A senior with a mortgage is in the hole already. Our minimum for medicare insurance now runs over $4,000 a year and the supplement runs another 3,100 with the total for just insurance hitting right at $7,400 a year. Grocery and household goods spending is over a grand a month and my wife is very frugal. House and farm insurance is $5,800 a year. My highway fuel bill alone is nearly $1,500 a year and we don't drive more than 8,000 miles a year combined There is no public transportation where we live.
The article is written by idiots with no experience in reality. Gooberment averages are propaganda.
Silly me. I thought decades of paying into Medicare was so healthcare wouldn’t cost ober $7k per year after retirement.
Does the average retiree even have an income of $4,000 a month? I think I am better off than most, and I don’t even make $3,000 per month.
We’re debt free except for our mortgage which is a low payment anyway. In a few months the house will be sold for a large profit and we are building a 981 sq ft 2/2 on our rural property. Then we’ll be totally debt free with a brand new house and one brand new vehicle.
Huh, I spend less than 15k a year total.
I paid off my home and have NO debt at all, I am STILL having a hard time making it!! The house still needs upkeep, groceries are OUT OF CONTROL, I have pet expenses, my doc is now charging me $150.00 a visit even though my insurance is paying him $345.00 and Medicare is paying him $50.00 he is NOW charging $650.00 for an office visit ridiculous!! Medicare paying $50.00 for an office visit is also ridiculous!! I am waiting for the show to drop where docs no longer accept Medicare patients!! Utilities have become OUTRAGEOUS in the summer my electric bill for having AC, is at least $600.00 a month in the winter months I don’t even turn the heat on I put on socks and sweats and I am good to go!! My association fees have increased $200.00 a month over the last 2 years I live in a gated community with guards at the gate so I understand the increase in wages for the staff members of the community!! I decided to go back to work part time but I don’t know how seniors with a fixed income are able to make it!! I thank God everyday I am healthy enough to work part time MANY are not!!!
I am on full retirement now, but got divorced 11 years ago. I wanted to keep my rural farm, so had to refinance everything, including the mortgage.
Sometimes fate bites you in the assets.
It is taxes, upkeep and HOA fees.
Lawn care, snow clearance, gutter cleaning, tree trimming. All the things you used to do yourself but now need to hire done.
I spend nowhere near those amounts.
Home paid for.
I drive to Kroger, 4 miles round trip. Other travel minimal.
I rarely dine out or splurge on expensive foods.
New clothes....what are those?
Medical is affordable, so far.
We group all the difficult costs as
#1 Difficult to Manage. Insurance. Home Owners and Liability. Health Medicare Supplemental, Flood, Personal Items Rider, Automobile, Life and Medicare Deducted from SS.
#2 Wasteful. Electronics
Broadband. Broadband Extenders, Phone, Cellular Phone Equipment and Lines, Cable and TIVO, Computers, Audiobook and Music downloads and subscriptions.
We gave up vacations as we live on the coast and what travel we do is to see grandkids in four locations or them to see us.
Bookmark.