i am going on cobra from 62 to 65 . my premium for a small business obama gold plan for myself is 6200.00 with a 250 deductible and 3500 out of pocket. that is a better deal than an individual plan on the exchange.

marilyn is going on medicare so she will have a medigap high deductible plan f with 2100 deductible for a 1200 dollar premium , plus

Medicare Part B: $104.90 = 1258.80

Part D Coverage: $36.00 = 432.00

so we will pay over 9k and have a 3500 out of pocket exposure on my medical and 2100 deductible on her medicare.

we have a long term care policy too that runs us 3200.00 each after tax credits. so even leaving that out can be quite a chunk of dough.

sure you can get an advantage plan and if things go well you can even get away cheaper but the exposure is far greater if things don't or if you go to a network hospital and a non network doctor has to see you..

while in network coverage in a hospital is capped out patient has so many loopholes .

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by nicet4

And I think you are right and if the couple is <65 you're probably short.

Medicare Part B: $104.90
Medigap Plan G: $135.00
Part D Coverage: $30.00
Dental: $33.00
Total: $302.90*2 = $605.80

$605.80*12=$7,269.60 for a couple for one year in just health insurance premiums.

Add this is $147.00*2=$294.00 in Part B deductibles which brings us to $7,563.60.

This is only $2,436.40 from $10,000 and everyone should recognize where I live the cost of supplemental plans are among the lowest in the nation. I've seen some Plan F and and Plan G premiums spike over $200.00/month where mine is only $135.00.

So we're already at $7,563.60 and some of us require some drugs that are not cheap. Most of my drugs are cheap, all are pretty common and generic, but I take one that costs me $450.00 in January and another $145.00 in both April and July and another $450.00 October $1,190.00.

With my drugs we're now $8,753.60. My wife has drugs too but nothing near mine... maybe $300.00 for the year so that puts us to just over $9,000.00.

Now about dental. Yes, we have dental insurance that pays for twice annual cleanings and exams but other work is paid at about 50%. If I get a crown the bill is around $1,200.00 and I get to pay half of that and while I have all my own teeth and plan to keep in in your late 60's it sometimes costs money to do that.

Now add eye glasses and exams. I got to agree with Mathjak, $10,000 per year for a couple is not an unreasonable figure at all and in some areas of the country it could be a little light.

Yep, so much for Medicare being free.

Oh, and if you are retired before Medicare you can practically double that figure.

Don't be ridiculous. Those figures are obviously made up. You must be another one of those arrogant, condescending people living in an east coast bubble to write drivel like that.

[Perryinva]

Originally Posted by VJDAY81445

If everyone followed Mathjak's philosophy of not retiring until you have over $12,000 a year budgeted for health care, a whole lot of people would never be retiring.

First off: "BWAHAHAHA at MadMan"... too funny.

He never said "not retiring". He merely pointed out that you must be aware that health care costs can easily be that much IF you are retired and want them or expect them at a level you have been used to.

Using your logic, then half this board is telling the other half not to retire, EVER, because they don't have enough saved to live at all. Clearly a huge percentage of the "retiring/soon to be retiring/blindly assuming they will retire eventually" populace, in the US, (and obviously not on these forums) does little to no planning, has no real idea of a budget or what it costs to live beyond government support and SS.

None of that is in debate.

Even very educated and properly planning individuals may have no idea of what real health care costs will be in retirement. I'm just 5-6 years away, and was not aware. I work daily with smart, well prepared financially for retirement, RETIRED, with pensions, engineers, that have all come back to work part time just a year or two, after retirement, and they ALL say the same thing.They want the added savings, while they can get it, because once they got past 65, and the company healthcare bene's stopped, they were shocked at what it cost to replace it!

Every single one of my boomer relatives, on both sides, have no idea. The oldest sister, on my wife's side, is 68, & she & her 68 yo husband have varying health issues, but both "retired" at 65 because "now we're all set with SS & Medicare", and both are back to work because they saw how fast their savings were dropping. And their house is paid off, both collect decent SS from working decent jobs, but they never invested well or lived below their means. They work for health insurance. They hate it, but reality slapped them hard, and they felt they had no choice, if they wanted to maintain their lifestyle. He doesn't expect to live to 80, but she does, and their "plan" is to '"make it" until he dies, then she will sell the house and move it with one of their kids by adding an in-law suite. And they're lucky because they both COULD go back to work. Many, maybe most, once they retire, it's all over.

That's no "plan" in my book!

Does that mean everyone without a 7 figure savings can't retire? Clearly not. But the purpose here, I thought, was to comment on being what it takes to be monetarily prepared for your OWN version of retirement.

Is pointing out the reality of your own actual costs in your location, for your circumstances fear mongering? I personally don't think so. It's simply more information and real world data points that may or may not apply to you, so if it doesn't, great, but for many here, it does.

