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I am sorry for those who have lost loved ones and experienced health issues.
My own sister is in that boat. Right after her husband retired at 65, he was diagnosed with Primary Progressive MS. It's a version that comes late in life, and it does not respond to any of the drugs that work well on those who are diagnosed in their 20s and 30s. He is grateful it didn't happen earlier in life, but at 71, he is now wheelchair bound, and my sister is a full time caregiver.
In the three years since I retired, my life has gotten significantly better in a couple of completely unexpected ways. I am treasuring these moments, because I know nothing lasts forever.
So sorry for all your losses, and thanks so much to all of your for posting. Nothing like reading a thread like this to put my own small troubles and worries into perspective.
Hugs to all.
P.S. What is also very interesting to me is that all the posts so far have dealt with illness and death, and I think that having some financial challenges pales by comparison.
You should still qualify for your late spouse’s SSI. Call the Social Security administration to discuss with them.
Yes, I did this. It didn't make a huge difference, because my husband's SS check was just a bit larger than my own. The real financial hit was the loss of the pension, but that had been set up several years before my husband and I met, and it was irrevocable.
I'm not whining about it, however; I've learned to live on less than my income. It just took some adjustment, that's all.
Biggest issue for me is my eye health. I have glaucoma which has been treated with various eye-drops, laser surgery, surgery, more drops, more laser, more surgery. Will have more surgery this Friday.
Very thankful I can still see. Very thankful for doctors who are helping me.
Other issues are poor relationships with family (esp. my two children). Not at all sure if that will ever change. When son isn't mad at me, I'll hear from him, but long times of nothing. Daughter more interested in her father, though she accused him of abuse. I don't exist.
One of the good things is over enough time, things do not hurt as badly as they once did.
My wife passed 12 years ago today. We had seven wonderful retired years and did some great things together. While I miss her a great deal every day, I have reinvented myself in a new (singular) version of myself and committed to enjoying what time I have left. I think survivor planning is something that retirement counselors or seminars need to address more fully.
Being diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer during the time that I had no health insurance and had not reached Medicare age yet. Required surgery followed by a year of chemo and all the associated expenses that that entails. All of my investments (yes I actually did have them, which may surprise some other posters here, LOL) had to be liquidated in order to pay for treatment, as well as a big chunk of my savings as well.
Within a year after finishing chemo but just shy of hitting Medicare age (and still not being able to afford individual health insurance at the going rate of about $1500/month, partly because I was still paying off the surgery bills to the hospital) a deluge of other new medical issues appeared which wiped out 50% of my remaining savings in order to address.
So I'd say the cancer + the followup medical conditions, taken together as a whole because it was all rolled into a two-year period, has been the worst thing because it resulted in a double-whammy: the post-cancer health problems radically changed what I can and can't do, on a permanent basis (and not for the better) AND the cost to address all of those things during those two years changed my financial position for the worse as well. There were a couple of things completely beyond my control that impacted my finances as well, and the confluence of those circumstances made all the impacts worse than they would have been if in isolation. Not complaining - because it is what it is and I've accepted that - but merely stating facts.
Last edited by BBCjunkie; 07-30-2019 at 01:09 PM..
Yes, I did this. It didn't make a huge difference, because my husband's SS check was just a bit larger than my own. The real financial hit was the loss of the pension, but that had been set up several years before my husband and I met, and it was irrevocable.
I'm not whining about it, however; I've learned to live on less than my income. It just took some adjustment, that's all.
May I ask if you were the beneficiary of a life insurance policy?
I am still a long way from retirement, but your post made me realize that I need to plan for the potential loss of my husband's pension.
May I ask if you were the beneficiary of a life insurance policy?
I am still a long way from retirement, but your post made me realize that I need to plan for the potential loss of my husband's pension.
If your husband is not retired yet, he should check to see if he can sign up for his pension to continue to you after his death. In my case, I signed up for my pension to continue for the rest of his life, if I died first. I received a little less per month (probably about $50 less) but even if I died the day after I retired and he lived to 105 he would still get the monthly pension check.
Last edited by germaine2626; 07-30-2019 at 01:44 PM..
Interesting thread so far. Yes, we all need to be prepared for trouble, yet we do not want to dwell on it. We all need to enjoy some good times, as we are able to.
I have a friend, an MD, who developed cancer at the very beginning of his retirement. His wife retired, too, to care for him, and he is now in Hospice. You just do not know what is ahead, and I think that is for the best. But we need, in life, to plan or even steal some "fun" moments whenever we can, to hold in memory. And we have to go on living.
A friend's mother died a while back, leaving her step-dad a retired widower. A couple of years later, he happened to be visiting his cousin down in Florida. It happened that at the same time, the cousin's next door neighbor also had his/her cousin, a widow, visiting at the house. The 2 visiting cousins met and hit it off and eventually got married -- the step-dad relocated and all is going well, I have heard. You just never know. Sounds corny, but it happened.
Losing things, be it a loved one, one's health or even one's mind is not limited to retirement. There's nothing special about voluntarily stopping work that correlates or is causative with someone else's well-being or lack.
Most people tend to be at or over the age of 60 by the time they retire and age has a way of catching up and kicking butt for some. But that's true even if a person continues to work full-time and never plans to quit.
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