Thanks @bluebayou. Meaning you are going all in? I’m about 80/20 equities in one of my major accounts.
@MAandMEmom, I expect volatility to hit around UK Brexit in Jan, US Democratic primaries, and US elections.
^^nah, not ‘all-in’. I was 100% equities until I hit 60, then I started to increase bond allocation (from zero %). Now that I’ve been retired for a couple of years, I have started to focus on spending down the bond fund which is therefore increasing the equity portion of AA. (Altho counter-intuitive, I’ve become a fan of a “rising glidepath” in retirement.)
^^lol, that article was written by Wade Pfau. Hw had a nice cameo in The Big Short. Doesn’t make me inclined to listen to anything he has to say.
Why does having appeared in a movie negate the validity of his article? I don’t know anything about the subject of the article or this guy. Just curious.
A big unknown for those estimating retirement costs is future medical costs. How does one handle that risk, other than having to save millions of dollars more than otherwise needed?
Pretty much saving more.
millions? You might have to pay $2K/month per person on an ACA plan before Medicare kicks in, and a few hundred a month after that for Medicare/Medigap. But where do you get millions extra needed?
ACA surviving court cases and the elimination of the individual mandate tax is not a given (some areas are already short of companies offering ACA plans. Millions of dollars is for self insuring medical bills if one is unable to buy insurance at any price (no ACA plans available, or ACA is repealed and one has a pre-existing condition).
Medicare appears to cover only about half of the medical expenses that subscribers have.
^ Medicare does not pay for Long Term Care/ retirement home buy in fees + monthly fees/ or home health care, which can amount to thousands of $$ per month.
Medicare+Medigap removes almost all your medical cost risk.
Long term care remains an issue, but if you run out of money Medicaid will pay.
I don’t have time in my life to worry about the unlikely prospect of eliminating coverage for pre-existing conditions.
Thanks @bluebayou. Probably pretty high tax rate but perhaps not the highest. I will check. It is a venture-backed startup so they get paid pretty well.
@somemom, very good suggestion. Will do. I think they are doing a non-contributory 401k. The firm is growing pretty quickly. They appear to need new office space every 18 months. Not sure they want to make employer contributions to all.
Given typical compensation for techies in Silicon Valley (startups), his marginal CA tax rate is probably 9%, and his federal marginal tax rate is probably 33%, so 42% goes to the taxes. Not too small of a chunk to think about it!
I sure hope it is an unlikely scenario but it has been a past reality so who knows…
What do most people pay for medicare per month? I was in a conversation with one couple recently (it was political so I’ll avoid the details 
) and they were claiming they paid $1800 per month for medicare/healthcare costs. They are of medicare age and I am not. Is that realistic?
If they are high income and pay IRMAA, and also have Medigap plans, it seems possible. Most will pay less. My mom pays about $500 with her Medigap plan.
They must have a decent income. 
@bunsenburner, looks about right.
My friend who is a consultant (working for himself). He pays $22,000 per year for his entire family of 4 people (very healthy 45 yo Husband, 50 yo wife, 12 and 15 years old boys). Their household income around $300,000/year
I am totally not surprised at paying $22K a year - or more - for insurance without medicare (been there, done that). I was just surprised that some receiving medicare were paying that much and was unable to arrive at that figure through some google digging.
dos:
Medicare Part A (hospitalization) is no charge to the recipient
Medicare Part B (docs and labs) is $144.40/mo.
But both of those only cover about ~80% of total medical costs.
A Medicare Supplement (aka Medigap) can be had $200/mo. in my SoCal zip code. That covers the ~20% that Unlce Sam does not pay. (Plan F which is 100% coverage is no longer offered. Plan G has an annual deductible of ~$200)
Medicare Part D (Rx) prices range from ~$13/mo to ~$120 per month (again, my zip code), depending on how many and what type scrips one is taking. And that excludes any Rx deductibles and copay.
So, base price for a healthy 65-66 year old is $144+$200+$13 = $357/mo. Great deal.
But, wait, there is more! If your income was over ~$170k Married, FJ (in 2018), then you get to pay IRMAA. In 2020, IRMAA rates start at $57.80/mo for those from $174-218k income, and increases to $357/mo. for those earning $500k+.
Add it all up, and one would have to be on some expensive meds to run into $22k per year on Medicare.