<p>I guess it’s a win-win: if you have good health you may need more money to retire, but at least you have your health. If you have poor health, you’ll at least need less money! </p>
<p>If you have good health, you can spend your money on things like yummy meals, travel, etc and keep medical bills lower. ;)</p>
<p>1214mom, the annual TSP benefit statement that you get in Feb.-March gives you not only 12/31 account balances, but projections for what kind of monthly income you could get as an annuity from the projected balances (with assumptions in fine print about future contributions, annuity purchase rates, investment return) . Shows numbers at three different ages (62, 65, 67, IIRC).</p>
<p>I think we will be living on pension and SS, and not annuitizing my IRA and DH’s TSP and using that for things like property taxes, major expenses, etc. that are above and beyond our regular living expenses. </p>
<p>We make the final tuition payment in December. Time to start throwing $$ at the mortgage and catch-up contributions.</p>
<p>Still trying to make it through the years before retirement. Hip pain is moving my doc to order a bone scan (after insurance pre-approval); hope it rules out spread of cancer. Since I am already in the cancer hole being a stage III survivor, I am in a nerve racking situation. And I slept so well the night before the doctor appt!</p>
<p>I agree with @HImom about all the good things - although have to hold back on yummy meals (or get very stingy portion sizes) due to all the weight gain during cancer fight and inactivity (55 lb).</p>
<p>Hanging on at current as best I can. </p>
<p>W/O health or financial issues, life can truly be good. The two definitely go hand-in-hand with living a great life. Also appreciate what you have.</p>
<p>Question about FDIC insurance, website says:</p>
<p>“A deposit account owned by two or more people, without named beneficiaries
Coverage Limit:
$250,000 per co-owner”</p>
<p>So if it is a joint account of 2 names, the total insurance coverage will be $500,000, correct? </p>
<p>How does “named beneficiaries” affect the coverage limit, if any?</p>
<p>
So it seems:
<a href=“How FDIC Insurance Coverage Is Calculated | Nolo”>http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/fdic-insurance-how-safe-money-29803-2.html</a></p>
<p>For named beneficiaries, are you talking about trust accounts? That is answered pretty clearly at the above link as well.</p>
<p>@SOSConcern, best wishes for good news from your doctor. So sorry you’re facing this after all you’ve been through.</p>
<p>Yes, adjusting what you eat and/or portion sizes based on how much/little physical activity we choose is also something that helps keep us fitting into our clothing without having to get new, larger sizes. It works well for us. We are doing a LOT more of splitting entrees and having a taste of appetizers/desserts and/or splitting those too. </p>
<p>I prefer avoiding buffets and if I end up at them, I just eat my normal amounts and no longer care whether we “got our money’s worth” by eating way more calories and food than our bodies want or need. I plan to age as healthily as possible for good quality of life–my folks are great role models as they have very few physical problems in their 80s and 90s.</p>
<p>@SOSConcern – hope you get good news, and soon. Fingers crossed.</p>
<p>I am impatiently waiting on bone scan appt. Thank you all for good wishes and prayers - don’t want cancer to be the answer, but have to accept whatever the outcome is. I really thought I had thrown the cancer monkey off my back; no gut feel one way or another on this…just kind of confused after being considered cancer free for 4 years…</p>
<p>In the mean time, Money’s Nov Retirement Guide just came in the mailbox yesterday - what makes retirees happiest (on-line poll):</p>
<p>81% Good Health
58% Financial Security
36% Friends and Family
20% Having Purpose</p>
<p>I think people on our thread would agree. I feel pretty strongly that these four reasons all kind of go hand-in-hand.</p>
<p>The next poll is “Are you better off now financially than at the beginning of the year?”</p>
<p>SOSConcern, can you hurry them up on the appointment so you don’t have to suffer? What works for me is to call the office every morning, and ask if there are cancellations, tell them that you’re anxious. Ask to get put on the list if an opening comes up, and that you’ll show up in an instant, if called.</p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>
<p>SOS, hope you get good news soon.</p>
<p>SOSC, I know that anxiety well and hope you can get the scan and results ASAP. </p>
<p>You know, almost 3500 posts here, and I still don’t have an accurate idea of the answer to the question.</p>
