walkinwood
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Could you elaborate?
Question for the folks with a modest income
- Thread starter Henman004
- Start date
steelyman
Moderator Emeritus
This made me smile. Asking imoldernu if he could elaborate is like asking the moon "is there a man in there?".
No offense intended and I doubt any will be taken. He's offered some great posts along the way.
Here ya go. imoldernu started a thread on that a while back.
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/sharing-23-years-of-frugal-retirement-62251.html
walkinwood
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
With due respect, I'll wait for imoldernu to respond. I don't think he addressed that particular point in the linked thread.
One piece of advice. Look hard at your health care cost projections. Even with the ACA your health care premiums will rise the older you get. The ten years between age 55 and 65 are the highest. The government subsidy helps with the premium. However if you have high deductibles, unexpected and protracted illness could result in you paying the full deductible each year. In addition look hard at the physicians covered in your plan. If you use out of network physicians they can, and many will, bill you for the difference between their posted rates and what your insurance company pays. If you plan to travel some, even if only occasionally to see family, make sure the network includes doctors nationally or at least in the area you may be going to visit. Some plans have no caps on out of network expenditures in a year. Treatment for a costly medical emergency in an out of network hospital, where your treatment is by out of network doctors, can result in tens of thousands of medical expenses.
I know the above from experience. I early retired three years ago. Within days I came down with an illness that still requires medical care. I've also had surgery for another condition and complications from the surgery. I'm now in cancer treatment at a medical center two hours from my home because the local doctors did not have the ability to diagnose and care for my particular situation. Needless to say, we have maxed out our medical spending each year and have been through the wringer of fighting bills from out of network suppliers. This year we switched to a more expensive bronze plan with a much larger network of physicians locally and nationally. We'll pay more per month in premiums, but less in total if we continue meeting our high deductibles.
Run the numbers on the health policy you are buying. Look at what the maximum annual out of pocket can be if you unexpectedly high medical costs for several years in a row. Make sure your savings are sufficient. We fortunately had HSA's and other savings to tap, and our retirement spending budget was higher than we've required for other expenses. We'll make it to Medicare but I'd hate to think of where we would be if our accumulated savings was lower.
Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
I know the above from experience. I early retired three years ago. Within days I came down with an illness that still requires medical care. I've also had surgery for another condition and complications from the surgery. I'm now in cancer treatment at a medical center two hours from my home because the local doctors did not have the ability to diagnose and care for my particular situation. Needless to say, we have maxed out our medical spending each year and have been through the wringer of fighting bills from out of network suppliers. This year we switched to a more expensive bronze plan with a much larger network of physicians locally and nationally. We'll pay more per month in premiums, but less in total if we continue meeting our high deductibles.
Run the numbers on the health policy you are buying. Look at what the maximum annual out of pocket can be if you unexpectedly high medical costs for several years in a row. Make sure your savings are sufficient. We fortunately had HSA's and other savings to tap, and our retirement spending budget was higher than we've required for other expenses. We'll make it to Medicare but I'd hate to think of where we would be if our accumulated savings was lower.
Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
ExFlyBoy5
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Looks like you are in the military..and that's a GREAT place to be for ER (provided Congress NOT mess with our Tricare!!!). I just retired (fully FIRED) back in November and it's been GREAT. I am 40 years old, so I expect to be retired for a VERY LONG TIME. I never made "a lot" of money in the AF as an enlisted guy and as a matter of fact, I got a late start on "getting money smart" due to some not-so-smart choices early in my career. Anyway, without repeating what I have said a couple of times over, here is the thread where I introduced myself and gave some biographical information.
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f26/only-87-more-w-rking-days-72746.html
