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Wisconsin: Hubby & I are 6 years difference in age. In 2010, hubby was age 62 & me 56. Hubby considered retiring & I carry insurance on both of us, until he turned 65/Medicare - then on myself until I turned 65/Medicare. Hubby decided 9 years was too long to wait for me to retire, so he decided to work until age 65, then retire. BUT, with the off chance that ACA may be an option for me to retire early in the future at 62, we changed things up for the next 6 years (2010-2016). Both our employers stopped the percentage match, so we decided to temporarily bank the 401K monthly $ plus what we could scrounge up monthly into a money market fund, still with 2 vacations/yr & not feeling like we were broke & destitute. I am now 62+months. The banked money (from 401K) + scrounge money into a Money Market fund allows us to pull money from it, without increasing our income which in turn would increase my premiums now for ACA until I reach 65/Medicare age. We made sure our home, cars, & charge cards were paid off. Debt free, except for what the future brings. Hubby has traditional Medicare, w/supplement, plus drug plan. Pricey, YES, but, never receive a bill, the premium is part of our monthly budget, so no surprises there. We have enough money put away in the worst case scenario for my ACA deductible & amt out-of-pocket for my 2+ years enrolled in it. By NO MEANS, do we have money, less than mid- 15% tax bracket in US. Our one downfall is no long term care insurance, but, with both of us retired, the hope is we can take care of each other should the need arise. Are we making this too simple? Aside from an unexpected death & the surviving sits with all the retirement money, what could go wrong? Interested in others who thought they had covered it all & failed (sad face).
Wisconsin: Hubby & I are 6 years difference in age. In 2010, hubby was age 62 & me 56. Hubby considered retiring & I carry insurance on both of us, until he turned 65/Medicare - then on myself until I turned 65/Medicare. Hubby decided 9 years was too long to wait for me to retire, so he decided to work until age 65, then retire. BUT, with the off chance that ACA may be an option for me to retire early in the future at 62, we changed things up for the next 6 years (2010-2016). Both our employers stopped the percentage match, so we decided to temporarily bank the 401K monthly $ plus what we could scrounge up monthly into a money market fund, still with 2 vacations/yr & not feeling like we were broke & destitute. I am now 62+months. The banked money (from 401K) + scrounge money into a Money Market fund allows us to pull money from it, without increasing our income which in turn would increase my premiums now for ACA until I reach 65/Medicare age. We made sure our home, cars, & charge cards were paid off. Debt free, except for what the future brings. Hubby has traditional Medicare, w/supplement, plus drug plan. Pricey, YES, but, never receive a bill, the premium is part of our monthly budget, so no surprises there. We have enough money put away in the worst case scenario for my ACA deductible & amt out-of-pocket for my 2+ years enrolled in it. By NO MEANS, do we have money, less than mid- 15% tax bracket in US. Our one downfall is no long term care insurance, but, with both of us retired, the hope is we can take care of each other should the need arise. Are we making this too simple? Aside from an unexpected death & the surviving sits with all the retirement money, what could go wrong? Interested in others who thought they had covered it all & failed (sad face).
Okay as larsm said your post would be easier to read and understand broken up into paragraphs. Based on what I can decipher I would say you are doing well. The LTCi is an issue but not necessarily a bad one. Sure you might need it. Then again you might not need it.
The subject of LTCi has been brought up a lot of times here. You can look using the search feature. You wont have to go far down the list either. My only suggestion is to have a plan. It doesn't mean to have insurance coverage. Just know what you will need to do if either one of you should be in need of it. Have something in writing for your family to step in if both of you have trouble.
You might need to use the equity in your house or you might have to sell it. It depends on the state you live. If you have questions on LTCi and things to do with or without it look through the previous threads and post a question there or start a new one like you did here.
Thank you to larsm & golfingduo for your kindly suggestions of paragraphing w/o any criticism pointed directly at me. I hope to make this a go-to place for thoughts & help by those that have experienced things I have yet to encounter.
(Paragraph, LOL) I see my blunder. BUT, it assured me that I have found the right place, already I feel like I have help & support without being judged for my faux pas.
We have actually done this exact thing. I was forced to retire at 62 as I lost my job and couldn't find another. So SS money was better than nothing. Husband working part time at old job and not taking SS until 1/1/18 but he does go on Medicare January 1st.
Anyway we went for a year without any coverage (were rejected by all companies) before we were able to go to the ACA and have had coverage since. We have decent subsidies because our only income is my SS and his part time work and I know what you mean about keeping your income in line. We also do not have LTCi but the premiums are unaffordable at our age. I turn 65 next July so we only have 8 more months to deal with it. Should the ACA go away we would be able to pay for the premium for me, but it would require taking from our retirement account. We are lucky that our house is paid for and we keep our expenses down so no credit card debt.
Sounds like you have a plan and should be OK especially with your MM account and your DH's SS income. Have fun! We will have to "pinch" for another year. Really need a vacation!!
We did the same thing. I was working and covering us both under my employer's plan (it covered DH's Parts B and D). Our finance guy told me if I was working for money, stop it - we didn't need to do that. As it happens, I was working for the insurance. So when California offered Obamacare and DH said he wanted me to retire because he was bored and lonely, we did that. Our finance guy referred us to an insurance broker (who gets paid by the insurance industry so he doesn't have any particular bias) who was able to research the possibilities and even handle all the paperwork. If we hadn't had him, I would still be crying and tearing my hair out in frustration! So if that's a possibility for you, don't pass it up.
Our biggest problem was with the idiots that administer my work benefits. They failed in many ways, and nearly caused DH to have a permanent penalty because they didn't get the paperwork we needed until we found a 'guardian angel' at the SS office who stepped in on our behalf.
In California, if you don't have any income you get shuffled off onto Medicaid, which is better than nothing but actually is rather wretched, instead of proper insurance. So be careful to look at all the possibilities.
I suppose if you have to get on Obama care, you have to, but….
The government has said you should get to know your doctor and doctors should get to know their patients -- which DOES lead to better health care relationships.
But if a person is switching insurances every year because of "'government marketplaces" -- and some entire states only have one insurer -- then how is a patient supposed to build a relationship with a doctor -- which you definitely NEED IF you have an ongoing condition.
If people are switching policies every year because of overall PREMIUM costs -- and I would think a 100% increase would get ANYone's attention -- I guess you just have to do the math, and figure out if the higher monthly premium IF you can afford it at all….is worth staying with the same doctor even if now THAT cost is higher because he or she is out of network and will cost more, that way.
I suppose it's just -- God forbid if your caner or MS doctor is now all of a sudden is NOT in network. I know that your medical records can be forwarded to a new doctor. We all know some doctors are better than others. I truly believe that when you have the "wrong" condition switching docs COULD be deadly.
If AT ALL possible, I'd not retire until Medicare age. I know not everyone can do that. So I'd suggest keeping the haven to switch doctors issue in mind.
Personally, I wouldn't bet on ACA being there for 9 years retiring at age 56. The political winds could change and ACA could vanish at any time. 100% risk-based private health insurance that doesn't have the ACA subsidies is staggeringly expensive for very poor coverage. The earliest time I'd consider retiring is age 63 1/2 where I could use COBRA to bridge me to Medicare.
Mom was uninsurable for almost 2 years... she was out walking and attacked by a dog at age 63 just as Cobra was coming to an end.
I know it happens...
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