CrazyHamsterLady
Dryer sheet wannabe
Hi, all! Joined a few days ago, and just getting around to my intro.
My 93 year old mother died April 2018, leaving my socially inept and domestically challenged father, now pushing 96, alone in Houston. Fortunately, he's in "independent living," so there's help there. But I couldn't keep jetting back & forth to Houston from Western New York, plus "long distance concierge" by phone, with a fulltime job (college prof). Plus I'm dealing with my spousal equivalent who tried to commit suicide last year, and has ongoing mental health issues. ("Equivalent" because we are of the rainbow persuasion and couldn't marry for a long time; but also because she receives disability benefits and legal marriage would require me to support her until I spent down all my assets to nothing.)
My college offered a one-year salary incentive buy-out. So I'm coasting on that + teaching one course a semester + some non-retirement savings for 2 years, before tapping into Social Security and retirement accounts (just south of $1M right now). It won't be a cushy retirement, but I've always lived below my means. No kids, mortgage paid, cheap cost of living in my area (despite NY taxes). I have a TIAA (teacher retirement plan) advisor who said I'm good to go until my mid 90s, after which I throw myself on the mercy of the federal government. (Given my genetics, that's a real possibility!)
Interests: (1) Someone on Reddit suggested I come here for Medicare info; just turned 64, and want to be able to make informed decisions. Current health insurance is continuation through former employer, at exorbitant premium prices. (2) I also see an investing forum, which I'm very much interested in. Will likely inherit a stock portfolio; sadly, my mother's stock-picking savvy (which dated back to the era when stock quotes were expressed as eighths of a point, rather than decimals) was based on well-informed intuition, and went to the grave with her. (3) Probably in 20-odd-years, will be looking to relocate to some kind of old folks home.
So--thanks, and appreciate the existence of this forum!
My 93 year old mother died April 2018, leaving my socially inept and domestically challenged father, now pushing 96, alone in Houston. Fortunately, he's in "independent living," so there's help there. But I couldn't keep jetting back & forth to Houston from Western New York, plus "long distance concierge" by phone, with a fulltime job (college prof). Plus I'm dealing with my spousal equivalent who tried to commit suicide last year, and has ongoing mental health issues. ("Equivalent" because we are of the rainbow persuasion and couldn't marry for a long time; but also because she receives disability benefits and legal marriage would require me to support her until I spent down all my assets to nothing.)
My college offered a one-year salary incentive buy-out. So I'm coasting on that + teaching one course a semester + some non-retirement savings for 2 years, before tapping into Social Security and retirement accounts (just south of $1M right now). It won't be a cushy retirement, but I've always lived below my means. No kids, mortgage paid, cheap cost of living in my area (despite NY taxes). I have a TIAA (teacher retirement plan) advisor who said I'm good to go until my mid 90s, after which I throw myself on the mercy of the federal government. (Given my genetics, that's a real possibility!)
Interests: (1) Someone on Reddit suggested I come here for Medicare info; just turned 64, and want to be able to make informed decisions. Current health insurance is continuation through former employer, at exorbitant premium prices. (2) I also see an investing forum, which I'm very much interested in. Will likely inherit a stock portfolio; sadly, my mother's stock-picking savvy (which dated back to the era when stock quotes were expressed as eighths of a point, rather than decimals) was based on well-informed intuition, and went to the grave with her. (3) Probably in 20-odd-years, will be looking to relocate to some kind of old folks home.
So--thanks, and appreciate the existence of this forum!
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