Stage 4 lung cancer is no longer the death sentence it once was. Combinations of immunotherapy plus radiation and a little chemotoxic therapy are producing more and more 10 year survivors with no evidence of disease (NED), even if they either presented with brain mets or developed them early on. Of course, not every patient is a robust responder to combo immunotherapy, but enough are that all of them still need to plan for needing 30 or so years of retirement income. Besides, Stage 4 NSCLC in a 61 year old is strongly suggestive of a genetic mutation, many of which can be addressed with targeted ("precision") treatments, either marketed or in clinical trials. The travel you need to plan for is to the U of Penn, MD Anderson, MSKCC, Mayo, LA, etc. Good luck.
This is the first time I recall being confused by the observations and advice in this column going back to my initial subscription to the Wall Street Journal more than 20 years ago. (1) Why isn't it clearer that hyper-inflation is the greatest threat to people who are retired? People tend to think there could never be another Weimar Republic, but there are many modern, as well as ancient, precedents. A quick internet search shows four countries with current inflation rates over 100%. Does anybody remember when some of our "allies", such as Israel had inflation rates of over 400%? (The writer of this column should be old enough to remember when Israeli inflation peaked in 1984 at 486%) American inflation approached 20% after WW1. Do we think there will never be another catastrophe (like COVID, Krakatoa, or the grounding of a tanker in the Suez Canal?) (2) Why isn't it clearer that long-term care insurance companies not only can, but have, gone through restructurings, and even bankruptcies? The benefits that my 90-something year old parents receive from paying in for 40 years are now limited to a nurse's aid for one hour three times a week, and a nurse for about a half-hour once a week. (That's not what they were promised. We survive by paying cash-out-of-pocket for enough help for them to live at home.) So, why would a sixty-something year old like me buy long-term care insurance? (Fortunately, one of my colleagues, who was also a DIYer when it came to financial planning, convinced me to sell the LTC policy I bought in my 30's when I was 40-something.) (3) It's just hard to understand how any fiat currency cannot be confiscated, including cryptocurrencies. (4) Housing doesn't seem like "real" estate right now. So, why isn't the recommendation to buy equities? Large caps, small caps, internationals, etc. Why isn't a balanced portfolio enough cash in FDIC insured bank accounts to survive 12-months come hell-or-high water, a few guns and boxes of ammunition that can be bartered, while everything else sits in index funds? Why does this column seem to imply that stocks are more volatile than other asset classes, when it seems to lay people like me that stocks are the only "real" estate?
Comments:
Stage 4 lung cancer is no longer the death sentence it once was. Combinations of immunotherapy plus radiation and a little chemotoxic therapy are producing more and more 10 year survivors with no evidence of disease (NED), even if they either presented with brain mets or developed them early on. Of course, not every patient is a robust responder to combo immunotherapy, but enough are that all of them still need to plan for needing 30 or so years of retirement income. Besides, Stage 4 NSCLC in a 61 year old is strongly suggestive of a genetic mutation, many of which can be addressed with targeted ("precision") treatments, either marketed or in clinical trials. The travel you need to plan for is to the U of Penn, MD Anderson, MSKCC, Mayo, LA, etc. Good luck.
Post: Looking Different
Link to comment from July 6, 2024
This is the first time I recall being confused by the observations and advice in this column going back to my initial subscription to the Wall Street Journal more than 20 years ago. (1) Why isn't it clearer that hyper-inflation is the greatest threat to people who are retired? People tend to think there could never be another Weimar Republic, but there are many modern, as well as ancient, precedents. A quick internet search shows four countries with current inflation rates over 100%. Does anybody remember when some of our "allies", such as Israel had inflation rates of over 400%? (The writer of this column should be old enough to remember when Israeli inflation peaked in 1984 at 486%) American inflation approached 20% after WW1. Do we think there will never be another catastrophe (like COVID, Krakatoa, or the grounding of a tanker in the Suez Canal?) (2) Why isn't it clearer that long-term care insurance companies not only can, but have, gone through restructurings, and even bankruptcies? The benefits that my 90-something year old parents receive from paying in for 40 years are now limited to a nurse's aid for one hour three times a week, and a nurse for about a half-hour once a week. (That's not what they were promised. We survive by paying cash-out-of-pocket for enough help for them to live at home.) So, why would a sixty-something year old like me buy long-term care insurance? (Fortunately, one of my colleagues, who was also a DIYer when it came to financial planning, convinced me to sell the LTC policy I bought in my 30's when I was 40-something.) (3) It's just hard to understand how any fiat currency cannot be confiscated, including cryptocurrencies. (4) Housing doesn't seem like "real" estate right now. So, why isn't the recommendation to buy equities? Large caps, small caps, internationals, etc. Why isn't a balanced portfolio enough cash in FDIC insured bank accounts to survive 12-months come hell-or-high water, a few guns and boxes of ammunition that can be bartered, while everything else sits in index funds? Why does this column seem to imply that stocks are more volatile than other asset classes, when it seems to lay people like me that stocks are the only "real" estate?
Post: A Less Risky Life
Link to comment from March 27, 2021