Anyone else able to see their health insurance plans for next year yet? My current plan went up approximately 12%. Dh hasn’t looked at his. Ours are identical except that mine has a MUCH broader network. I will be paying $15,400 per year. My deductible is around $3,500 with a max out-of-pocket of $8,150.
Just curious what others are seeing.
I just looked. 2020 is there, but not 2021. I will keep checking. Thanks for the heads up.
H’s employer health plans runs 9/1-9/1. Our premiums went up 24%, with higher deductibles and max out-of-pocket. Formularies decreased significantly.
Not great for morale when it’s after a continuing “covid” 3% pay decrease, all while the company never stopped working, and is still making great profit margins.
We are still on my employer’s plan (as I am still employed!) Our open enrollment starts in a couple of weeks, but they said that nothing is changing, including premiums. This is very rare. I can’t remember it ever happening in 23 years. I pay $4100/year and my employer pays $13,000/year for our family premiums. We have a $5000 per person ($10K max per family) deductible. Basically, we pay everything unless we have a catastrophe.
H’s employer has 2 options. A $500 deductible or a $1000 deductible. We would have to pay $24,360/year out of pocket for the $500 ded or $21,050/year for the $1000 ded. Note that a new teacher’s gross salary is only $42K, and one with 30 years and PhD is $65K. $21-24K is a BIG chunk of change, hence why I have always had to stay employed. The ratios weren’t much better 23 years ago.
@BerneseMtnMom - I think the new plans don’t have to be out until October 15th, but I am not sure.
@ClassicMom98 - I had read that there was thought that some premiums might actually go down for 2021 because many people have decreased usage because of Covid. We actually received a rebate on our health insurance for the month of September. But, then there was also the thought that 2022 would then have much higher premiums because people were going to be “sicker” in 2021 because of discoveries of issues that went undetected in 2020 because screenings didn’t happen, etc. Did I read that here? I can’t recall. Anyway, it was just a theory.
Has anyone adjusted their retirement portfolio on the basis of the upcoming election (no politics or inferences to candidates please).
We’ve adjusted our portfolio twice this year on January 28th (Covid worries) and March and slightly in June. Have done fine this year and missed the drop in the Spring.
But still nervous given the uncertainty of things. If I was to adjust it would be short term only. Sell equities and hold in 401K until end of January. There are no tax implication or costs for selling ( except for the missing dividends). We are longer in more conservative holdings than we’ve ever had before. And I think that’s the current plan to ride out this quarter.
Thoughts? If you went to all cash, why? If you took another route, why did you do it and how long are you planning to stay in that position.
Normally, I’d never try to time the market but this is 2020, and… with the exception of a meteor, it’s been too crazy for words.
I’ve increased the equity portion of my asset allocation by ~5% (all tech) and will hold there until the election. If there’s a change at the top, I will finally add an international equity index fund.
IMO, with the recent polls this weekend, the market has already factored in the odds of a new team. With the market rally today, investors seem to be shrugging off any change. (yes, taxes will go up, but there will be a huge stimulus which is good for stocks and munis.)
Buy and hold, people, buy and hold. Keep passing the open windows.
@ChoatieMom What’s an open window?
I took that to mean, Don’t Jump!
We got a notice that our Anthem premium (private insurance) is going down next year. Figures, since it’s the first time ever we will have only one person (me) using it. DH is on Medicare and the kids are on their own. Oh, well, it’s still good news.
Thought of this thread when we were talking to our close friends this weekend - the wife just turned 60 and has Alzheimer’s that seems to be progressing rapidly. The husband wasn’t planning on retiring soon but may have to in order to take care of his wife. She already seems like she’s about ten years old - he has to do most things for her. So the best laid plans…
@MaineLonghorn Wow, that’s great. We’ve been on and off private health care for a long time. Our costs never went down. Though the deductibles finally did. That’s great news.
@mominva got it right. Don’t panic, don’t jump. It’s a saying in our family (from The Hotel New Hampshire) to persevere no matter how dark things get.
My H moved his 401k into more conservative stuff. We have ridden out every storm in the past 25 years without rebalancing, but he decided he wanted to lock in gains. Moved at the end of September.
Our non-retirement savings are unchanged, and we’re still doing monthly automatic purchases to the same mutual funds.
My IRA is still 67% equities, 33% bonds/cash. Moved a little into a different index fund and bond fund in August.
H is 59 and has no plans to retire. We’re not expecting to touch this $ any time soon.
Since my husband is two years from retirement, we decided to move our investments from a higher risk to less higher risk. Per advice from a financial advisor.
We are a buy and hold, buy and hold family too. Have to stomach the downturns but, in our 33 years, overall, it’s been great. It would have been nice to have done some profit taking…when was that, end of September? So, it’s a bit painful to think of the loss over the last month but I gain perspective when I think about how excited we were in 2017 when we hit a particular milestone and we’re now in the neighborhood of 40% higher than that. Pretty crazy.
Friends of ours pulled out completely early during shelter in place and were seeking advice about when to get back in. My husband told me that that’s the problem: how and when do you jump back in?
Two of our Ds are able to save monthly (beyond employer retirement plans) so dh helped them set up a system where they invest monthly with a set amount to funds/stocks they researched and chose. Happy they are in a position to save and invest and are being smart about it.
We’re buy and hold too. Normally, we buy long term and adjust and take profits if the stocks increase then put that(profit) money into another investment so the portfolio grows and is well balanced.
But this year just seems more risky than ever. I’ve been investing since the late 1980’s and this is the only year I’ve thought to go to cash. Maybe it’s just me. The market is really high given the fundamentals ( unemployment, covid etc) so I guess everyone is just sitting tight.
Guess no one thinks there’s a reason to pause.
Retiring from 1 job in 15 months, not needing investments for another 7-10 years, will ride it out for another 2-3 years at 70/30 stocks/bonds, then go to 60/40.
Pension starts day 1, social security at 80% and Medicare in 10 years.
Health Benefits 12k++ per year for next 8 years til D hits 26, unless Obamacare is repealed
Congrats @BmacNJ!