Yeah, no one explained this part of aging to me. Growing up without fluoride and genetically poor teeth, all those fillings I had as a kid are crumbling now. This is the first implant situation I’ve faced, @IxnayBob, and it’s been a fairly easy one as far as those things go but I’ve had plenty of crowns and root canals. And yes, most dental plans don’t cover too much for that kind of stuff.
@Iglooo, why would you be worried about trading 80k at one time?
IDK. It seems like a lot to take on at one sitting. They say to do dollar averaging when investing a lump sum. Wouldn’t that apply to rebalancing, too?
My dental coverage maxes out at $2k per year, which seems pretty standard. Is it worth it not to retire for that amount of coverage?
What CD said! I was going to ask the same question.
Sidebar: If you’re paying cash for implants, consider a trip to Canada, we know several people in the Seattle area who drive the 2+ hours to a great guy across the border and it’s $2500CDN rather than $8k USD. Worth a trip or two if you can find someone well recommended
My implants took 5-10 visits to the dentist, start to finish, spread over > 12 months. I’d consider overseas (Poland has a good reputation for implants), but not for a complicated process. If you got a tooth knocked out in an accident, fine. If you’ve had bone loss, IMO, no.
Actually, lump sum is optimal financially (more time in the market). Dollar cost averaging (DCA) is a technique for regret avoidance, and might help psychologically. But, what’s to say that the market doesn’t tank right after your final DCA investment?
I used to DCA; now I lump sum. Less to remember 
ETA: the argument doesn’t apply to rebalancing, technically. Most people rebalance when they’re 2-3% out of their AA.
The way I look at it DCA moderates the risk of short term fluctuation since you are spreading it out. More importantly, you end up buying more sarhes wenh the price is down.
@iglooo, on average, the equity market goes up. So, on average, you buy fewer shares when you wait. That’s on average; actual results are all over the map.
Dang - We had a quarterly meeting with our financial advisor last night, and he told me I can’t retire yet (at least, not if I want to live in the manner I would like to live in retirement). I knew that, but hope does spring eternal.
That depends on you time frame. I beive the time frame in DCA is a lot shorter tan “stock market rising on te average” time frame.
I’ve seen people propose DCA a windfall (e.g., inheritance) over 2 years, and some other people propose DCA for 2 months. It’s whatever makes you comfortable, and if it’s your money, the time frame is your call.
I’m a special breed of lazy: I’m not only too lazy to bother remembering to DCA, I’m also too lazy to bother with regrets if I time it “wrong.”
This is a perennial topic on Bogleheads. It is debated endlessly. The conclusion is always: lump sum is best historically and mathematically, but DCA is best behaviorally. Pick your poison
That’s the same argument as saying stocks are best historically and mathem6aticallly. And it’s true.Yet rarely, people advise to invest in all stocks. True it’s your money you do what you do.
@iglooo, let’s agree to disagree.
^Sounds good to me. I have no idea why this became a contentious point anyway. Why would anyone object to DCA or lump sum for that matter? I wouldn’t do lump sum but I wouldn’t object to anyone choosing it, either. I would object if anyone claim that is THE way or only way. Same for DCA.
I love how this thread is going in 2 directions at the same time and I’m in both of them 
My newest pre-retirement challenge is we sold our huge house (waiting to close) and need to find my downsize replacement. I hadn’t paid any attention to the real estate market in this county. It’s awful–there is very little available. So selling fast is a double-edged sword, but one I’ll take!
I’ve been in braces for 3 years to reclaim the space lost when ortho at age 12 pulled bicuspids. Waiting for the implant procedure, but my roots aren’t straight and I won’t do 2 bridges there. More time to torque the roots…
Our dental maxes out at $1500/yr. No way I’m waiting on retirement for that. On a good note, I’ve had a lifetime of dental issues so at least that won’t be a retirement adjustment for me!
Congrats on the speedy home sale, @sryrstress!
We first bought the new empty nest pad, then went after the sale of the “nest” for that specific reason - no inventory whatsoever. We did not want to rent and wait for some option to materialize - maybe - or settle for something that is not that great. So I feel your pain!
^^Would have been a good idea on our part, but some outside unfortunate circumstances created the need to list fast. We had planned to wait several years. Now there’s fixer-upper that could be nice and very easy to rent later, but not sure I’m up for a project house, especially going into tax season, and it’s in a town where real estate languishes.
I’ve never rented. Not sure how that will go. Most rentals aren’t nice here. Real estate is cheap and almost anyone with any credit will be buying a place.