by Joe Hearn | Aug 5, 2015 | Health, Medicare
Quick Note: Sorry things have been quiet around the site for a few weeks. I was on vacation with family and friends and prior to that I was scrambling to get things wrapped up at the office. I’m home and caught up, so it’s back to regularly scheduled programming. Thanks for your patience.
Being on the road made me think of a question that clients often ask me:
“Does Medicare cover me when I travel?”
The answer, of course, depends. And it would be bad enough to get sick or injured on vacation without also finding out that Medicare won’t cover the expenses, so let’s take a look at whether your Medicare will travel with you.
What type of Medicare do you have?
Coverage varies depending on whether you have original Medicare or Medicare Advantage. Original Medicare is just Parts A and B (hospital and outpatient services) supplemented with a Medigap policy. Medicare Advantage is when you have Parts A and B and then also purchase Part C, which is coverage provided by Medicare approved third-party health insurance companies. Each of these types of Medicare works differently depending on where you travel.
Where are you going?
Original Medicare is extremely flexible within the U.S. (which includes all 50 states as well as Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Somoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.). There are no networks or preferred providers with original Medicare, so you can get care at pretty much any facility that accepts Medicare.
Medicare Advantage is a bit less flexible. Coverage is most comprehensive if you get care within the network of the private health insurance company that is providing you Medicare Part C. Generally speaking, the closer you are to home, the better your coverage will be. Having said that, if you’re having a medical emergency you can use your Part C pretty much anywhere in the U.S. and it will be covered. Call your insurance company if you’re unsure if a particular provider is “in network” or “out of network.”
Except in very limited circumstances, neither type of Medicare (original or Advantage) will provide coverage while you’re traveling outside the U.S. They may cover certain services while you’re on a cruise ship or while you’re traveling across Canada on your way to Alaska, but that’s about it. Some Medigap policies cover emergency medical services while traveling abroad, but there are limits to the coverage. They generally pay for 80% of covered services after meeting a $250 deductible with a lifetime maximum of $50,000. Bottom line—if you’re planning a trip abroad, it’s best to buy a separate travel insurance policy with generous health coverage. It’s also a good idea to get a policy that includes evacuation insurance. As you might imagine, it would be very expensive to pluck you from the bottom of the Grand Canyon or from the rain forest in Costa Rica if you are sick or injured. Those costs can run into the tens of thousands of dollars and neither Medicare nor Medigap covers the cost of a medical evacuation.
So before you hit the road, do a little research to make sure you’re covered and your trip will be a lot more enjoyable. Bon Voyage!
~ Joe
Photo Credit: Nick Kelly
by Joe Hearn | Jun 26, 2015 | Happiness, Health, Lifestyle Design, Retirement
I just finished reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It’s a bestselling classic, but I must confess that I wasn’t a huge fan. It did have a few great nuggets that made me think, however, and today I’d like to share a short passage from the book that could have a profound impact on how you approach retirement. Consider it Zen and the Art of Retirement.
In the passage, the main character is talking about the problem of value rigidity, which refers to our tendency to cling to certain preconceived ideas of what’s important and what’s not, even when events or circumstances change. To make matters worse, we sometimes put a high value on things that we shouldn’t and then stubbornly cling to our error. Here’s the text followed by a few takeaways for your life and retirement.
“All kinds of examples from cycle maintenance could be given, but the most striking example of value rigidity I can think of is the old South Indian Monkey Trap, which depends on value rigidity for its effectiveness. The trap consists of a hollowed-out coconut chained to a stake. The coconut has some rice inside which can be grabbed through a small hole. The hole is big enough so that the monkey’s hand can go in, but too small for his fist with rice in it to come out. The monkey reaches in and is suddenly trapped…by nothing more than his own value rigidity. He can’t revalue the rice. He cannot see that freedom without rice is more valuable than capture with it. The villagers are coming to get him and take him away. They’re coming closer — closer! — now! What general advice…not specific advice…but what general advice would you give the poor monkey in circumstances like this?
Well, I think you might say exactly what I’ve been saying about value rigidity, with perhaps a little extra urgency. There is a fact this monkey should know: if he opens his hand he’s free. But how is he going to discover this fact? By removing the value rigidity that rates rice above freedom. How is he going to do that? Well, he should somehow try to slow down deliberately and go over ground that he has been over before and see if things he thought were important really were important and, well, stop yanking and just stare at the coconut for a while. Before long he should get a nibble from a little fact wondering if he is interested in it. He should try to understand this fact not so much in terms of his big problem as for its own sake. That problem may not be as big as he thinks it is. That fact may not be as small as he thinks it is either. That’s about all the general information you can give him.”
