Countdown to retirement

[dvcgirl67]

My problem is trying to find TIME to go. I had 10 obligations this month scattered in a such a way that we couldn't go anywhere.
And next month, we are going on a three night trip to the coast, but I have 8 individual obligations and JURY DUTY potentially for 10 days (or more). They don't warn you that ADULTING continues in retirement.

I look at it this way, right now, at my age and current weight/level of fitness....I'm never going to feel any better than I do right now. This is the case for most of us. Now, if we're talking about someone my age who loses lots of weight and/or attains a higher fitness level, then that is different. But for the most part, at 56, I'm not going to feel any better....I'll just slowly but surely decline as I age. If we'd put off South Africa for another ten years it's unlikely I could have hiked up Table Mountain like I did two weeks ago. You get my drift.

So the only way I know is to prioritize the things that are most important to you. For us, travel is way, way up there. So we put it at the top of our list (behind immediate family of course).

 

[tvguy]

I look at it this way, right now, at my age and current weight/level of fitness....I'm never going to feel any better than I do right now. This is the case for most of us. Now, if we're talking about someone my age who loses lots of weight and/or attains a higher fitness level, then that is different. But for the most part, at 56, I'm not going to feel any better....I'll just slowly but surely decline as I age. If we'd put off South Africa for another ten years it's unlikely I could have hiked up Table Mountain like I did two weeks ago. You get my drift.

So the only way I know is to prioritize the things that are most important to you. For us, travel is way, way up there. So we put it at the top of our list (behind immediate family of course).

I get that. In my case I had a health condition (slight mobility issue ) spring up in 2019 and took 3 years to resolve, so while I did travel then, I feel better now as that has been resolved and I feel better than I have since prior to 2019.
Now the issue is covid. We made it until March of 2023 without getting it. Got it on an 8 day, 3,600 mile road trip. Our next trip of March of this year, and escaped it that trip. But it is a concern next year as we are doing a land/sea tour, 14 days, 7 by land, 7 by sea on Princess. I am now buying travel insurance, also because I am now on Medicare which does not cover you outside the U.S.

 

[disykat]

We had looked five years ago at LTC insurance and didn't get it because of the ridiculous fine print for using it - none of our parents would have been able to use it. (We were getting it for ourselves, but our parents had four different scenarios and none of them would have qualified!) We didn't want to buy something we would never be able to use!

We looked again last year and found much better options and were all set to invest in a policy specifically for me and found really good options. I just didn't qualify for what I thought were pretty lame reasons. At any rate, LTC policies are changing so they're worth checking out

 

[Frwinkley]

Since my job is talking to people about planning for retirement, I have learned so much from my clients! The number one thing I hear is “I wish I’d done it sooner.” Based on those conversations, I am outta here the moment I turn 59.5 and will pull SS at 62. There is a plan in place and the countdown is on!

If I may ask, why are you taking SS at 62? DH and I are both 63 right now, retired with a pension that covers about 80% of our monthly expenses. We're funding the rest with cash we've saved until SS. Our FRA is 67, but we may take SS at 65. I'd like to have the extra cash to spend on travel, etc. instead of tapping into our retirement assets. I realize every year you leave SS alone, you're guaranteed an 8% increase, but I hate the idea of depleting our 401ks.

 

[tvguy]

We had looked five years ago at LTC insurance and didn't get it because of the ridiculous fine print for using it - none of our parents would have been able to use it. (We were getting it for ourselves, but our parents had four different scenarios and none of them would have qualified!) We didn't want to buy something we would never be able to use!

We looked again last year and found much better options and were all set to invest in a policy specifically for me and found really good options. I just didn't qualify for what I thought were pretty lame reasons. At any rate, LTC policies are changing so they're worth checking out

What kind of things did the plan you looked at exclude?

 

[disykat]

What kind of things did the plan you looked at exclude?

I'm afraid I will misquote, so please note my memory is not exact. We looked at each of our parent's scenarios and did the math. We decided at that time, we were better off in the stock market like my parents had done.

