Hi, I just turned 60 and will retire the end of 2017

[Jackz]

Hello, my name is Jack. I'm from central NY, 50 miles east of Syracuse. I never post on any forums, so please forgive any faux pas...
My wife and I both turned 60 this month. My wife was lucky enough to retire when she was 57, as her job was beyond stressful. Luckily my salary was enough for us to live on. I have had an ongoing love affair with our 401k's and IRA's for decades. Wife thinks I'm nuts, but I have to always remind her that my obsession with saving and investing was the reason she was able to retire so early. She fought me about putting so much money away way back when, especially when the kids were in college. She now has to admit I was right...
We have just over $1 million saved, and that includes about $130k cash. We have no debt. Mortgage was paid off about 7 years ago. Just one car lease payment. Our 3 kids are all grown and thank God, sucessful and on their own. When I retire in December, I will continue to receive pay checks for another 5 months as my employer pays out a percentage of sick time at retirement if you qualify. I qualify for 60% of my sick time. I can also stay on my company health insurance while I am still being paid. The pay checks will take me to roughly within 14 months of our first SS checks.
I have one big concern, and then a question I would like to poll you readers on.
My concern: Health inusrance. Shocking, I know. I am aware it is going to cost a fortune, but I am considering it the price of freedom. Can anybody who is out there, paying their own insurance give me an idea of
what you pay, and what State you live in? New York and South Carolina residents would be most helpful.
My question: We live in NYS, which is a disaster when it comes to property taxes. We pay about $7k a year. We are considering moving to South Carolina to a Del Webb community, where we can build a new home, valued at more than our current home, and pay less than half the taxes we currently pay. We HATE winter, and crave warmer weather. Big concern is leaving our two grandchildren. Any seniors out there relocate and regret it? Or relocate and love it?
Thanks for listening to my story, and I look forward to some great responses.

 

[BreathFree]

Welcome to the board!

I am on Cobra insurance for the next 8 months, so I can't give you any idea on premiums in the individual market. Im sure someone will chime in that is close to your situation.

 

[steveark]

I retired at 60 two years ago, my wife was a stay at home mom so our situation is similar to yours. However I work a couple of days a week as a consultant and that covers our expenses and our savings next egg is larger. I don't need to work but I like doing it. Health insurance for the two of us runs about $1,100 per month for a catastrophic only coverage policy. It has a $12,000 deductible so unless somebody gets really sick it won't pay a cent. For a normal coverage policy like I had at work the cost would be around $1,600 per month. I probably won't take social security until 70 if I am keep my side gigs going.

 

[Jackz]

I retired at 60 two years ago, my wife was a stay at home mom so our situation is similar to yours. However I work a couple of days a week as a consultant and that covers our expenses and our savings next egg is larger. I don't need to work but I like doing it. Health insurance for the two of us runs about $1,100 per month for a catastrophic only coverage policy. It has a $12,000 deductible so unless somebody gets really sick it won't pay a cent. For a normal coverage policy like I had at work the cost would be around $1,600 per month. I probably won't take social security until 70 if I am keep my side gigs going.

Thanks Steve. Your costs are about what I expected. I am also planning on working a couple of days a week to offset the cost of health insurance. The difference is that it will be a less stressful job than I have now.

 

[jim584672]

In NY a couple making $32,480 (200 FPL) can qualify for the "Essential Plan" which has a monthly premium of $20 with reasonable co-pays and deductibles.

One of the most generous states when it comes to the ACA.

 

[Jackz]

In NY a couple making $32,480 (200 FPL) can qualify for the "Essential Plan" which has a monthly premium of $20 with reasonable co-pays and deductibles.

One of the most generous states when it comes to the ACA.

Thanks Jim. Our income will certainly go way down once I retire. We will only be pulling out of our retirement accounts what we need to live, until SS kicks in 14 months after pay checks stop.
So this could weigh heavy on our decision to stay or leave NYS. On the one hand, property taxes are horrific in NYS, but it may be counterbalanced by much lower health insuance costs. I believe I heard South Carolina is not a great state for health insuance coverage, but hopefully somebody from SC will weigh in.

 

[Carol1862]

I'm in SC. Our premiums are $1700 a month. BUT, our taxes on our home are under $1000 a year. I'm originally from NY. Very familiar with Syracuse. Love it here.

 

[Katiek]

No advice on either question, but welcome and congratulations.

 

[Carpediem]

Haven't retired yet but our numbers (and concerns) are similar to yours. We're not in NY or SC but our ACA prems without subsidy would be around $1300 per month. Will you and/or your wife be receiving pensions?

 

[Jackz]

I'm in SC. Our premiums are $1700 a month. BUT, our taxes on our home are under $1000 a year. I'm originally from NY. Very familiar with Syracuse. Love it here.