Here are three important takeaways from this story:
Sometimes, especially during times of change or major life transitions (e.g. retirement), we need to revalue things so that we can realign our actions and beliefs with our new life. Said another way, the types of things that are important to us in the new life stage are likely different from the things that were important to us during the previous life stage. We need to decide what those new things are and elevate them to their proper position. If we don’t, we’ll cling to things that used to be important to us (e.g. work, certain relationships, houses, how we spend our free time, hometowns, etc.) and our tight grip on those keeps us stuck in the monkey trap, unable to pursue our new plans.
Sometimes holding the tangible thing can cause you to lose the intangible. There’s nothing wrong with having nice things, but everything we own takes some of our time and some of our money. If we focus too much on the tangible (houses, cars, gadgets, etc.), that leaves little time and money left over for the intangible (travel, experiences, hobbies, relationships, pursuits, etc.).
Sometimes we don’t understand how much we value the intangibles until we lose them. I was reading a study recently that listed out the types of things that were important to retirees. Number 1 was financial security (no surprise there). Number 2 was health. In the story above, the monkey got the rice, but it cost him his freedom. I don’t know about you, but I’ve definitely made sacrifices to my health as I pursued wealth (a.k.a. career). I’m sure you have too. We work hard. We’re busy. No time for a healthy lunch. No time to exercise. No time to get enough sleep. We take our health for granted. In our own way, we’re grabbing for the rice, but if we’re not careful it could cost us a major intangible like our health, and consequently our freedom to pursue many of our retirement plans. We may take it for granted now, but it will be sorely missed when it’s gone.
How can we avoid monkey traps?
What that question is really asking is this: How can we tell if we’re hanging on to something trivial at the expense of something important? How can we tell the genuine from the counterfeit? To answer that, let’s look at an example from the Secret Service. In addition to protecting the President, the Secret Service is in charge of protecting against counterfeit currency. When they’re training new agents to recognize counterfeits, they don’t sit them down in a room with a bunch of counterfeit bills and point out the flaws.
Instead they sit them down in a room with currency experts and pristine examples of genuine bills. They go through every detail. Why it’s there. What it represents. How it deters counterfeiters. How difficult it is to reproduce. How to look for it. They learn what the ink looks like. They learn what the paper feels like. They learn what the bill smells like.
By studying what makes a bill genuine, a funny thing happens. Without ever studying the counterfeits, agents can spot them from a mile away because they know what the genuine bills look like. We can do something similar. If we sit down and decide what’s genuinely important to us—what we value above all else—then when imposter opportunities come along, we will be able to recognize them for what they are. Then rather than shoving our hand inside and grabbing for the rice, we’ll keep right on walking because we have a clear idea of what we really want out of life and we’re taking those plans very seriously. If we can all do that, then we’ll be well on our way to an intentional, meaningful retirement.
~ Joe
by Joe Hearn | Jun 18, 2015 | Learning Challenge, Pursuits
When I was in college, I wanted to take a photography class as an elective. Unfortunately, I was required to take “Fundamentals of Drawing” as a prerequisite. I can’t draw to save my life, but I gave it a shot, assuming that the teacher would grade according to the “finance student who wants to take the photography class” curve.
On the first day of class the professor said, “I know many of you are here because you need this class to take the photography class. I am not an easy grader. If your drawings are bad, you will fail the class.” And that’s the story of how I ended up not taking a photography class in college.
Thankfully, we live in a completely different world today. Most of the rules, roadblocks and gatekeepers are gone and you can learn just about anything you want online, often for free.
Want an example? Just a few weeks ago I learned how to tile a floor watching a 5-minute YouTube video. Then I tiled my floor. It turned out great. I learned how to adjust my sprinkler heads the same way. Ditto with how to play new songs on my guitar.
YouTube is great, but sometimes you want a more formal learning process so you can take a deeper dive into a subject. For that, I’ve been experimenting with three companies that provide thousands of interesting online courses.
Coursera
What it is. Coursera is an online education website started by a former Stanford professor. The company has agreements with more than 120 top universities (e.g. Princeton, Yale and Stanford) to make their most popular and interesting courses available free of charge to anyone who wants to take them.
How it works. Courses are a combination of videos, assignments and tests and usually take four to six weeks to complete. You study at your own pace and can go back to review material if needed or pause the lecture if you want to look something up, do further research or cook dinner.
What it costs. The courses are free for anyone who wants to take them, but you can pay a nominal fee (usually between $50 and $95) if you want to receive a course certificate that you can show a potential employer or list on your resume.
Types of classes. Imagine a college course catalog and that’s what the list of Coursera courses looks like. Want to take a nutrition class from Johns Hopkins? Check. How about a music class from the Berklee College of Music? Check. Computer programming at Stanford? Law at the University of London? The history of Beatles music at the University of Rochester? Check, check and check.
