Tag Archives: Financial Planning

Medicare. The government defines it as “The federal health insurance program for people 65 and older.” That seems simple enough. But there’s more to it than meets the eye because Medicare, like so many other things, has fine print that could end up costing you a lot of money if you don’t know about it. Since Medicare began in 1965, a myth has developed that Medicare pays for all your healthcare costs. Absolutely not true! The Medicare website says, “Original...

Since 1935, Social Security has been synonymous with retirement. It was always intended to supplement retirement income, never be a person’s total retirement income. Unfortunately, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, about half of older Americans rely on Social Security for at least 50% of their income, and 25% of retirees rely on it for 90% of their income. That’s why more Americans are choosing to work longer. For decades, labor force...

The clock is ticking and it gets louder the closer you get to the magic age of 65. That’s when you sign up for Medicare. But there’s more than one way to receive Medicare coverage. There are Medicare Advantage plans, sometimes referred to as all-in-one plans, because they provide medical coverage and can also provide benefits for vision, dental, hearing, and prescriptions. There is Original Medicare, which comes packaged as Part A, which provides hospital insurance,...

It’s almost time for the Social Security Administration to break out pencil and calculator to find out how much more it costs to live this year than it did last, and then decide how much of a raise Social Security beneficiaries will get in 2023. For 2022, the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) was 5.9%, the largest increase since 1982. Well, hang on to your hat boys and girls because, in the words of Bachman Turner Overdrive, “you ain’t see nuthin’...

Looking into a crystal ball and prognosticating the future is always a risky endeavor, but when it comes to Social Security and the year 2023 there are 4 things that have a high probability of happening. Cost of Living Increase In 2022, Social Security recipients received a 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). It was the biggest increase in 40 years. Inflation continued to pick up speed and the 2023 COLA will almost certainly be higher. Social Security sets the...

How would you like to waste a lot of the money you spend on Medicare coverage and miss a bunch of the benefits Medicare provides? Crazy question. But that’s exactly what’s happening to millions of Medicare beneficiaries. In October 2021, the insurance website MedicareAdvantage.com published the results of its most recent survey of Medicare beneficiaries. What it found was disturbing. Three out of four Medicare beneficiaries describe the program as “confusing and...

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) for retired folks. Isn’t that a novel idea? But it’s being considered in Congress—The Health Savings for Seniors Act, H.R. 3796. As it stands right now, the only people eligible for an HSA are those aged 65 years and younger who have a high-deductible health insurance plan meaning you have to pay $1,400 out-of-pocket for an individual or $2,800 for a family before the insurance plan pays anything. You get to deduct your contributions to...

In 2022, Social Security recipients got a 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). That was the largest increase in 40 years. The COLA coming in 2023 may be even bigger. Social Security calculates cost-of-living increases based on changes in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from September to September each year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the CPI-W has increased 9.4% from March 2021 to March 2022. So,...

The seven deadliest words in the English language—We’ve never done it this way before. And that certainly applies to Baby Boomers whose prospects for retirement are different than any preceding generation. Many Boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, have made their retirement plans based on their parent’s generation. The World War II crowd retired with income from Social Security and, in most cases, a generous pension, providing non-stop income that lasted the...

Oh, the day you can hang up your career and ease into that status you’ve been working toward most of your adult life, the place that brings a smile to your face, your happy place where you no longer answer to an employer, where you set your own schedule—that magical place called “Retirement.” You’ve been saving and planning and getting things in place. But have you planned for the taxes you have to pay on retirement income? Many retirees don’t take that into...