Tomorrow is Election Day. It far exceeds April Fool’s Day in terms of the number of people who get pranked! A lot of this year’s focus continues to be on health insurance, so with November Open Enrollment now here, I thought I would take a quick look at what premiums we are likely to pay in 2019. I titled this post as a ‘First Take’ … Continue reading Health Insurance for 2019 – First Take
I thought our health insurance drama was over this year when we settled on a new plan during open enrollment in November. I wrote about our new plan then, which included a premium jump of more than 30% despite doubling our premium to $13K and dramatically dialing back the doctors and clinics we could go to in-network. As I wrote then, the insurance market in … Continue reading Early Retirement Health Insurance – Open Enrollment (Bonus Chapter)
I wasn’t sure how many ‘parts’ there may be to our health insurance open enrollment this year, but we got it sorted out pretty quickly. While the cost increases are dramatic, the fact that there are actually less options to look at makes the shopping process relatively quick. Not painless, but quick. You’ll remember from our earlier post that our incumbent health insurance provider was … Continue reading Early Retiree Health Insurance – Open Enrollment (Part 2)
I am titling this post “Part 1” as I am expecting the challenge of organizing our health care coverage for 2017 to be a multi-part personal finance adventure. I explained how we were approaching health insurance in early retirement this past spring, but it seems that all of the cards are up in the air again and we are likely looking at a 33%-50% increase … Continue reading Early Retiree Health Insurance – Open Enrollment (Part 1)
Mr. FireStation had a productive month at the office in July, but is now just 8 months from his planned early retirement on April 1, 2016. While June was largely consumed by a preparing for and enjoying a two week family vacation, July was all about work and making some post-work plans.
Our nest egg was quite secure through July with year-to-date results continuing to grow. The three numbers I follow are: 1) the SP500, which is up +2%; 2) the International EFEA Index, which is up +6%; and 3) my former MegaCorp stock, which is up +9%. With all three numbers up (and stock option leverage on MegaCorp), I am quite satisfied with how 2015 is shaping up and no big concerns have emerged. At the same time, we protected about 25% of our nest egg in cash & bonds (our bond fund is -1% for the year). All together, I think our portfolio is up +7% for the year. That’s about +2 pts better than the end of June. Continue reading “Early Retirement FIRE Escape – 8 Month Countdown”
MrFireStation 