I’m a pen and paper planner kind of gal. I tried to do everything digitally on my phone like my husband does, but it didn’t work for me. The one item that I will continue to do is to keep a digital appointment calendar with recurring reminders for birthdays, anniversaries and bill due dates. The digital calendar integrates quite nicely with my paper planner system.

My preferred planner is the classic size Happy Planner with a dashboard layout. I tried moving to the mini format once I retired, but quickly went back the larger classic size. For 2023, the company offered a sewing themed planner, which I’ve really enjoyed using. There’s a Miss Maker version available for 2024 that’s really cute, but it comes with a vertical checklist layout. I tried an expansion pack in this format to see how I’d like it. Nope! Apparently, my preference for the dashboard layout is stronger than I thought! Do you have a strong preference for a particular type of planner, too?

Picked up my 2024 classic planner with a dashboard layout today from Michaels. It’s the cute Say Hello to Happy theme. Everything is right in my planner world again. Now to transfer the 2024 scheduled events to the new calendar!

In my last post, I listed the 3 things I missed most about having a day job. As promised, here is the separate “reasonably priced benefits” post.

Hubs and I had separate health insurance policies through our respective employers for many years. It was simply the cheapest option. We added him to my health insurance policy during the open enrollment period just before he officially retired. FYI, our health insurance premiums went up by about $150.00/month because we were now “employee + spouse” coverage instead of having separate individual policies subsidized by our employers. I was paying $436.33 in monthly premiums for our coverage when I left my job in May 2022. Once COBRA kicked in, we were charged $1,883.25 monthly for the remainder of 2022. Rates increased to $2,064.38 monthly for 2023. We’ll pay $2,150.18 monthly in 2024 until my pension begins mid-year. At that time, our health insurance rates will drop to $464.72 per month. If claims in 2024 remain low, I’ll consider changing to a lower premium option for 2025.

What about the health insurance marketplace (ACA plans)? They are an option and some of our early retiree friends have this coverage. However, there are two things to keep in mind: (1) not all care providers accept ACA plans and (2) you may not qualify for a premium subsidy because you make over the 400% FPL income limit, or whatever threshold is in place at the time. Unsubsidized rates for ACA plans are expensive and come with really high deductibles and out of pocket maximums. The closest ACA plan to what we currently have quoted premiums of $2822 per month and a maximum annual out of pocket of $17,400. For us, COBRA continuation coverage through my previous employer was the best option in terms of coverage and premiums. (ACA: $33,864 in premiums plus $17,400 OOP or COBRA: $24,772.46 in premiums plus $6000 OOP). This turned out to be a good thing because my husband has a condition that requires specialty care and his main care provider doesn’t accept ACA plans.

The high cost of individual health insurance premiums under our current medical services provision model simply isn’t sustainable over the long-term. To me, the true cost of health care services is actually found in the self-pay rates. Just for grins, I accessed the price estimator tool from my medical provider (Piedmont) to obtain actual self-pay rates. I typically see a physician 2-3x per year. Each established patient visit fee is $121 per visit or $663 for three visits. The usual blood/lipid panel/urine tests ordered at my annual physical and well-woman exams would run $250. A 3D screening mammogram would be $316 and the radiologist’s read fee would run about $203. Add in another $200 for prescription medications and my total is $1,632.00 for the usual array of medical services utilized on an annual basis as a self-pay patient. As an insured patient, those same services will cost me $11,796.48 (single rate) for annual premiums plus about $650 for two office visits and prescription med copays under my prescription drug coverage (one visit would be billed as preventative and covered at 100%, including all tests, mammogram and radiologist fee). In this scenario, the self-pay patient pays 85% less for the same services as a patient with insurance. Are we really paying that much more just in case something really bad happens?

One of my friends asked if I had any regrets about retiring 18 months ago given all the high prices, inflation and market instability we’ve experienced since May 2022. No regrets. We’ve always been fairly frugal, so any adjustments have had minimal impact on our lifestyle.

What I have missed are the routines and daily interactions with people that came with the day job. (Reasonably priced benefits is another one, but that’s a topic for a separate post of its own!) This falls in line with what was discussed on this week’s Retire Sooner podcast hosted by Wes Moss. The topic was Un-retirement. Wes and his guest talked at length about how the happiest retirees have a purpose (your one thing or core pursuits) and regular social interactions. Purpose with a paycheck or a part-time job in today’s tight labor market was something the guest recommended to help provide purpose, social interaction and a bit of a financial buffer. The job doesn’t have to be in your former career field, but could be something you enjoy as a hobby.

Most of my friends associate 3 things with me: sewing, books and dogs (not necessarily in that order). All of my part-time endeavors in retirement (paid and volunteer) involve at least one of those three things. Teaching private lessons out of my home and my Monday arts & crafts enrichment classes combine all three. Definitely purpose with a paycheck. BTW – being retired certainly doesn’t lessen my ability to appreciate a paycheck!

If you are a retiree looking for something to do, why not explore part-time job opportunities? Many employers have discovered how valuable hiring a “seasoned professional” can be!