CreativeLive
What it is. CreativeLive was founded by the super talented Chase Jarvis. If you’ve ever seen an ad or commercial for Nike, Apple, RedBull or Starbucks, chances are you’ve seen Jarvis’ photography and video work. The idea behind the company is to bring together some of the top creative minds in the world and do live classes in their areas of expertise.
How it works. Browse the list of upcoming classes and sign up for whatever sounds interesting. The live classes are often free, but if you miss the class or want to browse the catalog of hundreds of past classes, you can take those for a small fee.
What it costs. Again, the live classes are often free, but if you sign up for a past class from the catalog, they usually cost anywhere from $29 to $99 (some are more) depending on how in depth the class is.
Types of classes. There are classes in areas like photography, videography, design, music, money, travel and life. For example, I recently took a class on travel hacking (taking great trips for less money) taught by a guy who just finished visiting every country in the world. I’m also signed up to take an upcoming class on travel photography in July. Those are just a few examples, but there are hundreds of others to choose from.
Udemy
What it is. Like the others we’ve discussed so far, Udemy is an online learning platform. Rather than providing just college courses (like Coursera) or focusing on a narrow range of topics (like CreativeLive), Udemy offers a broad range of skill building classes in a ton of different areas.
How it works: Sign up by creating a user name and log in and then start browsing courses to take. And if you have a particular area of expertise, Udemy makes it easy for you to create your own course and sell it on their platform.
What it costs: Some classes are free, but most cost between $29 and $99.
Types of classes: There are more than 30,000 courses in areas like business and entrepreneurship, academics, the arts, health and fitness, language, music, and technology.
One of our core beliefs here at Intentional Retirement is that curiosity and a willingness to learn will often result in an interesting and rewarding retirement. The resources discussed above make that easier than ever.
~ Joe
P.S. A little weekly inspiration from over on our Facebook Page:
by Joe Hearn | Jun 3, 2015 | Medicare
Congress just passed a law that made some changes to Medicare so I wanted to give you a quick summary of those changes and how they might affect your retirement plans.
Positives
Doctor Pay. The law repeals the physicians payment cut that had many doctors seriously considering whether they should stop accepting Medicare patients altogether. The law also institutes annual payment increases to doctors for certain Medicare services. This is good for Medicare patients because it will increase the likelihood that they will continue to have access to their doctor of choice.
Health Care Quality. The law also instituted new quality measures for doctors and hospitals which reward them for providing high quality care. This is obviously another plus for those on Medicare.
Identity Theft. If you’re currently on Medicare, you probably raised an eyebrow when you first got your Medicare card and saw your Social Security number printed on it. This obviously opens the door to identity theft if your card is lost or stolen. The new law stipulates that all new cards must come without Social Security numbers printed on them by April 16, 2019 and existing cards must be reissued within four years after that.
Potential Negatives
Means Testing. As the financial difficulties of Medicare and Social Security become more acute, one of the first “fixes” that Congress will likely reach for will be some form of means testing. This is already starting to happen in Medicare. For example, the law increases the amount that high-income beneficiaries will pay for Part B (doctor’s insurance) and Part D (prescription drug coverage).
To understand how premiums will increase, we need to understand how the premiums are calculated. Basically, the government calculates an overall premium based on the cost of the program and then they pay part of that premium and individuals pay the other part. Your income level will determine how much of the premium you will be required to pay.
Most people currently pay a premium of $104.90 per month for Medicare Part B, which equates to about 25% of the premium cost. High earners, however, pay an Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA). The higher your income, the more you pay. This has been the case for many years now, but the new law reduces the income limits, thereby subjecting many more people to higher premiums.
Here’s what people are paying currently:
| Income | Premium Percentage | Current Premium |
| Less than $85,000 | 25% | $105 |
| $85,001 to $107,000 | 35% | $147 |
| $107,001 to $160,000 | 50% | $210 |
| $160,001 to $214,000 | 65% | $273 |
| More than $214,000 | 80% | $336 |
And here is how the income limits will adjust:
| Income | Premium Percentage |
| Less than $85,000 | 25% |
| $85,001 to $107,000 | 35% |
| $107,001 to $133,500 | 50% |
| $133,501 to $160,000 | 65% |
| More than $160,000 | 80% |
Notice that many more people fall into the “high income” category and will thus be responsible for a larger percentage of the premiums. It’s difficult to put a specific dollar value on these increases, because we don’t yet know what the premium costs will be in 2018, but here are two things we do know: 1) the premiums will be higher than they are now, and 2) those with higher incomes will be required to pay a larger percentage of the premium. I have seen some estimates that a person in Tier 4 or 5 might pay around $3,500 more per year ($7,000 per couple) than they would if they were in Tier 1 or 2.