My MIL spent three short periods of rehab in the hospital. Medicare would only pay for a certain number of days (I think it was two weeks?) which weren't quite enough for her, then the LTC plans we were looking wouldn't kick in until after a certain number of days (I think 30?) The extra days we had to pay out of pocket for her would not have been covered and she didn't ever need "Long Term Care." Even her hospice care that we did at home with her was less than the 30 days. She would not have used the plans. FIL died suddenly out of the blue and would not have used the plan.

Both of my parents went into care very late in life and lived/are living even later. The plans we looked at wouldn't have covered much because they had age limits. They had money in the stock market and mom's accounts are doing well overall and should last her. So in the case of our 4 parents the particular plans we were evaluating wouldn't have paid.

The plans we looked at initially were through DH's work (federal government) and at the time, they were terrible! The newer plans (private) we've seen had favorable deals, getting some money back under certain conditions and a death benefit for heirs, and seemed like a really smart purchase and even a smart investment for the cost after those benefits, but I was surprised at reasons for rejection for a policy. They said I was rejected for asthma (under control) and vertigo (not current, but in the past.) I'd totally recommend those if you can get them.

In our state it is now required to have LTC insurance (DH and I were just old enough to have retired as it was taking effect) so I think plans are becoming way more competitive and offering better deals now, but good plans can be picky in the marketplace I guess. Shop around.

 

[focusondisney]

In our state it is now required to have LTC insurance (DH and I were just old enough to have retired as it was taking effect)

What? The state requires all workers to have LTC insurance? Or state employees? Do they provide competitive options? And increase pay to give employees the funds to pay for this new requirement? It’s crazy if they make every worker in the state carry them. Coz frankly, the cost benefit analysis of these plans doesn’t work for most people.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

My husband obsesses about retiring. He's still at least 10 years away but looks at his retirement spreadsheet at least once a week. However, he refuses to talk to a financial planner about retirement. I think he's over estimating how much we need to have saved to retire. For those who are within 10 years of retirement, have you talked to a financial planner? Has he or she given you a ball -park number for saving? My hubby thinks 4.5-5 million is needed. I'm wondering what the general consensus is. He's hoping to retire at age 57. I do realize that that is a long time to live without an income, especially if we don't get social security until we're 70.

Yes, we talked to one about 4 years ago, so about 10 years out. Basically confirmed we were on track with everything. A couple take aways that I remember from the conversation. The FP said that people aren't retiring and living alot differently than pre-retirement. Sure they might want to travel more, so you budget for that. Or, buy a 2nd home. But if you aren't driving a $75k car now, you likely aren't going to go out and purchase a $75k car in retirement. That's what really stuck with me.

Another thing the FP brought up for consideration was long term care insurance. If you purchase that when you are younger it is alot cheaper then getting when you are older and might not be as healthy. I checked into rates and I think it would save a few hundred a month to purchase in your 40's vs waiting until 60's. But our verdict is still out on LTC so we didn't do anything with that.

 

[tvguy]

I'm afraid I will misquote, so please note my memory is not exact. We looked at each of our parent's scenarios and did the math. We decided at that time, we were better off in the stock market like my parents had done.

My MIL spent three short periods of rehab in the hospital. Medicare would only pay for a certain number of days (I think it was two weeks?) which weren't quite enough for her, then the LTC plans we were looking wouldn't kick in until after a certain number of days (I think 30?) The extra days we had to pay out of pocket for her would not have been covered and she didn't ever need "Long Term Care." Even her hospice care that we did at home with her was less than the 30 days. She would not have used the plans. FIL died suddenly out of the blue and would not have used the plan.

Both of my parents went into care very late in life and lived/are living even later. The plans we looked at wouldn't have covered much because they had age limits. They had money in the stock market and mom's accounts are doing well overall and should last her. So in the case of our 4 parents the particular plans we were evaluating wouldn't have paid.