Hi Carol and thanks for your response. We are looking at Bluffton, SC. Del Webb has a community near Hilton Head that we fell in love with (Sun City HH). We were told property taxes are around 1% of the price of a home, so in our case taxes would be around $3500 a year. I just checked the ACA site for health insurance costs for NYS. Our income would drastically reduce, and we would actually qualify for a subsidy. That's NYS for you..... NYS only looks at your current income, not your assets. Unreal. Our monthly cost would be just under $1000 a month, and that is for the very BEST plan, which only has a $1500 deductible. I could get a mediocre plan for much less. Your post helps a lot, and I apprecaite it....

 

[Jackz]

Haven't retired yet but our numbers (and concerns) are similar to yours. We're not in NY or SC but our ACA prems without subsidy would be around $1300 per month. Will you and/or your wife be receiving pensions?

Thanks for your response. No, we don't have the luxury of a pension. We are doing it solely with our savings. I'm a little scared, but my job is killing me. I know for sure that I can get a per diem job in my field, as there is a huge shortage for what I used to do (Medical Lab Technologist). Our premiums without subsidy would be about the same as yours.

 

[Carol1862]

Hi Carol and thanks for your response. We are looking at Bluffton, SC. Del Webb has a community near Hilton Head that we fell in love with (Sun City HH). We were told property taxes are around 1% of the price of a home, so in our case taxes would be around $3500 a year. I just checked the ACA site for health insurance costs for NYS. Our income would drastically reduce, and we would actually qualify for a subsidy. That's NYS for you..... NYS only looks at your current income, not your assets. Unreal. Our monthly cost would be just under $1000 a month, and that is for the very BEST plan, which only has a $1500 deductible. I could get a mediocre plan for much less. Your post helps a lot, and I apprecaite it....

I believe ACA only looks at current income. If I received a subsidy it would be much less than $1000 a month. As for taxes, that's high for SC. Does it include HOA fees too maybe? The new homes in my community are about the same as you will be paying, but taxes are MUCH less.

 

[pb4uski]

Welcome to the fourm JackZ!

Actually, if you need individual health insurance then NYS is a good place to be as it is one of the few states in the nation to prohibit age-rating in individual health insurance. I suggest that you visit healthsherpa.com or your NYS website. It looks like a bronze level plan for 2 in your area would cost $700 to $1,000/month. And you are exactly right.... it is the price of freedom!

The other thing to explore is under Obamacare, if the lowest cost bronze plan exceeds 8.16% of your household income you can get a hardship exemption and buy catastrophic coverage even though you are over 30. Since NYS prohibits age rating, this works to your benefit.... if you care to jump through the hoops to get a hardship exemption to allow you to buy catastrophic coverage you can probably lower your cost to $300-$600/month. (In states that age rate bronze and catastrophic premiums are not much different so it is not worth the effort of applying for the hardship exemption).

We are doing this and pay $480/month for two vs $875/month for bronze plan and the coverage is very similar. The other minor benefit of catastrophic coverage is that the annual premium increases have been much more modest... ours increases are generally less than half what bronze plans increase. We are lucky that we are both relatively healthy and have very modest use of health care. Our insurance protects our nestegg if one of us were to have a serious illness and gets access to negotiated rates with health care providers.

We own a condo in FL and considered changing our residence to there but our health insurance would increase by ~$1,000/month and that would far exceed any tax savings we would gain so until we become eligible for medicare we plan to stay the course. So if you look to move consider the cost of health insurance in addition to the cost of income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, etc.

No grandchildren yet to complicate the situation, but we snowbird Florida and love it... perpetual summer without the hot and humid Florida summers and cold Vermont winters.

My mother lives in one of the first Del Webb communities and we have visited Del Webb communities in California and Texas. I think they are great, but concede that when I am at mom's it seems that everyone is really old and we seek more vibrant surroundings.

 

[Jackz]

I believe ACA only looks at current income. If I received a subsidy it would be much less than $1000 a month. As for taxes, that's high for SC. Does it include HOA fees too maybe? The new homes in my community are about the same as you will be paying, but taxes are MUCH less.

No, the HOA is separate and is around $240 a month, last I checked. May I ask what community or what part of SC you are located? We visited Sun City 3 years ago, and we have another trup planned for this November to check it out again. It's where we would really like to live because of the better weather, but if the cost of health insurance is around $1700, we are really going to have to take that into consideration. I also heard SC has very limited chocies for insurance carriers, is that true?

