Yes, it’s callable.
I think my FZDXX is paying over 3% now.
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It is, however it has a $100K minimum, so not open to all account holders. The yield has been ticking up rapidly.
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What is the draw of an annuity? I for one have never been impressed by them. You can easily get same or better return when the market is not sinking by investing in a dividend rich ETF like SCHD with a backstop/stop loss that you are comfortable with…let’s say no more than a 10% loss.
@1dadinNC, this is the bond portion, or fixed income portion, which it’s not earning much until recently, at least it has not lost a lot of money either.
I looked at the longevity annuity, I think male 80 years old has longevity credit, borrowing the idea from one of Bogglehead guys. But I gave up on the idea recently.
My Fidelity money market fund is paying 3%, and I’m picking up a 6 month CD paying 4.05%.
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What about a 6 month T bill instead? T bills are state income exempt unless you are in a no tax state.
Could you tell me the designation for that money market fund? I have one that’s paying about 2.3%, I think, though the seven day yield is 2.85%. I’m always confused about why that doesn’t match, guessing they’re paying the dividends out at a monthly rate, so maybe next month will be better. But I’d like a better fund!
It’s FZDXX that Dr Google listed above. $100K minimum to join it, I believe.
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Even in a state w/o state income tax, the 6 month is yielding 4.45% vs the 4.10 on the 6 month CD.
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Thanks, but I was wondering about the one that @notrichenough was talking about. Hopefully the minimum is lower!
Does this help?
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Yes, FDZXX. Sorry about that high minimum, but I have a lot of cash during in my IRA.
Fidelity has something like 30 money market funds, and I know there’s one with low minimums paying about 2.7%.
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I’m thinking I might just stick with my Schwab value advantage money fund, SWVXX, its seven day yield is now 2.92% and seems to be going up. No minimum. Guessing what I should pay attention to is the seven day yield, not annual.
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Thanks @CT1417 and @notrichenough, those are useful charts.
It depends on whether your former employer’s COBRA offering is a better or worse deal than the ACA offerings in your state and locality. The answer will not be the same for everyone.
Pricing of your former employer’s COBRA offering depends on its employee plan’s cost experiences, which tend to correlate to the age and gender demographics of its employees. However, since ACA plans are allowed some age rating, someone a few years younger than Medicare age will on average see a COBRA offering based on a lower cost group (their former employer’s employees) than an ACA plan based on their age with similar coverage.
Of course, ACA plans may get significantly less expensive for those with low enough income to get subsidies.
Yes, they can vary by both state and locality within the state, depending on whether the participating insurance companies want to offer there (e.g. Kaiser has a very large presence in California, but does not offer ACA plans in all counties – it would not make sense to offer in counties where the nearest Kaiser facility is too far away).
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COBRA through my H’s employer was a much better deal than ACA for S when he aged off our plan. When he finally got insurance with his job, it was more than the COBRA payment. OTOH, the COBRA payment for insurance with my last employer was ridiculous. It definitely depends on the plan. H’s company took away a lot of retiree benefits, but at least we can each stay on their retiree medical plan until we hit 65. Medicare will cost us more, unfortunately, but we don’t have the option to stay on past 65 (one of the benefits that they took away).
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I wonder if some COBRA plans are subsidized(?). After layoffs at various companies, I’ve heard seem employees relieved to have COBRA available while others saying unaffordable.
I’ve been curious to see a chart showing max/unsubsized ACA rates by state and age (no pre-existing conditions). So far I’ve only found websites where I can enter age, info …. then get info emailed to me from insurance companies. If anybody has found this for CO (or all states), please post.
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Employers may subsidize COBRA if they choose. (Before ACA subsidies, many MegaCorps used to subsidize cobra for layoffs, but don’t know if that is still true.)
But if you are asking if the state subsidizes cobra, the answer is no. (No need, as the states subsidize ACA plans.)
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