<p>We go for 40-50 years, saving and going without doing things we’d like, maybe working a job we aren’t crazy about, for decades, and for what? To leave a bunch of money to our kids, or to end up in the optimum nursing home (when we have dementia and can’t even tell the difference)?</p>
<p>Sure, I can see the point of working and saving until you have enough to take care of yourself and not have to cut way back after you retire. But how do you ever know how much is enough? Nobody knows the future, nobody knows what their investments will do, what the govt will decide to tax, what the world situation is going to be, and what their health will be.</p>
<p>It just seems futile to put things you’d like to do off forever. When it’s finally time to do it, you might be immobile or have lost your mind.</p>
<p>Gollee @busdriver11 you are heaping with optimism!</p>
<p>In some ways have to have some quiet time to ‘listen’ - thinking clearly about what is going on in your life and choosing ‘the right path’.</p>
<p>You hope for good health along with taking care of yourself; enjoy life and also know it is a gift, so you are not promised the next day (as you say). It helps to have faith/God.</p>
<p>Don’t have your investments where there is no safety. Have to always know and adjust for taxes.</p>
<p>The world situation is not going to kill us - although it will take some of our family in the military; acts of violence in our own area, the drunk driver or unfortunate run in with evil may. </p>
<p>Some of us are having to wait until Medicare can kick in to retire. Health insurance and Obama Care is the new paradigm to figure out.</p>
<p>We have to have hope for the next generation.Cannot worry about things we cannot control. Prayer helps.</p>
<p>And don’t forget to drink plenty of red wine and sleep well. 
Honestly after a good sleep last night, I was so bubbly this morning, maybe the whole day, that my husband couldn’t tone my enthusiasm down.</p>
<p>DrGoogle, I’ll bet your husband wanted to give you a good smack in the butt, I sure would </p>
<p>Ah, just kidding. But my husband has been so perky lately, just feeling so good he needs to go on a 20 mile run, and talk up a storm…while I’m under the weather and feel just crummy. Okay, I’m happy for you two. But I still want to smack you both, just a little.</p>
<p>On the bone scan - they have to get insurance pre-certification. Everything takes a few days. Will give MD office another half a day to see what the hold up is. Of course when they do the scan you know nothing that moment either - report goes to MD. </p>
<p>Enjoying DD home on fall break. Other DD comes home Fri evening. A nice break.</p>
<p>SOS, I’m sure that prayer helps immensely for people who are religious. I’ve seen people get through some very bad times with relative peace. But for those of us who aren’t, it’s pretty futile.</p>
<p>I’m just kind of down lately, watching what is happening to my Dad. I really thought he would be the one to make it until 120 with all of his marbles intact, in the best of health. He was hiking just last year, at age 84. But now he has been in bed for about five months with severe foot pain, just got out of bed a few months ago and still struggles to walk. Has several other health issues, either some dementia or mental illness, and won’t do what it takes to help himself. My mom is going out of her mind. He is stuck on doing everything for himself, doesn’t trust any doctors, won’t purchase the footwear he needs or do what they tell him to do.</p>
<p>After 50 years of ultra healthy eating (before it was even mainstream, including no coffee or alcohol), constant exercise, studying, working problems and keeping sharp, everything to delay the inevitable. And it came anyways. They saved so much money, and never used it.</p>
<p>So I’m drinking that second glass of wine tonight (with DrGoogle’s encouragement). And planning that cruise to the South Pacific that I always wanted to take.</p>
<p>I think 80 is the common age when things start to fall apart. I think my dad was around that age when he had a stroke and then everything went downhill. My acupuncturist said the same thing about her dad. He was hiking and healthy and then he got to 80 and now he has to deal with Alzheimer’s.
Anyway, this is what I’ve planning to stay in the South Pacific, my daughter wants a bungalow over water with a plunging pool until I told her the price tag per night. I have to look for cheaper alternative but it’s nice to look at the pictures.
<a href=“http://www.fourseasons.com/borabora/?source=taboraborablhotel”>http://www.fourseasons.com/borabora/?source=taboraborablhotel</a></p>