The plans we looked at initially were through DH's work (federal government) and at the time, they were terrible! The newer plans (private) we've seen had favorable deals, getting some money back under certain conditions and a death benefit for heirs, and seemed like a really smart purchase and even a smart investment for the cost after those benefits, but I was surprised at reasons for rejection for a policy. They said I was rejected for asthma (under control) and vertigo (not current, but in the past.) I'd totally recommend those if you can get them.

In our state it is now required to have LTC insurance (DH and I were just old enough to have retired as it was taking effect) so I think plans are becoming way more competitive and offering better deals now, but good plans can be picky in the marketplace I guess. Shop around.

Yes, I have never seen a LTC policy that didn't require you to pay for the first 90 days of care. And it has to be 90 consecutive days. That's the deductible.
I have never seen an age limit. Every plan I have looked at had a dollar cap, usually in the neighborhood of $300,000. But with the average time spent in a LTC facility being 18 months, even a top of the line $10,000 a month facility wouldn't hit that cap.
But LTC has gotten very expensive and more people buy it and use it.

 

[tvguy]

What? The state requires all workers to have LTC insurance? Or state employees? Do they provide competitive options? And increase pay to give employees the funds to pay for this new requirement? It’s crazy if they make every worker in the state carry them. Coz frankly, the cost benefit analysis of these plans doesn’t work for most people.

Yup Washington State.
https://www.insurance.wa.gov/what-long-term-care-insurance

 

[disykat]

What? The state requires all workers to have LTC insurance? Or state employees? Do they provide competitive options? And increase pay to give employees the funds to pay for this new requirement? It’s crazy if they make every worker in the state carry them. Coz frankly, the cost benefit analysis of these plans doesn’t work for most people.

I didn't realize we were the only state. I think more are headed that way. Even though I'm glad we were already past the cut off and weren't required, like I said before the options are now significantly better when we did cost/analysis than they were a few years ago so that part has been good.

Since we're having this discussion and I have real life experience, I'm going to lay out some numbers. Over the last 6 years my parents have paid more than 600K over their social security income on memory care. Half of it was covered by the sale of their house, the rest by investments. My mother is still living and her current costs are about 100K annually. Her income covers about 20K of it. Thankfully she still has investments left. I understand why states are heading towards requiring LTC insurance. If she didn't have her assets, she'd be living in a different place and the government would be covering her care.

 

[GAN]

I didn't realize we were the only state. I think more are headed that way. Even though I'm glad we were already past the cut off and weren't required, like I said before the options are now significantly better when we did cost/analysis than they were a few years ago so that part has been good.

Since we're having this discussion and I have real life experience, I'm going to lay out some numbers. Over the last 6 years my parents have paid more than 600K over their social security income on memory care. Half of it was covered by the sale of their house, the rest by investments. My mother is still living and her current costs are about 100K annually. Her income covers about 20K of it. Thankfully she still has investments left. I understand why states are heading towards requiring LTC insurance. If she didn't have her assets, she'd be living in a different place and the government would be covering her care.

So, if you're in this LTC System, what does that guarantee an individual? I don't know anything about it...

 

[georgina]

In our state it is now required to have LTC insurance (DH and I were just old enough to have retired as it was taking effect) so I think plans are becoming way more competitive and offering better deals now, but good plans can be picky in the marketplace I guess. Shop around.

Curious how new this is and how it was communicated to residents. My DS lives in WA, but he works from home for a company based in NJ. He hasn’t mentioned this to me and I’m not sure he is even aware of it. Hoping there is an option for self-insurance.

 

[tvguy]

I didn't realize we were the only state. I think more are headed that way. Even though I'm glad we were already past the cut off and weren't required, like I said before the options are now significantly better when we did cost/analysis than they were a few years ago so that part has been good.