 

[pb4uski]

Hi Carol and thanks for your response. We are looking at Bluffton, SC. Del Webb has a community near Hilton Head that we fell in love with (Sun City HH). We were told property taxes are around 1% of the price of a home, so in our case taxes would be around $3500 a year. I just checked the ACA site for health insurance costs for NYS. Our income would drastically reduce, and we would actually qualify for a subsidy. That's NYS for you..... NYS only looks at your current income, not your assets. Unreal. Our monthly cost would be just under $1000 a month, and that is for the very BEST plan, which only has a $1500 deductible. I could get a mediocre plan for much less. Your post helps a lot, and I apprecaite it....

Not looking at assets is an Obamacare thing, not NYS. In our case, we qualified for unsubsidized catastrophic coverage and the cost was only a little higher than subsidized bronze coverage so I decided that it was preferable to go with the catastrohic coverage and to do low tax-cost Roth conversions from ER until we start SS (at our FRA or 70, have not yet decided). So far, we have converted around $230k from tIRAs to Roth and paid only $16k in federal income taxes on those conversions. IMO, better to pay ~7% now than 25% or more later.

 

[MichaelB]

In addition to the other posts on health care costs, the KFF does a yearly survey, and the average cost of employer health care coverage was $6.4K for an individual policy in 2016. (source here EHBS 2016 – Summary Of Findings – 8905 | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)

Individual coverage has higher overhead and is age rated, so someone in their 50's and 60's should expect to pay at least 2X that number, before applying any subsidies. No policy anywhere around the country should cost substantially less, unless is has important limitations in coverage or network scope.

 

[Carol1862]

SC only has BCBS. Truth be told, I am satisfied with the plan. Then again, we've been healthy (thankfully). I did have to spend $2000 last year when an unfortunate accident landed me in the hospital for an overnight stay. The cost for me (because of deductibles and cost sharing) were pretty high. But, all things considered, that's why we have insurance. My neighbor, who is a retired NYS teacher, also was in the hospital for 2 days and her cost...ZERO!! And her premiums are under $100 a month! So, it's definately a bummer not having insurance and having to go the marketplace route. But, do check ACA for SC and compare NY prices. Personally, I'd pay a little more to be out of NY, the cold, snow and taxes. Cost of freedom!

What airport would you be using?

There are so many wonderful places to retire in SC. Take a trip down and really get a feel for all the areas. I'm in a semi retired community. We are not age restricted, but 90% are retirees. Extremely active. And because it's relatively new everyone is still young!

 

[MBSC]

You can view health insurance premiums for SC at this link. Just plug in the SC zip codes you are interested in. https://www.healthcare.gov/see-plans/

Individual market health insurance plans in NY are community rated. This means all ages pay the same rate. SC plans are age-rated, meaning the premiums increase each year for both age and inflation. You can see this by changing your ages to 64 and using a SC zip code in the above link if you are not eligible for premium subsidies.

BCBSSC is the only company offering ACA compliant individual market plans in the state. All of their plans are EPO, meaning they use a provider network that consists of SC and Charlotte, NC. You are only covered for emergency room visits classified as an emergency while traveling outside the network.

I hope you have experienced the summer humidity in SC.

 

[Jackz]

Not looking at assets is an Obamacare thing, not NYS. In our case, we qualified for unsubsidized catastrophic coverage and the cost was only a little higher than subsidized bronze coverage so I decided that it was preferable to go with the catastrohic coverage and to do low tax-cost Roth conversions from ER until we start SS (at our FRA or 70, have not yet decided). So far, we have converted around $230k from tIRAs to Roth and paid only $16k in federal income taxes on those conversions. IMO, better to pay ~7% now than 25% or more later.

Thank you for your posts, this is great information. Yes, it is an obamacare thing, and not a NYS thing, I stand corrected. My financial planner said he will help us steer through all the health insurance decisions, and we are meeting with him soon.
We rented a home for Jan-Mar 2018 on Merritt Island in Florida. I can't wait we HATE winter. Even if it is only in the 50's, I would be happy...
My wife is leaning towards staying in NY and snowbirding every winter. That may be what we end up doing since this health insurance is such a huge consideration.

 

[Jackz]

SC only has BCBS. Truth be told, I am satisfied with the plan. Then again, we've been healthy (thankfully). I did have to spend $2000 last year when an unfortunate accident landed me in the hospital for an overnight stay. The cost for me (because of deductibles and cost sharing) were pretty high. But, all things considered, that's why we have insurance. My neighbor, who is a retired NYS teacher, also was in the hospital for 2 days and her cost...ZERO!! And her premiums are under $100 a month! So, it's definately a bummer not having insurance and having to go the marketplace route. But, do check ACA for SC and compare NY prices. Personally, I'd pay a little more to be out of NY, the cold, snow and taxes. Cost of freedom!

What airport would you be using?

There are so many wonderful places to retire in SC. Take a trip down and really get a feel for all the areas. I'm in a semi retired community. We are not age restricted, but 90% are retirees. Extremely active. And because it's relatively new everyone is still young!

