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We have had two replace two crowns so far with wife.
We got lucky with one in that it fell out while we were in Africa so qualified as a travel insurance event, went to a nice clinic in Capetown to get a replacement made and we were only out the travel insurance deductible of $500. The other one she had been told was going to need replacing so we waited until passing through Thailand where good dental care is available, ran about same $500ish cash.
Biggest underestimate was my DW unwillingness to sell investments to cover temporary cash flow issue. Biggest overestimate is cost of travel & eating out - at least so far.
A recent problem we have is the result of a cyclone causing damage to our apartment on an island on the Barrier Reef in North Queensland. Repairs were covered by the strata insurance and we got a good payout for lost rent. However the insurer refused to cover it again and the managers had a battle to find anyone to insure the complex.
So the strata levies have doubled and they were very high anyway.
Interesting how dental costs are an issue for so many people. I had to get a crown earlier in the year and it cost about $US500. But my friend hasn't just finished having about $35,000 worth of dental work. Everyone has been telling her she should have gone to Thailand to have it done but she did not want an eight hour flight to have any problems looked at. Our Medicare does not generally cover dental work and private insurance only covers a proportion.
I underestimated last year's travel costs when DH overruled me and insisted on adding four weeks in Europe to our schedule.
reading through the replies out of curiosity mostly. I wouldn't have thought about dental because I keep putting some things off, but really that is very true for us. Thankfully it's not really going to have an impact on us but man oh man we got some stuff acting up and needing to be addressed (yes, crowns, extractions, the whole bit).
Dental is definitely one of those, and also, some similarity with Willamette City and adult child might be needing assistance.
reading through the replies out of curiosity mostly. I wouldn't have thought about dental because I keep putting some things off, but really that is very true for us. Thankfully it's not really going to have an impact on us but man oh man we got some stuff acting up and needing to be addressed (yes, crowns, extractions, the whole bit).
My husband was 15 years older so I saw this part coming; he was the first of the two of us to get an implant. I realized that money could make old age a whole lot more comfortable- not only good dental care, but hearing aids and glasses. Not glamorous, but they really improve the quality of life. Bad or missing teeth can mess up your overall health because it's hard to get decent nutrition when you can't chew.
One other factor I noticed, although this applied to a "frill"- we did a lot of traveling. As DH got older and had less stamina and developed a balance problem, our travel got more expensive. Instead of taking public transportation to and from the airport (which inevitably involved a change of train or bus and at least one flight of stairs, dragging our bags with us), we'd get a private car. We'd stay closer to the city center so that there wasn't a lot of walking to get where we were going, and get a room big enough that DH had space to relax at the end of a day of sightseeing while I went out for a run or maybe on an expedition too strenuous for him. And then he said he didn't think he wanted to fly Coach on long-hauls anymore. Well, he was over 70, 6'2" and had a creaky back. Between judicious use of FF miles and cutting back to one major trip a year from two, we made that change.
DH is gone now and I still fly Business Class on long-hauls. And I have none of his excuses.
We don't have a budget, but I think DH has been surprised by some of the costs that have come up.
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DH is talking about getting a swamp cooler for the garage. He's worried about bringing his electric car here. The batteries don't do well in high temps. I'm thinking maybe we should solicit some bids to "raise" the garage roof high enough to accommodate a Class A or Class C RV, even if we don't have one now, and the van. We'd design a cooling solution as part of the project. The whole shebang would easily run six figures, but should increase the value and appeal of the house. Homes with RV garages sell quickly here in the East Valley. The sun does a number on vehicle paint, tires, hoses, batteries...
Is he sure that he wants to introduce that much moisture into the garage area? It will probably cause things to rust unless you use it with a window open a few inches.
Prior to retirement I had 3 root canals within a 4 year period - one with complications because the endodontist did a lousy job and I ended up with an infection.
Now chances are the likelihood I was going to repeat that history are slim...but with work insurance I shelled out over $2500 for those procedures. I got smart and dumped the bad dentist....and I hope to never repeat that again. But I never knew that constant mouth pain could be so excruciating.
I had a former coworker retire and then go back into the workforce when his wife needed $4000 worth of dental work.
Even with our upgraded Cobra dental...a first visit to a new local dentist...they completely up selled us...prescribing deep cleaning (????) and procedures my former dentist did not identify as being necessary- to the tune of $2500. This is a racket. I had the cleaning but walked away from the rest. I miss my old regular dentist ( in another state).
Why would we pay well over $1500 @ year - and that is the going rate - for bare bones care?
I am just not seeing an upside to this and any proposals to add dental to Medicare coverage needs to keep these rip off artists in line.
Is he sure that he wants to introduce that much moisture into the garage area? It will probably cause things to rust unless you use it with a window open a few inches.
It's very, very dry here, as you probably know. But that's a good question. I think he's trying to save money.
Not so dry today, though, we've gotten three rain showers. Hooray for monsoon season!
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Well, he was over 70, 6'2" and had a creaky back. Between judicious use of FF miles and cutting back to one major trip a year from two, we made that change.
