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Are you worried about how to plan for higher medical costs in retirement? We'll explore this topic today on Elevate Wealth. Hey, there, I'm Deanne Rosso, and I'm joined again by our firm founder, Chuck Vickery. Hey, Chuck. Dee. Glad to have you again. So, Chuck, how can people plan for medical expenses as they are in retirement? Well, planning is very important, Dee, because experts say a couple aged 65 will spend about $300,000 on healthcare over their lifetime. You have to pay for Medicare. It's not free. Okay. You have to pay for your supplements. It's not free. You have to pay for your drugs, your eyeglasses...there's just a myriad of expenses, and when I say they're not free, with inflation, the price goes up. I think that's a misconception, that people think they've paid for Medicare during their working years. Well, you pay for Medicare part A during your working years, but part B, Part D you pay for when you're retired. Okay. So the costs are constantly going up. There's always, you know, at 65 you're probably in better health than you're going to be at 80 or 85, so what's down the road? We've got to plan for that. We've got to plan for costs, and it's expensive. It's thank goodness by the time you hit 85 or 90, you're out of the go go stage and in the slow go, so you've redirected your expenses, and a lot of those expenses go towards healthcare. Right. And what you pay not only goes up, but if you're very successful, Medicare charges based on your modified adjusted gross income, so if you're very successful, Medicare lets you pay about $500 more a month than people that aren't successful. So a couple's going to spend another $12,000 a year there. One of the things that we see is is this modified adjusted gross income does determine what you pay, and it's based on your income from two years ago, so if you happen to sell a vacation home or some have a big capital gain from selling some land or some stocks, two years later get ready to see your price go up pretty dramatically, But the good news is, it's only for that one year. The other time that we see changes that people need to be aware of is when you retire. If you're going from a much higher income to a lower income, then Medicare is going to look at your tax return from 2 years and charge you a price based on that, and there's a form SSA44 that you can fill out and say, hey, my income is going to be lower this year, and so they will charge you less, so it's important to do that. Gotcha. But over time, you're going to spend a lot of money on on healthcare. You need to have a plan. You need to be prepared. So what I think I'm hearing you say is that these costs can be planned and budgeted for, but planning is the key. Planning is the key. You need a plan. The price is going to go up over time. Right. So, make a plan that that price will go up over time so you know what to expect with your healthcare cost. Exactly. Great. That's such great advice, Chuck. Thank you so much for joining me today again on Elevate Wealth, and for those of you at home, if you're watching, listening, and you have questions about how your healthcare budget could change in retirement, we're here to help. Visit us at elevate-wealth.com and click, "Let's talk." See you next time!
