It's Time For Medicare (whether I want it or not)

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Work hard and enjoy naps!
Feeding and scooping poop for 8 mini horses hopefully will help insure that both happen.

I started taking the wife to and from work after she broke a hip 21 June 2019 so 5 times a week I am leaving the house twice each day depending on her schedule and repeating 8 hours later so I have to keep a schedule to make sure the other stuff in life gets done.

When we got home at midnight last night we sat in the car and did some retirement planning and looked our income projections after the death of either one of us.

We have retirement income that will stop or greatly decrease on the death of either one and some that will pass to the other. An awareness of the coming income drop for the survivor is key retirement planning.
 
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I am concerned cost of living increases in Social Security payments is not going to keep up with this situation illustrated in this video.
 
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I am concerned cost of living increases in Social Security payments is not going to keep up with this situation illustrated in this video.
Inflation is certainly a heavy tax on retired people. Most of us are out of the housing game because we bought years ago, and the cost of college is generally not relevant any more, but the galloping rise in the cost of medical care is a concern, and more recently the boost in food costs. SS goes halfway to keeping up with the COLAs, though normally runs a year and a half behind prices. The core CPI, of course, does not include food and fuel costs because they are supposed to be "volatile." I would be willing to bet that fuel costs settle about 20% higher than recent norm. We may not be commuting any more, but that road trip just got expensive. I'm not holding my breath for vehicle costs to come down either.

My pension is capped at a max 2% a year COLA, which is not going to do me any favors with inflation running north of 7%. If that keeps up for just 5 years, my pension income will be cut over 25%.

With the Fed finally raising interest rates, bond funds are going to lose money steadily. Stocks will probably slide too, as money investments become more attractive.

On the side of long term planning, the IRS just released new lifespan projections for RMDs that will let us stretch our 401k a few more years.
 
 
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