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Old 05-14-2016, 11:29 AM   #121
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$5000 for 4 yrs dental care + multiple adjustments + equipment .... shows the value of dental insurance
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Old 05-14-2016, 11:45 AM   #122
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Speaking of dental work...just had braces slapped on our 12 year old. First time I ever actually watched it done. Barely took an hour, so not much to it I guess. I don't know why, but I was expecting to see the process be a bit more involved.

$5,000/hr isn't bad coin
That $5k/hour is a bit of an exaggeration. Both my kids had braces. They are still going for follow up/retainer checks. The price wasn't just the initial installation - it was replacing broken brackets. Adjusting/tightening along the way, then finally, the retainers - in our case they used invisilign type retainers. One kid had the braces on for 18 months, the other for a full 2 years. All checkups/adjustments/etc were included in the price.
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Old 05-14-2016, 12:09 PM   #123
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$5000 for 4 yrs dental care + multiple adjustments + equipment .... shows the value of dental insurance
Ha. Dental insurance nearly always has a max on orthodontia, typically $1,500. It always has a max on what they'll pay for everything for one person in one year. That's usually between $1,000 and $2,000, depending on the quality of the plan. There's a separate thread on that, though!
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Old 05-14-2016, 12:48 PM   #124
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Not only is there an annual cap but many of the plans I have seen only pay 50 percent of things like root canals, bridges, braces, etc.
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Old 05-14-2016, 12:51 PM   #125
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The private market plans we looked at for dental insurance were not worth the cost for us. In an average year we would have paid more in premiums than we spend normally on dental care, and even if we did have a high expense year the max caps were very low.
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Old 05-16-2016, 06:06 AM   #126
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$5000 for 4 yrs dental care + multiple adjustments + equipment .... shows the value of dental insurance
Not 4 years. Less than 2. Dental insurance pays less than 50% but I'll take it
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Old 05-16-2016, 09:03 AM   #127
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I think it's time to start clipping coupons and start shopping yard sales and flea markets.
I see that the OP has corrected the mispelling from "flee" to "flea".

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Is that one of those markets everyone runs away from?
Is it really that bad, because you may bring home fleas, lice, bedbugs? Darn.

We have been lucky I guess, the times we did that. We even walked though flea markets in vacation places like Paris, for fun as we were not looking for and could not buy anything.

And talking about yard sales here, one of my brother-in-laws and his wife love to go to yard sales, and they often pick up good deals. One time, they got some real gold jewelry that the seller thought was costume jewelry.

Man, I told my wife to be sure to let my daughter know about the "stuff" that will be left to her. Selling diamond rings for the price of trinkets? That happens all the time.
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Old 05-16-2016, 09:11 AM   #128
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By the way, who clips coupons anymore?

Within 5 miles of us are all the big grocery chains. And they bend over backwards to get our mailbox stuffed with weekly ads. They come out on Wednesdays. On Thursdays, my wife makes a round and hits all these stores for their loss-leaders. No coupons needed. I do not know how many are doing what we do, but if I were these grocers, I would cry "Uncle" and quit offering deals.

Another reason I cannot live full-time in the boondocks 2nd home as I originally thought. It costs too much to live in the boondocks, compared to the suburb of a metropolis.
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Old 05-16-2016, 10:01 AM   #129
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By the way, who clips coupons anymore?

Within 5 miles of us are all the big grocery chains. And they bend over backwards to get our mailbox stuffed with weekly ads. They come out on Wednesdays. On Thursdays, my wife makes a round and hits all these stores for their loss-leaders. No coupons needed. I do not know how many are doing what we do, but if I were these grocers, I would cry "Uncle" and quit offering deals.

Another reason I cannot live full-time in the boondocks 2nd home as I originally thought. It costs too much to live in the boondocks, compared to the suburb of a metropolis.
I usually use coupons for meals out, like buy one meal get one free. For groceries I mainly go to Grocery Outlet and fill in with 99 Cent Only stores and the loss leaders from the retail stores. I don't cut coupons like save 25 cents off two boxes of cereal.

I stopped going to yard sales for lack of time and finding too many bargain in the past. So I'm decluttering now instead. But I like the thrill of the hunt. It is cool finding items like a never used $50 purse with the tags still on being sold for a $1. I still like library used book sales and the occasional thrift shops. I shop at a thrift shop that is near stores like Tiffany & Co. as I realized people drop off donations near where they shop. I got a nice piece of artwork there the other day with the tags still on for a few dollars.
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Old 05-16-2016, 10:03 AM   #130
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Another reason I cannot live full-time in the boondocks 2nd home as I originally thought. It costs too much to live in the boondocks, compared to the suburb of a metropolis.
+1

Living in a lower COL part of a city has it's advantages. Tons of competition for all kinds of goods and services. We're within 3 miles of pretty much any kind of grocery imaginable from mom n pop ethnic groceries, mega-ethnic groceries, flea market veggie stalls, costco, trader joes, Aldi, and all the major grocery players. Though we don't hit more than 1-2 stores per week, there's money to be saved just by following the loss leader strategy you're talking about. Hard to do if you're out in the sticks with a 15 minute drive to the nearest grocery store of any kind (that might be a convenience store!).
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Old 05-16-2016, 11:09 AM   #131
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By the way, who clips coupons anymore?

