I brought up finances to Hubby while we were driving to doctor appt. yesterday.
He didn't think we had anything except the mortgage to save for.... sigh... Yes I know that's his mild dementia so I just added that I thought we talked about it while he was working on putting garden beds together. Then it came back. He guessed he didn't realize how many things we needed to be saving for.... which is why I do the finances or he would going out getting loans.
We want the out of pocket for Medicare to be in the money market in full by Oct 1st when Hubby goes on Medicare. I can tell you unless things changed a lot, Hubby has NEVER met his out of pocket of $3200 from employer (who covers the insurance until he is 65). I can also say according to all our doctors our insurance is weird because the CO PAYS count in the OUT OF POCKET. That will be the hardest change for us. I on the other hand usually have $3200 spent by March.... that hasn't happened in past year. Crohn's is calmed down and I didn't have any surgeries.
Friends that worked at same place said they had out of pocket (including Doc offices) of $14,000 between the two of them. She is on biologic IV every 6 weeks. I am not a candidate because I only have 1 good vein in one arm but that goes on part A as she has it done at hospital. But basically they have the same doctors and same health as us. There are some things we noted to ourselves that they could have saved money on that they won't ever do. Everything has to be brand name as I watched their sons and their wives roll their eyes. Plus they didn't get Medigap when they should have.
SO ...
#1 . We need to save more for the Medicare out of pocket. We decided to double what we have now should be okay for his Oct. We will definitely get Medigap. Except for my biologic, all meds are generic.
# 2. We need to save back up maintenance fund by $2500.
#3 The garden shed needs resided and a new roof. Metal shop said they could get white metal for siding and any shade of gray metal roof to make it look more like the house. Hubby is measuring this weekend to get the estimate costs. E said either he or his oldest 2 boys could help. We pay them $10/ hr. It's mostly going to be the roof. I would like to change it as it's over a loft and I don't use the loft so that would drop it down. Hubby said if he could rent the lift like he did to install the wood chimney he could do it with just 1 helper to lift the sheets of metal up to him. We will see as that will mostly be a fall job depending on the costs of the metal.
#4. We need to save $6000 for the rest of the garden beds and soil. Less if we can find it on sale as I based it on full price.
#5. We need to increase emergency fund.
#6. We WANT to pay off mortgage as quick as possible.
#7 We WANT to replace red truck (one I drive) BUT I haven't found anything I would spend THAT kind of money on let along have a down payment for. The dealership we bought the red truck from told me that $5000 down would cover anything he has and he does a buy here pay here and he doesn't sell anything he wouldn't have his mother (mid 70s) in to drive.
Mother would have made 7 savings accounts and divided what she had left at the end of the month by 7. She was a spender. She had 12 savings for her funeral. All of them had $100 . SIGH
Daddy would have started with emergency fund, then out of pocket fund and moved on from there. Daddy was a saver.
I will have to think about this for a couple days
Blessed be
Prayers for peace and strength
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Based on the way we paid off our house I would fund the emergency and maintenance funds and every penny after that toward paying off the mortgage. If the siding is not falling off the shed leave it be and muck along with the garden beds the way they are. If you need medical finds you will find them at the time. Replacing vehicles at todays prices are prohibitive. The way things are in the world right now, owning the roof over your head is the most security you can have. Nothing on a list of nice to have or do compares. It can all be done later.
ReplyDeleteOur house ins wants the garden shed torn down or repaired, township mentioned repairs need. I thought about just tearing it down but that changes a lot of how we use the barn.
DeleteLana I forgot to add that the sides of the gardens beds fell off due to rot. BUT I got E to tell Hubby to just slide the metal beds over the top of the old soil and add compost which we have. He listens to E better than me LOL. That will save $$
DeleteI am not trying to talk you into anything; merely sharing what we have done. We have standard Medicare with AARP as our supplemental. We have done this for 8 years. We have very very rarely had any out of pocket and have only been turned down for one procedure which we challenged and won.There are no deductibles or copays that we have to pay. During this time I have had seven surgeries and my husband has had stage four cancer for the last 4.5 years. We use an insurance broker who uses lists of our medications to figure out the best medication insurance for us each year. That is often different companies for each of us and frequently changes. These do have deductibles. The insurance costs are higher than an advantage plan, but I feel that they have saved us more in the long term.
ReplyDeleteNone of our doctors accept Advantage plans due to constant denial of testing. So straight Medicare. We will look strongly at AARP supplement as we are members. THANKS
DeleteI just found your blog through Brandy at the Prudent Homemaker. I just went on Medicare this last fall. I used an insurance broker that friends recomended to help my navigate it all. I'm so glad I had his help. What I learned - the coverage that's available for medigap ie medicare supplement insurance is determined by the county you live in. I chose a traditional medicare supplement Plan G policy. It has no annual co-pay amount. But I do pay a monthly fee for that insurance and another monthly fee for Part D, prescriptions. Plan G is the most expensive per month but had the coverage I wanted including dental and vision. It's a lot to go through and make decisions. Start now if you're signing up in the fall. cheers, SJ now in California
ReplyDeletethank you for that information and for reading me. I love Brandy's website.
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