Are there ways to avoid these increases? Yes! The increases won’t happen until 2018, but they will be based on your Modified Adjusted Gross Income in 2016 and beyond. Those who are retired (or close to it), should keep that in mind. Your adjusted gross income is made up of things like wages, taxable interest, dividends and distributions from IRAs. During retirement, you can control several of those things. When deciding which accounts to pull from first, how much to pull from your IRAs or whether or not to work part time, consider how those decisions will affect your income and whether or not that income is enough to bump you up into a higher Medicare bracket. If so, it might be wise to forgo part-time work or delay distributions from IRAs until the following tax year.
I know Medicare discussions can be a little dry, so I’ll leave you with a fun photo from over on our Facebook Page:
Have a great day!
~ Joe
by Joe Hearn | May 22, 2015 | Lifestyle Design, Pursuits, Retirement
I think it’s fair to say that most of us believe we are rational beings and we make rational decisions. I just finished reading a book, however, that calls that premise into question.
In Predictably Irrational, professor Dan Ariely uses cleverly designed experiments to show time and again that many of the daily decisions we make—from the mundane to the monumental—are completely irrational. His point is that these irrationalities are so systematic and predictable, that we can understand them and then compensate for them so we can make better decisions.
The section of the book that really caught my eye related to the concept of anchoring. Anchoring is our tendency to rely on the first piece of information we are presented with (the “anchor”) when making decisions. As the name implies, the anchor influences all of the related decisions that come after it. If you examine your life—how you spend your money, how you spend your day, where you buy coffee, who you hang out with, how much television you watch—you can likely trace those habits or repetitive behaviors back to some sort of anchor.
What does this have to do with making retirement decisions? Again, our first decisions on a particular matter tend to act as anchors for the subsequent decisions we make in that area. When you enter retirement you make a whole bunch of new decisions. Those decisions—the who, what, where, when and why of retirement—will resonate for years to come. You should be very intentional as you make them. Professor Ariely:
“We should also pay particular attention to the first decision we make in what is going to be a long stream of decisions. When we face such a decision, it might seem to us that this is just one decision, without large consequences; but in fact the power of the first decision can have such a long-lasting effect that it will percolate into our future decisions for years to come. Given this effect, the first decision is crucial, and we should give it an appropriate amount of attention.”
In other words, the first weeks and months of retirement are critical. Many people enter retirement with the best of intentions, but because they don’t understand this concept of anchoring, one of two things happens. First, they are so deeply anchored to previous decisions that when they are confronted with the new paradigm of retirement, they talk themselves out of things, even if it is something that they have been dreaming about for years. For example, “I’d love to travel, but that’s just not me.”
Second, they transition into retirement without a lot of intention or urgency and they assume that they will have plenty of time to figure things out as they go. But while they’re waiting for the dust to settle, they make decisions early on—the first 30 days, 60 days, a year—that end up acting as anchors for years to come and that prevent them from pursuing their ideal retirement. So what are some ways that we can avoid this fate?
Stop. I’ve talked many times before about a “stop doing” list. Never is that list more critical than when you transition into retirement. By cutting out old obligations that are no longer relevant to your new phase of life, you allow yourself space and breathing room to focus on your new pursuits, activities, obligations and commitments and give them the time and attention they deserve.
Shake things up. If you find yourself in a rut and anchored to decades of old habits and routines, it’s helpful to have big, new plans—like moving, traveling, or volunteering—that will force you to steer off the well-worn path you’ve become accustomed to and proactively pursue your new goals. If you don’t have specific new plans, it’s easy to fall into a routine that doesn’t look much different from your working years, save for sleeping in a little bit and having more time to run errands.
Keep a journal. As you transition into retirement, spend a little time at the end of each day journaling. Write about the emotions, feelings, experiences and changes related to the transition. Most of all, write about the decisions you’re confronted with. If you take time at the end of each day to think and write about those decisions in the context of what you want the next 20 or 30 years of your life to look like, then you’ll likely make decisions that put you on the path to where you want to go.
Have a response ready. When you retire, you will be confronted with a number of people and organizations that will want a piece of your newfound time and freedom. Rather than hastily committing to something you might later regret, have a ready response that defers any decision. Here’s the one I suggest: “Thanks for asking. You know, I’m new to this whole retirement thing and I’m still trying to figure out what my schedule will look like, so let me think about it and then I’ll get back to you.” If it isn’t something that fits with your plans, follow up later with a quick call or email to decline.
Remember, the decisions you make in the first weeks and months of retirement will resonate for years. Therefore:
- Have specific plans.
- Be intentional.
- Have a sense of urgency.
- Understand the resistance you’ll feel if your new plans conflict with your old anchors and be prepared to push through it.
- Keep a journal to help you think through your daily decisions
- Cut old commitments that aren’t a fit for your new phase of life
- Be slow to make new commitments.
To all of my readers in the U.S., have a great Memorial Day Weekend! And to those outside the U.S., just have a great weekend. 🙂
~ Joe
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