scrabbler1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2009
- Messages
- 6,705
On he spending side, since I retired at the end of 2008 I have had a few spikes in my annual expenses. The first was in 2010 when I had a big tax bill from an unexpectedly large short-term cap gain distribution from my main bond fund which supplies me with my monthly income I use to cover my expenses. I reinvest the cap gain distribution so it "felt" like an increase in my expenses. I pulled the extra money from another account to pay the added taxes. Also in 2010 I had a big increase in my health insurance premium.
In 2011, I faced another big increase in my health insurance premiums but at least the income tax bill returned to normal. In the middle of 2011, I ditched the health insurance plan and took a much lower, bare-bones policy just to hold me over until the end of 2013 when I could sign up with an ACA exchange policy for 2014.
For 2012, 2013, and 2014, my expenses were roughly at the 2009 level.
In 2015, I got sick and spend 12 days in the hospital. But thanks to the ACA, my covered OOP expenses were capped at the annual deductible. Nevertheless, I did see a spike in my annual expenses.
For 2016, as long as I can stay out of the hospital (so far, so good!), my expenses will return to nearly their 2014 level. I do have some doctor copays and I had some other unexpected medical/dental bills. Nothing huge like in 2015, but my expenses will rise a little compared to 2014.
On the income side, the monthly dividend income from my main bond fund has declined gradually since 2009. In 2014, to supplement the cash inflow to my local bank account, I stopped reinvesting the quarterly dividend income from a stock fund and began taking it as cash. This boost enables me to more easily cover my monthly expenses while providing me a decent cushion to cover me for small, unforeseen expenses (such as the recent medical and dental bills).
I keep a slush fund, or first-tier emergency fund, I can tap into in case those small, unforeseen expenses can't be covered by the usual cushion in my local bank account. It has checkwriting privileges which enables me to have extra liquidity.
In 2011, I faced another big increase in my health insurance premiums but at least the income tax bill returned to normal. In the middle of 2011, I ditched the health insurance plan and took a much lower, bare-bones policy just to hold me over until the end of 2013 when I could sign up with an ACA exchange policy for 2014.
For 2012, 2013, and 2014, my expenses were roughly at the 2009 level.
In 2015, I got sick and spend 12 days in the hospital. But thanks to the ACA, my covered OOP expenses were capped at the annual deductible. Nevertheless, I did see a spike in my annual expenses.
For 2016, as long as I can stay out of the hospital (so far, so good!), my expenses will return to nearly their 2014 level. I do have some doctor copays and I had some other unexpected medical/dental bills. Nothing huge like in 2015, but my expenses will rise a little compared to 2014.
On the income side, the monthly dividend income from my main bond fund has declined gradually since 2009. In 2014, to supplement the cash inflow to my local bank account, I stopped reinvesting the quarterly dividend income from a stock fund and began taking it as cash. This boost enables me to more easily cover my monthly expenses while providing me a decent cushion to cover me for small, unforeseen expenses (such as the recent medical and dental bills).
I keep a slush fund, or first-tier emergency fund, I can tap into in case those small, unforeseen expenses can't be covered by the usual cushion in my local bank account. It has checkwriting privileges which enables me to have extra liquidity.