Medicare and health insurance open enrollment starts on October 15th. To help you find the best coverage for your money, here’s a step-by-step checklist of health care items to review annually. Each fall, it’s important to review your health care needs and consider your available insurance options for the coming year. A recent survey found …

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Here is what you need to know to navigate the 3.8% surtax on unearned investment income and the 0.9% additional tax on wages. Though the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) faces an uncertain future, Obamacare remains the law of the land for the time being. The continued existence of the law has important …

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Medicare is more complicated than most people think. Here are ten of the most common questions that come up on Medicare. With the baby boom generation entering retirement, many have questions about Medicare. People are confused—both about how the system works, and how these inner workings affect their retirement decisions. These ten questions address some …

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As the coronavirus continues to spread, be sure to review your health insurance to determine how you will handle out-of-pocket costs should you need testing, hospitalization or treatment of COVID-19 symptoms. As the coronavirus spreads across the nation, now is a good time to review your health insurance to determine how much you might have …

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While you were working, you likely relied on employer insurance. But after retirement your options are different, and that requires careful planning. Some 58% of people in the U.S. today get their health insurance through an employer, either their own or a spouse’s (or a parent’s, if under 26). Employers usually subsidize the premiums, so …

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Health care planning is a sensitive subject that often takes you and your advisor places you don’t want to go. But given rising expenses, no retirement plan is complete without some kind of provision for health care needs. Here are some guidelines and resources for estimating your needs and expenses. Health care costs are rapidly …

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For some families, dependent benefits for children with disabilities are an important factor in the Social Security claiming equation. Here’s what you need to know. Children with disabilities such as Down syndrome, autism, or some other type of disability generally do not qualify for Social Security benefits. In order to receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), …

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The usual method for estimating spending needs in retirement is to take your post-retirement household budget and tack on an inflation rate, such as 2%. Not so for health expenses. Some expenses increase at a faster rate than the inflation rate you use, others at a slower rate, but overall, expenses such as housing, utilities, …

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If you’ve been covered by a generous employer group health plan, you may be in for a rude awakening when you retire. Here are some tricks for keeping health care costs under control after you retire. Although the government may subsidize some of your health care costs under the Medicare program, you will still be …

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The most accurate and reliable way to determine your spending needs in retirement is to sit down and make up a budget projecting costs in the areas of housing, utilties, food, transportation, leisure activities and so on. Depending on how your life will change (or not) after retirement, you can base these projections on the …

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