Since we're having this discussion and I have real life experience, I'm going to lay out some numbers. Over the last 6 years my parents have paid more than 600K over their social security income on memory care. Half of it was covered by the sale of their house, the rest by investments. My mother is still living and her current costs are about 100K annually. Her income covers about 20K of it. Thankfully she still has investments left. I understand why states are heading towards requiring LTC insurance. If she didn't have her assets, she'd be living in a different place and the government would be covering her care.

Interesting numbers. My mom passed in 2013. Her long term care in a Residential Care Facility For the Elderly cost $4,300 a month. Her long term care policy paid $3,700 of that. So her out of pocket for that worked out to $600 a month or $7,200 a year.
I kept her house and car, paying all the insurance, upkeep, taxes. That added up to $650 a month. So her monthly costs were $1,250 a month. That number is exactly what her Social Security benefit was. So she had her pension ($400) and annuity income ($180) as pad before I would have had to dip into savings.
Looking back at her records, $1,250 a month was the MOST she had ever paid per month for all her expenses. The only expense she didn't have when she was in the care facility was groceries. Prior to that she was spending $650 to $750 a month, so about $100 on groceries. So she had over $1,200 a month to spend on travel and entertainment.
But this is a long explanation to a financial plan that she and my dad put together when they got married in 1950. When she passed, her house had been paid off for 53 years. Her car was 10 years old and had been paid off for 10 years. She was a child of the depression, and my dad was older and was in the working world during the depression. Their goal all through their married life was saving money, so they could always have the things they needed and wanted, with the ability to pay cash for them.

 

[disykat]

Mom and dad were able to handle senior residential and then assisted living costs with just their social security and their required minimum distributions. Memory care is where it gets really expensive. Currently mom pays $8600 a month. For a while they were both in and required separate rooms. I think overall planning with investments worked well for them. The important part is you need either the LTC insurance or the investments and ideally both to cover if you have worst case scenario expenses. Thankfully my parents had planned well and made it clear they wanted to go into leveled senior care if needed so we knew their wishes and had funds to cover it.

My in-laws wanted to stay in their home and didn't have assets and thankfully we were able to make it work, but it was a challenge. My SIL moved in and helped them and we came and went. (They lived in the same town as my parents so that helped!) The bad part with that is that if we had needed to sell the house to get the inlaws care, SIL would have lost her home. (Plus the property was multiple hoarded buildings and I don't know how we would have dealt with that and their care at the same time!)

DH and I are going with investments. We are encouraging SIL to get LTC insurance, but so far she has ignored us and is choosing to hope for the best. Thankfully my siblings have been planning and should have assets. We are both youngest siblings and none of our siblings have children to step up so....

 

[disykat]

The travel thing ..... I hear you! We thought these would be our travel years, but they've turned into caretaking years! I retired early the minute my youngest graduated from college and spent 5 years living every other week in our hometown. We've gotten to do some now that our only remaining parent lives down the street, but it involves a lot of planning. Now that my siblings are both retired and can take turns staying at my house to be near mom (and take care of our dog!) it's getting easier.

 

[focusondisney]

Yup Washington State.
https://www.insurance.wa.gov/what-long-term-care-insurance

That link doesn’t have any information on a state mandate to carry it. Just what qualifies as LTC insurance.

 

[focusondisney]

I didn't realize we were the only state. I think more are headed that way.

So who is mandated? State employees or all workers in the state? A lot of people can barely afford health insurance. Now even minimum wage workers have to add LTC insurance? Do employers have any requirements to pay in for their workers or offer policies?

 

[tvguy]

So who is mandated? State employees or all workers in the state? A lot of people can barely afford health insurance. Now even minimum wage workers have to add LTC insurance? Do employers have any requirements to pay in for their workers or offer policies?

Just Google "Does Washington require long term care insurance"

Pages of hits.

 

[ambgoph]

So who is mandated? State employees or all workers in the state? A lot of people can barely afford health insurance. Now even minimum wage workers have to add LTC insurance? Do employers have any requirements to pay in for their workers or offer policies?

Read all about it! WA Cares Fund