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I'm sure others are more knowledgeable, but DW has claimed SS and her part B AND part D are deducted from her award (without any request from us). So I think all is OK with your payments.

Wow. I've yet to book our seats (we can't decide how long to spend in Australia after our diving trip) but I can only hope we get that lucky!

Thanks for posting! We are going to the Banda sea later this year and then on to Australia for an extended stay, but your trip may inspire our next visit down under.

It's true that it's hard to get status with airline credit cards, but we're keeping our AA and Delta credit cards. They cost us ~$100/year to maintain but the free checked bags they provide easily covers their costs. If they remove that perk I'll close those accounts. I rarely charge anything to...

We have 4 sodastream cylinders. We just order 4 replacements (because shipping is free on that quantity) when we are most of the way through the 4th. Free shipping back on the empties. It's much less hassle than trying to exchange cylinders in the local store.

Krka is interesting, but doesn't compare to Plitvice. We enjoyed Krka, it was made very special because we stayed at a fabulous agritourismo just outside the park.

That's depressing. We were in Roatan last November and the ocean temperatures were very high. There was lots of bleaching, but probably 50% of the coral looked healthy and the divemasters assured us the reef would recover quickly. We are returning there in May and we have our fingers crossed...

Call the gym and see if they accept renew active (UHC's gym program). If they do it should be free. We use the Y. Their fee here is $68/month for a 65+couple. It's free to us because we have renew active.

Further information: my inflationary increases have been 2.2% the first year, followed by 5.5% last year.

I think you can look the discount up directly on the UHC/AARP site - or at least I could in TN. There were no surprises in the rates charged

One more data point: I signed up directly (no broker) 3 years ago. I also got the premium schedule based on age 81 = 100% premium. DW also has the same premium schedule (signed up later directly) and we get the 7% family discount and the direct debit discount.

Another Travel #1 spender :dance: In our case 41 % of our total spend: 1. Travel 41% 2. House (mortgage & escrow) 16% 3. Groceries 8% 4. Taxes 7% 5. Dentist 3% 6. Lawn and Garden 3% 7. Automobile 2% 8. Other medical (Eyes, Ears, Insurance) 1.4% 9. Electricity 0.8% 10. Water 0.5%

Thanks for the reply. It helps a lot to know you experienced attentive staff. That seemed to be one of the biggest complaints online. It's always difficult interpreting reviews - it's much more likely people post complaints than praise.

Thank you! I will be sure to update once we get back (it'll be a while...)

That's a nice spreadsheet. FYI if you wonder about the data used (the 2004 joint life expectancy tables) you can easily copy the latest available data here: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html and then paste into the supplied sheet. BUT it makes little difference. I get minor changes...

Exactly what I do for our taxes. My EFTPS withdrawals for 2024 are already scheduled for 100% of our 2023 bill.

Too bad it's not sooner - you could have given us a review before we booked ;) We're sailing on a 2-week liveaboard in the Banda Sea (MV Pindito) in late September and then travelling to Australia for an extended stay. We will probably leave our scuba gear at Jakarta airport (We checked bags...

Has anyone any experience flying with Saudia airlines? DW and I will be flying later this year to Jakarta from the eastern seaboard. The cheapest option for business class (with lay flat seats) is to fly from IAD to CGK with Saudia. Unlike other Arab airlines there is no alcohol on board and it...

Because she's eligible for half his PIA and not half his age 70 benefit (delaying past his full retirement age doesn't increase the spousal benefit).

You only complete the PADI form when you are taking diving courses through PADI (I'm sure the same applies to other agencies). We're over 65 and don't supply any medical forms when we book trips on liveaboards or resorts.

We spent a month last summer in Cambodia, Viet nam (and Thailand for us). We really liked Viet Nam and Cambodia. It should be an epic BTD!

We've used a Panasonic breadmaker for over 20 years. In that time we wore out the first and the second is probably 6 or 7 years old. It was used very heavily when our kids were teens. A bullet proof design but the model we have/had (SD-YD250) seems to have been discontinued. Too bad I would have...

We've been to Roatan several times. But only at Turquoise bay resort (north shore) and CoCoView (south shore). We're big fans and will be at Cocoview in May. Cocoview is essentially fairly basic with very little to do other than dive but food is good and cabins are very comfortable. Willy the...

I'm someone who made sure to convert my spouse's IRA first. Why? In my case it was entirely due to DW's lack of interest/knowledge about investments and taxes so that she would have access to tax free money before having to deal with those issues on my demise (and any potential delays getting...

We've been retired now for ~ 6 years. Like many here, one spouse (me) has handled the finances and because of that I worried about DW handling the finances if I were to go first. To mitigate that I: 1). Made her small diet cola pension (3% every year regardless of inflation) a single life. I'm...