And some of us aren’t ever going to get near a couple of million dollars, let alone to leave it behind! Just chiming in for those of us with more modest means, so that we also see ourselves represented here…
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Good news regarding Medicare Part B, the premium will drop to $164.90 next year.
Only because it shot way up this year to $170.10 under the belief it would have to cover an expensive new Alzheimer’s drug. It was $144.60 in 2020 and $148.50 in 2021. So the drop is welcome but kind of, oops, our bad, sorry. At least the SSA COL increase won’t be eaten away for a change!
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Medicare B was $148.50/month in 2021, and went up to $170.10/month in 2022. So I guess a little pull back on cost for 2023.
Posted at same time as Marilyn.
The new legislation going into effect for 2025 is with annual out-of-pocket drug costs capped at $2,000 for Medicare drug plans. THAT is a big safety cap.
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This new “reduced cost” means my teeny social security might again cover my Medicare costs…maybe. (I’m subject to the offset and windfall provisions…so…).
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I know I don’t need that money in stocks for 4-5 years or more, but it still freaks me out watching the market go down, down, down.
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You are not alone. My plan is to NEVER touch that money, but even aggressive me is feeling angst about the numbers going down and down and down. Maybe it’s because dh retired last year and inflation has picked up, but everything feels a little shaky right now. I know it’ll bounce back at some point, but it is a bummer right now.
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We saw our financial planner yesterday. He says we are in excellent shape, but really? I guess if we don’t touch some of our accounts for a few years, that will be the case. FP told us to take a couple of nice vacations, and gift money to our kids if we want to.
It was good to hear, I guess. But I hate the thought of running out of money.
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This kind of market makes me lament (more than usual) about no longer having the pensions we had once aspired to. On my “new plan” retirement (not nearly as nice as the good old plan days), I did opt to take the annuity option. That way there is a component, in addition to SS, where I don’t have to worry about market conditions and lifespan guesstimation.
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I’m trying not to look at my accounts, or think about the value of my house, which is going down just 5 months before I plan to put it on the market. And our pensions are not indexed for inflation…… gulp. Dang, I wish I had sold my house 6 months ago, when real estate agents were sending me weekly letters begging me to sell!
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DOW is down almost 21% YTD. No bright spots….except perhaps less capital gains taxes due this year.
I really feel for those on fixed income. I’m considering cashing out a portion of our portfolio for a bit. Preserve capital and stabilize the bleeding.
Defined benefit pension plans can get into trouble. Usually, when the trouble is noticed, it is decades after the decisions on too-low funding levels were made that resulted in the underfunding that now takes far more money to fix.
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I don’t care how much my house has gone up or down from the selling perspective because we have no plans to sell in the foreseeable future, but the fact that the county tax assessment happened at the peak of the market is somewhat irritating.
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You can challenge the assessment. We can here, but you have to do it in a timely manner.
Nope. Not in our county. The bar for challenging is quite high.
Seriously! I challenged it twice, forget it. They don’t care. I’m afraid they’re gonna just raise it, for spite.
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I like having it all in one thread - I just scroll past posts that don’t apply to me.
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I look at this thread as Finance focused. I’m ok with other retirement related topics here, but I prefer having other spinoff threads.
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We tried to appeal our tax assessment once. That was a joke. I’m familiar with construction, and know the process. There are few comps in our area, as the homes vary from high 200’s to a million. So I found the most similar styles and sizes in nearby areas. I also shared neighborhood homes that were larger, on larger lots, and updated that were assessed less than ours.
Assessor office threatened that they could actually raise my assessment if I challenged it. When I called to discuss, the office administrator explained our house “could” potentially sell for more. I shared that assessments are not based on a potential future price, but simply on the current value. It made no difference. They would not budge. Very frustrating process. Next time, we hope to have it professionally assessed, and see what they say.
I just received my TAV in the mail and there was over a $100k increase in tax assessed value. Probably still worth more but home values are now going to start to decrease not increase.
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