Funny you should ask about the airport we are using...........there are no direct flights from where we are in NY to Savannah, which I believe is the closest airport to Bluffton. My wife is TERRIFIED to fly, and hasn't in at least 11 years. She agreed to fly this time, but we got a direct flight, with first class tickets (yes, I am an awesome husband..LOL) to Charlotte, and are renting a car and driving the rest of the way.

 

[pb4uski]

....Individual coverage has higher overhead and is age rated, so someone in their 50's and 60's should expect to pay at least 2X that number, before applying any subsidies. ....

Generally true, in the OPs state and some others there are restriction on age rating that benefit seniors not yet eligible for medicare.

https://www.valuepenguin.com/how-age-affects-health-insurance-costs

States Specific Age Curves for Health Insurance Costs

A few states set their own standards when it comes to age factors for health insurance rates. The federal age factor curve is the widest age curve that states can permit health insurers to use in calculating premiums. The following states have more restrictive regulations, meaning that there is less variation in health insurance costs between the youngest and the oldest policyholders.

New York does not permit any use of age as a factor when determining health insurance rates. In fact health insurance premiums in the Empire State cannot discriminate whatsoever and have the same price regardless of any policyholder characteristics. This typically leads to higher premiums for those who are ages 21-50, and lower premiums for those who are older when compared to other states.

Vermont also does not permit the use of age as a factor when calculating health insurance premiums. Insurers must charge the same premiums regardless of health status, age or gender in the state. Like New York, younger citizens of Vermont typically see higher relatively premiums, while those older consumers will see lower premiums in comparison to other states.

Utah has the same 3:1 range when it comes to health insurance premiums but the scaling in the different age groups tends to be more aggressive. For instance consumers 30-36 pay almost 40% more than the base rate in the state where as the same group would pay anywhere from 13 - 27% more under the federal guidelines. Children under the age of 21 are also more expensive with costs fixed at 79% of the base rate.

Minnesota has an age curve similar to the federal guidelines, with consumers over 21 experiencing the same scaling they would in other states. Where the state differs is the costs for those under 21, with premium multiples coming in at 89% of the base rate instead of the standard 63.5%.

Masschusetts allows insurers to adjust premiums based on age to a maximum of 2x the premiums charged to a 21 year old. This makes for a narrower variation of premiums based upon the age of policyholder.

 

[Jackz]

You can view health insurance premiums for SC at this link. Just plug in the SC zip codes you are interested in. https://www.healthcare.gov/see-plans/

Individual market health insurance plans in NY are community rated. This means all ages pay the same rate. SC plans are age-rated, meaning the premiums increase each year for both age and inflation. You can see this by changing your ages to 64 and using a SC zip code in the above link if you are not eligible for premium subsidies.

BCBSSC is the only company offering ACA compliant individual market plans in the state. All of their plans are EPO, meaning they use a provider network that consists of SC and Charlotte, NC. You are only covered for emergency room visits classified as an emergency while traveling outside the network.

I hope you have experienced the summer humidity in SC.

Thanks for this great information. I will check it out.
No, we haven't been there in the summer, but I imagine it would be like NY, but in reverse. Stay indoors in the summer for the AC, as opposed to staying indoors in the winter in NY. We will see..

 

[SheitlQueen]

I just checked the ACA site for health insurance costs for NYS. Our income would drastically reduce, and we would actually qualify for a subsidy. That's NYS for you..... NYS only looks at your current income, not your assets. Unreal.

That's true with the ACA in general. I end up paying around $200 a month for a very nice silver plan because they don't look at your assests.

Snow birding looks very attractive and something I've been considering.....only thing is I have three cats and I'm not sure I want to deal with them
during that time (flying them there, finding a place that takes cats, etc).

 

[Jackz]

That's true with the ACA in general. I end up paying around $200 a month for a very nice silver plan because they don't look at your assests.

Snow birding looks very attractive and something I've been considering.....only thing is I have three cats and I'm not sure I want to deal with them
during that time (flying them there, finding a place that takes cats, etc).

After reading the many comments about health insurance, it sounds like staying in NY might be the better option. I can't believe I'm saying that, because taxes, winter, etc....
We will be snowbirding in Florida this coming winter, so we will see what happens.

 

[Yarnstormer]

You might want to visit the bluffton area and look at houses that are not marketed to retirees. Hilton head is a pricey area - prob why the property taxes are so high. I am in
Georgia. In my county, if you are 65 or older you can get a double homestead exemption which cuts taxes quite a bit. Across the river in sc, property taxes in the cities are comparable, but in the county it is much much lower.
We are down to one insurer on the aca, no telling what the future holds. You might call a private agent in sc area and see what they can tell you.