All the warm and fuzzy posts about being happy and fulfilled in retirement are important, but many here also are the ones responsible for themselves and their spouses, and simply believe that forewarned is forearmed. I came here looking for real world costs and information.

I'm constantly annoyed by posts where people say "I retired at 53, (or some young age) because I'm tired of work and I deserve it, after working 28 years" Really? Just because you worked a third of your life, you deserve to take the rest of it off? No one "deserves" retirement just for working. Thats such a crock. You are making a choice: I've lived this way, saved this much, have this much income, and now I can live on that, or I can't. I'm flexible and can do this, or I'm not. I'm not the type that believes I could live the Mr. Moneymoustache way of life, (I totally agree living frugal is smarter, of course, but not the be all and end all) nor do I think that Having to have a $200k COLA income for life is required, and there are plenty of sites professing this is what it takes.

[TuborgP]

^^^^^^^ For the INTENDED target of those sites it may well be.

[TuborgP]

I just submitted a post in another thread that makes me want to say the following here. It is perhaps better to be prepared to live and love your life in retirement than to be financially ready to retire and being financially ready to retire and not being ready to smell the roses of life in retirement may not be so desirable.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by freemkt

I cannot speak for others, but I will ask, HowTF much did you expect me to save for retirement when the most I have ever earned in a year is $17K?

Who TF are you talking to because you may notice the original post is a study up for discussion. I expressed no opinion.

[Perryinva]

Originally Posted by TuborgP

^^^^^^^ For the INTENDED target of those sites it may well be.

Oddly, (and I wont list his site because I think its just an excuse for an income generating web site based on traffic, and contains unrealistic and mostly unworkable propositions to be wealthy, but he knows how to write and engage people to make return visits and generate more hits) the site I'm referring to claims the usual "anyone can be rich", eye catcher, as long as you have a degree, live in the right area, are willing to live on a shoestring, and at the same time land a lucrative job that allows you to bank and invest most of your income. If you can do all that, oh, and get lucky at real estate, then you too can retire a millionaire at 32, with $200k income for life. Thats "his" estimate on what it takes to live adequately. And people keep visiting his site, generating income for him, and not one other person has actually come out and said "Look, it works, I did it too!". Mostly people complain to him how unrealistic he is, or praise him for being a visionary and are "on their way to FI, too!" He even SAYS he owns multiple similar websites, and that seems to go over everyones head. They keep coming back, and give him more traffic, and more income.

[Perryinva]

Originally Posted by TuborgP

I just submitted a post in another thread that makes me want to say the following here. It is perhaps better to be prepared to live and love your life in retirement than to be financially ready to retire and being financially ready to retire and not being ready to smell the roses of life in retirement may not be so desirable.

Well now, thats the trick to it, isn't it? No one likes to take a hit on their standard of living, and unless youve always lived WAY below your means, then early retirement in that case actually means financial independence to have the income to do what you want as young as you want, and still be smart enough to have it last forever without needing SS or a pension. That is roughly Mr.Moneymoustaches website philosophy. As are many ultra frugal living websites. And if thats all it takes to satisfy you, literally just smelling roses, then I am almost envious of you. I need more than that. (I know thats not what you meant)

[Escort Rider]

It only took me a few minutes to go back through my tax records to cover the six years I've been on Medicare. Here are the results (my costs only, not including amounts insurance paid):

Drugs: Yearly out-of-pocket drug costs ranged from a low of $27 (2013) to a high of $85 (2011 & 2012).

Lab work: Yearly ranged from a low of $40 (2013) to a high of $310 (2009).

Insurance premiums: Yearly amounts didn't vary much. The average was about $1450.

Doctors and dentists: This varied a lot because I had a dental implant in two different years; those high years were $3826 and $3830. The two lowest years (2013 and 2014) were $275 and $370.

Total yearly costs for dental and medical were:

2009: $5,813 (a dental implant year)
2010: $1,843
2011: $5,574 (another dental implant year)
2012: $2,724
2013: $1,817
2014: $8,286 (my share for hearing aids was $6312)

Total for six years = $26,057 divided by 6 = $4343 (yearly average from ages 65 to 71).

The damn hearing aids added over $1000 to the yearly average. So if I hadn't been a freak of nature with my hearing loss, a yearly average out of pocket medical/dental costs of just over $3,000 seems about right to me.

Important note: I do NOT think people citing much higher costs are lying. People's medical conditions are quite variable, and hospitalizations can add to the costs. (I have had no hospitalizations since early childhood). Also, age is a variable. I am still too young to have had any major medical problems, but who knows what is in store for me during the next six years (none of us can know).

[Hefe]

We are all freaks of nature in some way healthwise esp. as the parts wear. I was advised last fall that because of my bite my teeth were beginning to fracture & if I didn't want to look like a character from "Deliverance" in a few years I should get braces... at the age of 63. That's over $5k & not covered.