I save $500 to $1000 vs staying with the old plan each year. I am on expensive GLP-1 drugs to control type 2 diabetes. It almost seems intentional that they want you to move. The weird fact is I have cycled back to the prior year provider who now has a different plan each time.
I shop Part D every year. In my 4 years on Medicare, I have changed providers each year to get to a lower net price. It is always messy as prescriptions have to be reissued to the new pharmacy but my doctor is understanding.
Don’t know your investment allocation, but something to consider is a TIPs bond ladder in your TIRA account for your RMDs. I have rebalanced my accounts to accommodate this move while maintaining my 60/40 overall allocation. Outcome is lower taxed dividends in my taxable brokerage and lower balances and RMDs in my TIRA. I am 69 and starting SS soon.
I signed in with my existing ID.me account yesterday. No issues. I made a decision earlier this year to wind down my Treasury Direct exposure over the next few years. They are a real pain to deal with if issues arise. If heirs are involved with the transfer of bonds, expect 6+ months to resolve. Don’t want to expose my family to inept bureaucracy.
I'm two years younger than you and my grandparents had the outhouse, slop jar and Sears catalog. A coal fired stove was in the kitchen. My grandfather was a coal miner, and I remember him coming home from work covered in coal dust. After he retired from the mines, he got SS and a UMW pension. He also had Black Lung from his lifetime in the mines. My parents held the mortgage on the first house they owned. It had indoor plumbing and gas heat. My aunt lived in the house after they passed. Things have continued to improve in our world.
My mother in law is in a CCRC. As the residents age, those in "independent living" need more services. Same for those in assisted living. The lines get blurry between assisted and memory care. There is a shortage of beds in memory care. Aging is a continuum of constantly changing needs that may not fit easily into a category.
Rick, Thanks for your look back through your decade of Roth experience. Since we are close in age I thought I would share my decade of experience. My wife and I will begin Social Security/Railroad Retirement in November. I will be 69 and 10 months, she will be 66. 10 years ago, I was employed in a W-2 job. My wife was a teacher. We had a 401k/403b but no Roth option. We had been contributing the full non-deductible amount each year to our t-IRA. My wife converted hers to Roth each year tax free. I had a previous IRA Rollover account, so I chose not to convert as it would be taxable. I also had a SEP IRA from self-employment income that I maxed with that year's earnings. Fast forward a few years and I left W-2 employment and began a series of self-employment gigs. There were gaps in the self-employment, so I used those gaps to convert portions of my rollover IRA to Roth to try to hit the top end of my tax bracket. I believe this will be the final year of those conversions, but I will take a look next year to see if any opportunities exist before I begin RMDs at 73. Will my tax planning be optimum? I don't know but it does leave me with tax diversity. What does that mean? If the tax laws regarding IRAs change, I don't have all my eggs in one tax strategy.
Some really good thoughts here. I was pondering this topic after reading a WSJ article on the deficit. My conclusion:the typical representation of huge deficits generated from Social Security and Medicare ignores revenue from employers, employees and taxation of SS.
Here in Michigan, the state has totally messed up their tax collection system with a "system upgrade." Thousands of taxpayers, including myself, received notices of short payment on estimated taxes paid electronically or by check. Penalties and interest were accessed and refunds were not paid. This is still unresolved for the 2025 tax year.
Comments
I save $500 to $1000 vs staying with the old plan each year. I am on expensive GLP-1 drugs to control type 2 diabetes. It almost seems intentional that they want you to move. The weird fact is I have cycled back to the prior year provider who now has a different plan each time.
Post: Medicare Part D premium shock 2027
Link to comment from September 30, 2026
I shop Part D every year. In my 4 years on Medicare, I have changed providers each year to get to a lower net price. It is always messy as prescriptions have to be reissued to the new pharmacy but my doctor is understanding.
Post: Medicare Part D premium shock 2027
Link to comment from September 30, 2026
I have used these type funds before. My process was to sell the year before maturity to eliminate the cash drag.
Post: Target Maturity Bond Funds
Link to comment from September 22, 2026
Don’t know your investment allocation, but something to consider is a TIPs bond ladder in your TIRA account for your RMDs. I have rebalanced my accounts to accommodate this move while maintaining my 60/40 overall allocation. Outcome is lower taxed dividends in my taxable brokerage and lower balances and RMDs in my TIRA. I am 69 and starting SS soon.
Post: Is a Roth conversion an optimal strategy in my situation?
Link to comment from September 19, 2026
I signed in with my existing ID.me account yesterday. No issues. I made a decision earlier this year to wind down my Treasury Direct exposure over the next few years. They are a real pain to deal with if issues arise. If heirs are involved with the transfer of bonds, expect 6+ months to resolve. Don’t want to expose my family to inept bureaucracy.
Post: What to do about the new ID.me login requirement at TreasuryDirect
Link to comment from September 15, 2026
I'm two years younger than you and my grandparents had the outhouse, slop jar and Sears catalog. A coal fired stove was in the kitchen. My grandfather was a coal miner, and I remember him coming home from work covered in coal dust. After he retired from the mines, he got SS and a UMW pension. He also had Black Lung from his lifetime in the mines. My parents held the mortgage on the first house they owned. It had indoor plumbing and gas heat. My aunt lived in the house after they passed. Things have continued to improve in our world.
Post: The Economy of Expectations
Link to comment from September 6, 2026
My mother in law is in a CCRC. As the residents age, those in "independent living" need more services. Same for those in assisted living. The lines get blurry between assisted and memory care. There is a shortage of beds in memory care. Aging is a continuum of constantly changing needs that may not fit easily into a category.
Post: Percentage that “age in place”
Link to comment from September 3, 2026
Rick, Thanks for your look back through your decade of Roth experience. Since we are close in age I thought I would share my decade of experience. My wife and I will begin Social Security/Railroad Retirement in November. I will be 69 and 10 months, she will be 66. 10 years ago, I was employed in a W-2 job. My wife was a teacher. We had a 401k/403b but no Roth option. We had been contributing the full non-deductible amount each year to our t-IRA. My wife converted hers to Roth each year tax free. I had a previous IRA Rollover account, so I chose not to convert as it would be taxable. I also had a SEP IRA from self-employment income that I maxed with that year's earnings. Fast forward a few years and I left W-2 employment and began a series of self-employment gigs. There were gaps in the self-employment, so I used those gaps to convert portions of my rollover IRA to Roth to try to hit the top end of my tax bracket. I believe this will be the final year of those conversions, but I will take a look next year to see if any opportunities exist before I begin RMDs at 73. Will my tax planning be optimum? I don't know but it does leave me with tax diversity. What does that mean? If the tax laws regarding IRAs change, I don't have all my eggs in one tax strategy.
Post: Traditional or Roth
Link to comment from August 31, 2026
Some really good thoughts here. I was pondering this topic after reading a WSJ article on the deficit. My conclusion:the typical representation of huge deficits generated from Social Security and Medicare ignores revenue from employers, employees and taxation of SS.
Post: The Federal Debt and Social Security Payments
Link to comment from August 22, 2026
Here in Michigan, the state has totally messed up their tax collection system with a "system upgrade." Thousands of taxpayers, including myself, received notices of short payment on estimated taxes paid electronically or by check. Penalties and interest were accessed and refunds were not paid. This is still unresolved for the 2025 tax year.
Post: If Retirement is Getting Close
Link to comment from August 19, 2026