Bogleheads.org

Mintee

This certainly demonstrates why so many physicians refuse to take Medicare patients unless they've been seeing them for years (and, in some cases, even that's not enough). You may not have the same problems in Wisconsin that we have in Texas, due to population age, but it's a real issue here in this...

Mintee

Regarding financial "challenges", BogleMelon (I don't know how to correctly copy and paste your post), I think there are two main ones. One is not saving enough to meet your needs. Another is being so tight with your money that you don't enjoy your life--and then there's no life to enjoy o...

Mintee

To Jehovasfitness: I am sorry I didn't answer you sooner regarding the reverse mortgage question. I understand that this was a second marriage, and the husband had already placed his house in the reverse mortgage. His wife knew this, so it wasn't a shock, but it's an added complication. It gets wors...

Mintee

I have benefited from this forum and the wisdom of its members for many years. You have helped me prepare for retirement, develop contingencies, plan for my grandchildren's future education and so much more. Sadly, I will now going forward alone, as my husband died. I've met other widows and widower...

Mintee

Thank you. I am posting a follow-up for anyone who can benefit from it. My first concern was in response to audits earlier this year that indicated thousands of widows/widowers were underpaid because they hadn't been informed of their choices at filing. I always intended to file under my husband's a...

Mintee

My husband died less than a year ago. He was receiving Social Security. I will be full retirement age in December. I believe that I can receive 100% of my husband's benefit at my full retirement age, then switch to my own benefit at age 70. I am not sure that this is advantageous (I don't know that ...

Mintee

I agree with heartwood. When we moved to Texas, we knew that quality healthcare was available. What we didn't know was that we would have so much trouble finding physicians who would take individual health insurance or Medicare. We have large physician medical groups less than a mile from us, but th...

Mintee

Thank you for your replies. They are helpful. I didn't do a good job of accurately explaining her situation, and it's clear that even though my spouse and I have a revokable trust, I don't understand it. Am I correctly understanding that you probate the will no matter what financial arrangements are...

Mintee

The bereaved widow of a Texas resident has asked for guidance following the death of her husband. They have a revokable trust (as do we) but they failed to move a small account into it. Does this omission now require that probate be filed? All other assets were included in the trust (and there is a ...

Mintee

I have tried to research the forum for accurate answers to the questions below, but I'm not finding answers. I have talked with a couple insurance agents, but they have provided conflicting info. I'm also not finding specific answers on the Medicare site. I will be Medicare eligible in December of t...

Mintee

I'll leave the financial aspects of this decision to others here. Unless your outplacement provider only offers group classes, I urge you to discuss this with your counselors as well. They won't advise you about financial matters, but they likely know others who have faced the same prospects who may...

Mintee

OP here. Thank you for the feedback. Frankly, it never occurred to me to look for termination language. That's a good point. The amount of the "overpayment" I would need to make would be $80. That's a heck of a penalty for a customer of several years. Do you think we should pay that much? ...

Mintee

Makers Mark
Woodford Reserve

Mintee

I would like your advice about a billing issue with AT & T. Thanks to a tip from Student, we moved our wireless service from AT & T to T-Mobile the last of August. We've had unlimited data for a month, now, and it's been wonderful. We even used our plan in Canada without extra cost. We pay l...

Mintee

Thank you for the tip! We just signed up. We look forward to saving a couple of hundred dollars a year and, particularly, being able to use unlimited data. We can actually use our phones as intended. The only additional info I would add--if not addressed elsewhere--is that there is a $25 SIM card ac...

Mintee

Can you suggest things to do/see during a mid-September weekend in Halifax, Nova Scotia? We are taking the train from Montreal to Halifax, so we will not have a car in Halifax. We will, however, be driving to Montreal, so we would be grateful if you have must-sees there, as well.

Thank you!

Mintee

Is this leather? We bought some high-quality leather furniture 20+ years ago. When we moved, we gave it to a relative. It was still in wonderful shape. We paid a lot for it, but it was worth it. When we tried to replace the furniture at our new home, we could find nothing similar. After looking for ...

Mintee

Chase, $135/year for a large box (what they call large).

Mintee

Please stop. A happy husband and proud father wants to give his wife a gift. Let's honor his good intentions and suggest gifts that have been meaningful to us. Does your wife like jewelry? If so, do you have a jeweler you can trust to make you something that's truly wonderful without costing a fortu...

Mintee

Thank you so much! You have alleviated a lot of worry.

I appreciate your help!

Mintee

I am interested in knowing about anyone's experience incurring medical expenses while waiting for COBRA to kick in. Note: I am not asking about how COBRA works or whether the claims will be paid retroactively. I am asking how you've negotiated with medical providers when, in essence, you don't have ...

Mintee

As background,I went back to school for a master's when I was 40 (and for another degree when I was older). My son was young and I was working full-time, so I understand how stressful this can be (it always seemed like everyone was having fun but me, as I had to study). However, even though attainin...

