Recent content by S103462

My wife and I just finished our 5th year using ACA Marketplace coverage. During our working years, we not only contributed to our company's 401(k), we also saved quite a bit in the after tax savings plan that the company offered. (They didn't offer a Roth 401(k).) We also had investments outside...

Retired now, but when I was working, not only did I fill out a W-4 form to estimate the correct withholding, I would also enter my projected income and other tax-related information into my past year's TT tax preparation software just as a ballpark sanity check of my W-4 estimate. (It was a...

Things can sometimes work out exactly as planned. We planned our retirement date many years earlier -- both planning to retiree at 55y/o in 2010. We hit our "number," were debt-free, everything we had planned to have in place at that time was aligned. She retired a week after her 55th birthday...

We continued investing heavily through the great recession. We had planned for many years to early-retire in 2010 (both at 55 y/o). In preparation for that retirement date, three years prior (in 2007) we went to a more conservative allocation in our 401(k)s, but continued to fully...

My wife and I just bought new cars. Our previous cars -- mine a 2002 Chevy Trailblazer w/200,000 miles, hers a 2003 Acura TL-S w/ 105,000 miles -- started costing as much to maintain as new car payments. I bought another SUV; she bought a hybrid. The technology in today's vehicles is far ahead...

We live in SW Ohio (45430 zip code) and Obamacare has worked well for us. My wife and I retired early in 2010 and have been on Obamacare since its inception in 2014. We planned on early retirement for quite a while, and budgeted for expensive private individual healthcare insurance until we were...

Doesn't your Part "F" Supplement pay both your Part A & B deductibles?

In ACA terms, “affordable” is defined as premiums being less than 9.5% of annual household income. Medicare Part B, has been means-tested since 2007 for beneficiaries with incomes above $85K for an individual, and above $170K for a couple. In 2015, higher-income beneficiaries pay premiums...

Interesting thread….. Actually, if you were to go out on the open market, and purchase a comprehensive health insurance policy (not catastrophic) for yourself and your spouse (here in Ohio), you would pay premiums in excess of $12K/year. Prior to the ACA, my wife and I had a comprehensive...