This is the calculator I needed to get as a finance major and my daughter who’s also a business major was required to get the same one (newer model I think is HP10BII+).
Oh nevermind— this is just for PV and FV of $ not pension…you can probably look on a divorce lawyer’s website because they have calculators for figuring those things out for when one spouse is entitled to another’s pension in a divorce and they use those to value it…I forgot the exact term as my divorce was too long ago…
Could either of them have (a) gone to a local hospital for treatment, or (b) called the urgent care 24/7 line of the medical group their primary care physician was in to ask what they should do, without necessarily needing concierge service?
@ucbalumnus, good question. I don’t think either person thought they needed to go to the local hospital. The normal reaction would probably be to wait and assume things will get better. Both were traveling. I know colleague number 2 was in Malaysia. Not sure about colleague number 1. Calling to the US would have been in the middle of the night. With my previous primary care practice, I would have called and left a message and gotten a call-back at some point from the provider on call. Whether they would have been as astute as the concierge doc is unknown as it was a relatively rare issue (though I know three people who’ve had it so it may not be that rare or may come after long plane flights?). So, going to the hospital might have worked, but might not if the docs there were not as good. I once went to a hospital in Japan and they pulled out a chart of the human body and asked me to point to where it hurt – no one there spoke English and I don’t speak Japanese. Maybe the 24/7 line would have worked, though my own experiences with those lines in the past would not give me confidence.
The world may be in a better place if the 24/7 line is doing real telemedicine (e.g., video hookup to look at things, etc.).
I have the cell numbers of two of my lung docs plus some MD family members. I feel I could get prompt and appropriate care as needed. So far, have not felt the pressure to buy into a concierge practice. I have met the MD whom my friends go to as their concierge MD in social settings and have not been impressed.
Have heard what my friends described as their care under her and still not impressed (I have more appropriate and thorough care from my current MD team).
I can see her value if you need coaching, guidance, hand-holding like to lose weight, manage diabetes or other chronic condition etc (if she’d accept you), but not if you’re mostly fairly healthy and stable. (I tend to spend a lot more time and energy with my lung docs than my internist anyway.)
Here’s an article about “airplane ear,” which is associated with flying and can ideally be prevented. Perhaps some of your colleagues suffered this, @shawbridge.
@HImom, thanks. I don’t think that is the problems that my coleauges had had. For airplane ear, you just need to clear like in scuba diving (which I think is the Vasalva maneuver mentioned in the article) if moving your jaws (or the other things they suggest) does not work. All of us have tons of experience flying. [I have flown enough that when I started flying again in May/June, AA had people great me at the gates when I had to change planes and in one case, showed up with a golf cart to drive me to my gate as the connection had become tight due to weather. I guess they airlines are thrilled to see their old customers back].
What my colleagues had resulted in permanent hearing loss. I’d have to ask but the treatment involved a large dose of antibiotics right away.
With respect to concierge practices, I’m not an evangelist as I don’t think they are always worth it.
My first pass was with a very folksy guy who just kept telling me to ignore stuff, some of which get a lot worse. I switched to his younger partner, who then set up her own practice because she thought she was very uncomfortable with how he ran his practice. I think some non-concierge medical practices are well-organized and you can get relatively prompt attention from highly capable diagnosticians in the middle of the night. I suspect at this point for a lot of practices you would not. Generally, the pressure on doctors to see patients every 15 minutes does make it hard for them to provide adequate attention, especially if there is complexity.
May be sudden sensineural hearing loss. It presents as sudden hearing loss in one ear. It is treated with high dose corticosteroids. If treatment is not administered within a day, hearing loss may be permanent. It typically strikes middle-aged adults.
Wow—have never heard of this. Sounds like it would be a good thing for more if ya to be aware of. So sorry for the poor person who ended up with preventable permanent hearing loss.
@Momof3, thanks. That sounds exactly like what it was. So, at the insistence of his doctor, my second colleague went to a hospital and got the immediate treatment. The other two did not.
@Hoggirl I bet you are loving the new condo. I looked at a small condo like you had as a ‘transitional’ place in new city - to find a great place at a good price – however DH decided not to move, so that is that. There were exciting things about the new city, but all the changes with the move is work. Glad your DH found a position that is good for him in the new place to help shore up retirement funds.
I am excited to ‘sign up’ for Medicare and supplement for me in July to ‘turn on’ Oct 1. Talked to HR and found out my last date of employment with the last health insurance payment through Sept 30th. Work last week was a real drudgery so I only committed to 3 days this week - much happier!
“The kids are all right” - and a new grandbaby due Sept 2. Single DD2 is moving a bit further away but a great city for us to visit (Orlando area). Will talk to our financial guy early July and also talk about how we can manage helping with down payment on a condo/small house down the road if DD foresees some permanence in her city. DD1 - we are putting money into college accounts for her children and they are not in permanent place yet.
Just had a retirement planning meeting with an investment advisor from Charles Schwab. He is very well liked by people at my company and he seems to understand our situation very well. But some of his advice, hmm…
He advised rolling over our 401K to an IRA, and considering some alternative investments like commercial reinsurance and buying options on certain stocks (which is usually a money losing proposition for me, but maybe they have a good strategy).
He also recommended rebalancing our portfolio (which is 80% in large, medium and small cap stock funds and 10% stable treasuries) to take half of that and put it in “International Developed large company stocks”, small company stocks and a lot of bonds. We’ve been avoiding bonds and international funds for a long time. I don’t quite know what to think.
Remember, it’s in the FA’s interest for you to move funds around and have things complicated so you NEED FA to keep you finances. Doing boglehead approach or buying targeted broad index funds doesn’t give them $$$$.
Bogleheads.org will give you a free alternative perspective for your consideration if you’d like to see a more passive way of managing your assets without paying a % to the FA (whether they make it LOSE money for you).
For folks thinking of retiring soon, margin accts should be VERY VERY cautiously approached, especially if you have no experience and aren’t comfortable losing a LOT of $$$$.
Personally, I’ve never bought on the margin. I don’t like the thought of losing a ton of $$$$.
@HImom, the advisor is not recommending a margin account, shorts, or doing uncovered calls. You can certainly lose the money you use to buy the options, but no more. It does seem like all financial advisors, fiduciary or not, want you to give them as much as possible for them to manage.
there is one school of thought is suggests, ‘when you have won the game, why keep playing?’ In other words, if you have plenty for retirement, why be aggressive trying to boost yields? And if you don’t have plenty, then work for a couple of more years instead of being extremely aggressive with the investment portfolio.
I could not imagine normal folks needing options for their retirement allocation. (OTOH, doesn’t hurt to use play money…)
@bluebayou I understand that school of thought. For us, we have a solid pension and savings that will likely cover our needs, if everything goes well we shouldn’t have to withdraw for some time. So I figure, why not be aggressive? Don’t want to be stupid, though.