Are Health Care Costs A Part of Your Retirement Plan?
- Posted in: Estate Planning
When people do the math to determine what their financial
budgetary needs will be they factor in all the usual expenses, as well as
change-of-lifestyle expenses (such as a travel budget, for example) but
according to this article on CNBC.com,
what many people still neglect to factor into their retirement budget is health
care expenses.
According to the article, “most people don’t realize
Medicare covers much less than traditional employer plans.” One recent report
reveals that “For a 65-year-old couple retiring this year, the cost of health
care in retirement will be $240,000, 6 percent more than that same couple
retiring in 2011 would pay.” This can end up being a significant portion of
your annual budget, and if you haven’t planned for it correctly it can be the
difference between a comfortable retirement and scraping to get by.
Furthermore, one of the primary oversights of retirement planning is accurate
knowledge of Medicare. Most individuals in the planning stages “routinely and
wildly overestimated the percentage of health care costs covered by Medicare.”
Even when health care costs are accurately taken into
account, individuals often neglect to consider that they may be living in a
different state with different health care costs than what they’re used to. “Moving
to cheaper and possibly warmer climates is something many retirees naturally
do. But while someone may be willing to move to Florida to reduce state taxes
and avoid the ice and snow of the north, most people have so little awareness
about the costs of health care in retirement that those costs are probably not
a driving factor.”
Planning for retirement—and trying to anticipate all the
cost and expense that may come with it—can be made much easier if you have a
knowledgeable advisor to guide you through the process. Your elder law
attorney, estate planning attorney, financial advisor and insurance agent are
just a few of the experts who can help ensure that your future will be
comfortable and secure.