Within 5 miles of us are all the big grocery chains. And they bend over backwards to get our mailbox stuffed with weekly ads. They come out on Wednesdays. On Thursdays, my wife makes a round and hits all these stores for their loss-leaders. No coupons needed. I do not know how many are doing what we do, but if I were these grocers, I would cry "Uncle" and quit offering deals.

Another reason I cannot live full-time in the boondocks 2nd home as I originally thought. It costs too much to live in the boondocks, compared to the suburb of a metropolis.
I don't clip coupons, but I use the online digital coupons. An app like Ibotta which gives you cash back for buying things like bananas, onions, eggs, which is on top of whatever loss leader price you found in the brochure. I'm lazy so I only do the ones that link to my loyalty card so its automatic all I have to do is spend a few minutes clicking on rebates to load them.. less time than looking through the weekly ad.
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Old 05-16-2016, 11:27 AM   #132
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The OP has his healthcare covered, so he can do $40K a lot easier than I can.

Yep. Non-cash income such as free/subsidized health insurance is often omitted from discussions like this and that makes the rest of the numbers close to meaningless.

Likewise for assets. One poster has one million bux in their FIRE portfolio and also has a newish (unlikely to require repairs or maintenance soon) paid-for home and a brand new, reliable car. Another poster also has a one million bux FIRE portfolio but rents a home and is driving a beater car that needs repairs or replacement. Two very different scenarios but sometimes discussed as though they were the same......

Knowing the whole financial picture matters.
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Old 05-16-2016, 11:35 AM   #133
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The private market plans we looked at for dental insurance were not worth the cost for us. In an average year we would have paid more in premiums than we spend normally on dental care, and even if we did have a high expense year the max caps were very low.
If there was such a thing as high deductible, high max dental insurance at a reasonable cost, I'd buy it. I can afford to pay a few hundred bux a year for my routine care and minor issues. But I could use some help the year something really bad happens and is going to cost $10k - $20k. Dental insurance doesn't seem to exist for this.

In fact, is dental insurance really "insurance?" Or are most policies just a "pre-pay" arrangement?
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Old 05-16-2016, 11:38 AM   #134
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Yes, we discovered Grocery Outlets when on our RV trek last year, and loved it. They are only in CA, OR, WA, and Nevada. Really good bargains can be had.

I am also a sucker for $1 book sales by the local public library. Some are not used books discarded by the library but never-read books donated to the library. Why, I just bought 3 yesterday. I often run across non-fiction titles that have little public appeal but are on subjects interesting to me.
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Old 05-16-2016, 12:25 PM   #135
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In fact, is dental insurance really "insurance?" Or are most policies just a "pre-pay" arrangement?
Previous thread:

http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...nce-80726.html
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Old 05-16-2016, 01:35 PM   #136
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I often run across non-fiction titles that have little public appeal but are on subjects interesting to me.
Same here. Really cool, out of print, $1 or less books on timeless subjects are some of my favorite purchases. I like to collect ethnic and whole food recipe books, and then make up interesting dishes with whatever is on sale that week at G.O. for cheap thrills.
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Old 05-16-2016, 01:45 PM   #137
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Yep. Non-cash income such as free/subsidized health insurance is often omitted from discussions like this and that makes the rest of the numbers close to meaningless.

Likewise for assets. One poster has one million bux in their FIRE portfolio and also has a newish (unlikely to require repairs or maintenance soon) paid-for home and a brand new, reliable car. Another poster also has a one million bux FIRE portfolio but rents a home and is driving a beater car that needs repairs or replacement. Two very different scenarios but sometimes discussed as though they were the same......

Knowing the whole financial picture matters.
I have widowed acquaintances who told me they have a hard time spending $30K in the Bay Area, but they have paid off homes, Medicare for health insurance, they fixed up their houses before they retired and their property taxes are low because of Prop 13. So they ended up spoiling the grandkids with their extra income.
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Old 05-16-2016, 01:50 PM   #138
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Yeah - make sure you set aside a few $1,000 each year for these occasional big time expenses.
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Old 05-16-2016, 01:52 PM   #139
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I'm just getting started in this dental work game. Within the last two months 2 crowns and a root canal and ~$4k. Maybe I need a vacation in Mexico. I half remember reading somewhere that there is a town in Mexico near the border that specializes in good quality dental work at reasonable rates?
If on the TX border, that was probably Progresso. Most popular cross-border dental destination around here, and the only town considered "safe".
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Old 05-17-2016, 02:34 PM   #140
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Yes, we discovered Grocery Outlets when on our RV trek last year, and loved it. They are only in CA, OR, WA, and Nevada. Really good bargains can be had.

I am also a sucker for $1 book sales by the local public library. Some are not used books discarded by the library but never-read books donated to the library. Why, I just bought 3 yesterday. I often run across non-fiction titles that have little public appeal but are on subjects interesting to me.


So the Najarian brothers Options trading book wouldnt have been one of the 3 books by chance then?
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