This morning I found this very good summary of this issue on USA Today.
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
Seven reasons why Americans pay more for health care than any other nation
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2024/12/15/why-americans-pay-more-for-health-care/76900978007/

A married couple that are both receiving Social Security will lose the low income advantage to reduce Social Security taxes if they file married filing separately.  The designation creates an 85% tax on most of their Social security income.  Once your income exceeds the point of making SS 85% taxable, there may be advantages to filing separate returns, but not when income is low.
 

In some situations thousands of tax dollars can be saved by using the married filing separate filing status. However, doing so can trigger a larger income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA) to your Medicare premium.
For example, the surcharge for a single taxpayer with modified adjusted gross income of $104,000 is $69.90 per month, while the same for a married taxpayer filing separately is $384.30. In that situation it will most likely be better to file a joint tax return and pay the extra income tax.

LOOKING TO CONDUCT a review of your investments? Below is a five-point end-of-year housekeeping checklist.
Suitability. When it comes to the world of investments, the most common types of assets are stocks and bonds—but they aren’t the only ones. There are alternatives like real estate and commodities and, of course, there’s bitcoin, which has more than doubled this year. Which of these is right for you? Since everyone is different, the first litmus test is to assess the suitability of the types of assets you own.

At Thanksgiving, my son-in-law was asking me a number of financially related questions about retirement.  He’s about 10 years away from retirement, but he knew I retired last year, so it was fresh in my mind.  I created the following pre-retirement list for him to think about.  Update: The list has been updated based on comments from the HD community.
 HD Community:  Are there any financially-related things you did to prepare for retirement that aren’t listed below? 

One of the most well known advocates for elder care, who worked for a prominent national health center, was talking with me about a year ago.  When I asked him what his plan was for he and his wife, as they aged, he replied “ I have four daughters”.
This was pretty shocking to me, given that he worked in this industry, and specialized in helping adult children and their parents to talk about future health care planning.

Oh, index funds have a tale to tell,
Of how they invest and invest quite well.
They’re cheap, they’re easy, they’re widely adored,
But here’s the twist that can’t be ignored:
They lean on the work of those active and wise,
The managers, experts, with sharp, watchful eyes.
While index funds follow the market’s parade,
It’s active decisions that have the path laid.
Active managers toil, they measure, they scheme,
Allocating the dollars, fulfilling the dream.

THE STOCK MARKET HAS been one of my life’s enduring interests. No, it’s not because I try to pick market-beating investments. I gave up on that nonsense more than three decades ago.
Rather, I’m fascinated by the way we humans engage with this maddening market that promises both riches and peril, and which seems both ruthlessly efficient and utterly nuts. What have I learned from a lifetime of following the stock market? The sad truth is,

Growing up in the 70s and 80s, the conversation around money was stressful in our home. I was the third oldest in a family of ten (seven boys, three girls). Yes, we’re Irish and Catholic. As you can imagine, the regular paycheck from my dad’s job came in and went out even quicker. Typically, all the money was spent even before the next paycheck. Despite my mom working intermittent part-time jobs, they had no savings to access.

In a previous post I outlined what I see as the dilemma Americas face when it comes to paying for health care. 
Since then I have been tracking social media comments on the topic. If the people posting are close to reflecting a significant portion of the population, we are in trouble. 
I suspect the lack of a fundamental understanding of insurance, how companies operate and individual responsibility is not limited to health issues, but also explains a lot about how people manage their finances and use the resources available to them –

I’m no fan of large organizations. They’re too bureaucratic, too unresponsive and too resistant to change, plus they tend to attract employees who are comfortable in that environment, which makes things even worse.
I saw this at Citigroup. Every January or February, senior management would roll out a corporate initiative designed to bring a renewed sense of urgency to the organization. It would be kicked off at “town halls,” and was followed by department staff meetings.

PEOPLE WHO KNOW ME say I’m sentimental, and they’re right. I like visiting places like my elementary school, the house where I grew up and my first home away from home. They bring back fond memories.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve become more nostalgic, and it isn’t just me. I heard that the ashes of my childhood friend Brian were spread over our grade school grounds. He must have had a touch of nostalgia,

Living in a 55+ community, I have heard about some elderly residents who have issues regarding unpaid bills, delayed payments, losing money in scams, and investing in high risk stocks. These residents were financially very savvy a few years ago and now they have difficulty keeping up. In some cases, their children have started handling their finances.
 
An article ( ” Dollars and Dementia – An early warning system” in AARP Bulletin, December 2025 issue) points out this could be an early warning sign that their cognitive abilities are declining.

EARLIER THIS YEAR, I came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea. I’d signed up for the August 2025 Ironman Ottawa to celebrate my 70th birthday and thought, “Why not jump on the Ozempic bandwagon for six months to drop some significant excess weight before the heavy training starts?”
I’ve struggled with my weight for years. My doctor calls me an emotional eater. I thought, if I dropped the weight and committed to keeping it off,

An eighteen year old girl married her high school sweetheart who had dropped out of high school to join the army. They lived on an army base. Shortly they had a baby. They were transferred to another post.
Not many months after settling in at the new base he receives orders for the first of three tours in Vietnam. The young lady and child move in with her parents while he is in Vietnam. 
Upon his final tour,