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I underestimated medical & dental copays, but not drastically. Overall, we're doing better than we estimated we would, even with one more grandchild to spoil.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Property tax increases (300% + AFTER retirement)
ACA bleeping my (4) affordable HC options went from $300 / month to $1700, then to $2700 (now I am on a subsidy plan (HC = $3.31 / month)
Dental... using local college for maint dental care (Or Thailand).
Travel... I thought $10k / yr would be enough, but found I like to be gone most of the time... that can cost $50k / yr (while able to travel). If I didn't keep my home, I would be much better off (no $14480 Property taxes, no $1200 insurance, no utilities, no Maint., no hassle. Getting rid of cars would be helpful too!
I spend a lot more playing / recreation that I ever expected. (rental cars, Motorhomes, more motorcycles, camping gear / season tickets to concerts, ..
Health insurance. I retired at age 61 and DH was 75, so he was Medicare-eligible. My private health insurance started out at $440/month in 2014 but was over $900/month in 2017, with crappier networks every year and deductibles in the $6,000 range. Thank heaven (and thanks to my generally healthy lifestyle) my only out-of-pockets were for the occasional UrgentCare visits for the flu or raging poison ivy.
Downsizing was also very expensive. Sold for a bit less than I expected, bought for more than expected (but I LOVE this house), spent way more than anticipated getting the old house ready to sell, fixing up the new one the way we wanted it, and taking care of some expensive repairs. We'd hoped the 20-year old HVAC system in the new house would last a few years but within the first year the furnace and the A/C unit needed to be replaced.
Ouch.
The good news is that carrying costs- mortgage, utilities and property taxes- have reduced significantly.
Property tax increases (300% + AFTER retirement)
ACA bleeping my (4) affordable HC options went from $300 / month to $1700, then to $2700 (now I am on a subsidy plan (HC = $3.31 / month)
That's pretty funny, I remember in the healthcare threads awhile back when you didn't qualify for healthcare subsidies you used to brag about being above accepting them:
Quote:
Originally Posted by StealthRabbit
Some of us were raised with a value set that does not have tolerance for 'subsidies', or entitlements, so a subsidy based payment
Interesting how qualifying for them can change one's value set eh?
Renovation expenses. I call my present (and final) house The Money Pit for good reason.
It's not that I haven't been down that road before: This is the 5th house I've owned, of which I/we either extensively renovated four of them and built the fifth from the ground up. But with this house it was a Perfect Storm of a dishonest seller (they knew exactly what problems to conceal and how to conceal them), an incompetent home inspector (I'd used him several times before with no issues but this time he dropped the ball bigtime), two unethical contractors (despite glowing reviews), and plain ordinary bad luck (an underground stream changed course and began to damage the foundation, which cost $70K to address and remediate.) As a result I have had to spend more than twice what the house will ever be actually worth, making it impossible for me to ever afford to move again if I want to stay in this part of the country (which I do; that boat sailed long ago, LOL)
And I still have to replace the driveway..........
(ETA: Our state has a "toothless" seller disclosure law; it exists but sellers can avoid filling out the form by giving the buyer a $500 credit at closing so of course that's what every seller does. And every home inspection contract has small print saying that there's no guarantee that every issue will be discovered, and that the report should not be used as the basis on which to purchase or not purchase a home. Don't believe me? Go read the fine print on yours, LOL)
Last edited by BBCjunkie; 07-23-2019 at 08:32 AM..
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