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My wife and I knew fairly early that we could retire on excellent COLA’d government pensions and Social Security, so we neglected, probably in ignorance, to accumulate much in the way of additional savings. What little we do have, resides in 401k’s invested in moderately conservative index fund...

>:( Today, I went online to make a transfer from my credit union account into an account at a too-big-to-fail bank. Previously, I never had any trouble performing this transfer using these same two banks. But now, “for my safety,” I am required use a transaction 6 digit code which is only...

My mother-in-law received a bill from a lab for services provided to her skin cancer doctor. The lab stated that Tricare rejected the claim for insufficient data. MIL is a military widow approaching her 90's who has not had many complaints about Tricare before, (and, in my opinion, MIL's a...

My 92 year old mother has been using the Humana PDP Standard Plan since Part D was made available. For her drugs, it was always the least expensive plan in her county. But the price escalated year after year. As her advisor, I almost let it slide this year until I noticed a blub in one of my...

My wife said I should shop for an item I wanted for my birthday. I shopped around town, and on the web, and found the item in a local store, offering 0% financing for a year. Since we always make mutual decisions on purchases above a certain amount, this one amounting to roughly $700, I told the...

Several recent topics in "Life After Fire" helped me realize I feel tied down to my possessions. SAMIAM expressed similar feelings. In my case, it is my dogs. If I could leave home for several weeks knowing that they would be well taken care of and not feel like a pet abuser, it would be a lot...

We want to buy a gas economical vehicle, costing under $29,000, to tow a small trailer which can double as a small passenger vehicle when detached. The Toyota RAV4 looked ideal but it appears to severely limit our trailer options to under 3500 lbs. The Toyota Tacoma double cab short bed, would...

Came across this on another Money related forum and thought it might be fun to share it. Wife and I know a couple in their 60's similar to the people portrayed in this Saturday Night Live skit, who don't quite have a grasp on it yet. We would be afraid to share this with them...

The wife's sister is entitled to an uncol'd pension check for 30 years or a lump sum from Kaiser HMO. Again, the folks are reluctant to discuss actual figures. My best advice was that if she'd multiply the monthly amount by 12 and divide by the lump sum, she'd have the percentage she'd be...

My wife's sister went to the Social Security office to apply for her Social Security at age 63.5 in July. She was being severed from her eliminated position with Kaiser as of the following month, August, with 26 weeks of severence pay. According to her husband, she was told by the Social...

According to the "Medicare and You" handbook for 2007, to be mailed in November, in 2007, seniors who earn $80,000 to $100,000 a year will pay rates about 28.3% of the Medicare Part B total premium cost vs 25% now, increased to 31.6% in 2008, and 35% in 2009. Even higher rates are set for higher...

I was playing with my Microsoft Money Lifetime Planner and noticed that the program had my wife receiving a spousal benefit in the year she turns 62.  I did not plug this figure in.  She intends to apply for her full benefit at age 66 (which I did plug in and which does show up as the amount we...