Mintee

Happy birthday, Taylor. Thank you for all you do and the kind way in which you do it.

Mint

Mintee

Regarding the Texas individual plans: The plans available on the individual market are HMOs. As I mentioned, very few physicians and only one hospital in our area will accept the Blue Cross/Blue Shield HMO (plans offered by other insurers have even less accessibility). HMOs are a hassle for a physic...

Mintee

Getting good information is harder than it seems. We moved to Texas from a midwestern state where most physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers accepted most insurance plans. Beware, if you are considering Texas, that many providers here will not accept the plans offered in the individua...

Mintee

Yes! Good luck.

Mintee

Yesterday, I received the 2017 rates for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas' individual plan that I am on now (the rates for individual plans here are the same as the ACA). The monthly premium will increase by more than 30%, the in-network, out-of-pocket maximum/deductible increased to almost $...

Mintee

I will offer our experience. We sold homes in two different states last year. The home in the state where radon is widely found tested under the EPA level. The home in a state where radon is less typical tested over the EPA level. From your research, you likely learned that this has as much to do wi...

Mintee

Thank you, Taylor, for sharing your wisdom and perspective. You always remind us about what's important, and you do so in such a kind manner. I appreciate you!

Mintee

Good morning. I can't find any posts or information about this topic.

To what extent do expenses decrease after one spouse dies, on average? I know that expenses may not decrease at all, but it seems likely that they would, if only minimally. Can you share any data or personal experience?

Thank you.

Mintee

I'd second many of the suggestions of patriciamgr2. We moved from a midwestern state to Texas and have been astonished and disheartened by our experience with the healthcare system here. Texas has some wonderful healthcare providers, but access is severely limited. Even 100% covered preventive servi...

Mintee

Yes, I wash all the pillows in the house every six months or so. Perhaps you know about adding tennis balls to the dryer to keep the stuffing from clumping, but if not, it really works.

Mintee

Congratulations!!! This is marvelous.

Best wishes.

Mintee

Thank you very much!

Mintee

BW1895, after researching as much as possible about the realtors' successes, recommendations, etc., we interviewed two . Both had almost the same price in mind before they entered the house, and both ultimately suggested that we list at almost the same price. Both showed us comps. You are right--it'...

Mintee

Let me agree with the other posters, here. We did an extensive and expensive remodel of our kitchen some years before we sold our house. The realtors who we interviewed came with appraisals of our house before they ever saw it. The realtors liked the remodel, acknowledged the quality of the granite,...

Mintee

Hutchins is also excellent. There's one in Dallas, Frisco and McKinney.

Mintee

Thank you!

Mintee

Congratulations! You have a right to be proud.

Mintee

These are all great responses. I always thought that I did a pretty good job of designing our homes, and at one point, I did. But in our new home, I would have been better served to find a good, reasonably priced designer. Ultimately, I believe we would have saved money by buying the right things th...

Mintee

We would appreciate your advice. We have been customers for many years of a very large, well-known furniture store that originated in the Midwest. This retailer built a massive store near Dallas, Texas, so when we moved to this area, we naturally shopped there. We've bought all kinds of furniture th...

Mintee

Thanks, everyone. As I told her, I benefited greatly from the perspectives of all the smart people on this forum before we took the "plunge" awhile ago, and she will, too. I am guessing that in short order she will be offering help to others as a way of paying back your help.

Mintee

I am sorry this happened to her. What a terrible company! I am not an attorney, but I would think that she could claim she has been harmed and could sue this company, particularly under the circumstances you described (i.e., she must have passed employment contingencies like background checks, refer...

Mintee

Will you be eligible for Medicare, soon, or will you have to cover medical premiums for some time? We moved to Texas, where individual medical premiums for older people are particularly high (almost double what we would have paid in our home state). And the coverage with Blue Cross/Shield is awful. ...

Mintee

Yes, they will be eligible for social security.

Let's hope for a six-inch cliff! I like it.

Mintee

I have a good friend who is frightened that she will outlast her money--not a unique worry, I know. She would like to retire within the next two months because her job is unbearable and because she and her husband, who is already retired, would like to move to another state. Because of their age and...

Mintee

This may be redundant, but you might want to talk to an insurance agent before you buy to get a good sense of insurance costs for a log house in your target area. We had a large log home in a remote area, and we were disheartened to discover that the replacement cost was significantly higher (almost...

Mintee

Thank you so much for your replies. I found some of the anecdotal information on the internet, but there seems to be surprisingly little info and what exists is from companies who have vested interests (for example, gas companies praise these systems). I am not finding anything solid other than that...

Mintee

We are looking at a home in Texas that has gas air conditioning. The house is about 6 years old. I can find no good information on the cost of operation, the cost of repairs, etc. Is gas air conditioning more or less expensive than electric air conditioning? I don't know what kind of system this hou...

Mintee

You might want to consider a bigger vehicle. A four-wheel drive would be good choice. It can get very cold and many roads are not heavily traveled.

Have a great time!

Search found 89 matches