What does traditional Retirement planning miss?

The primary struggle that many experience when planning retirement is that financial advisors and retirement plans focus on the bigger picture. They often provide a single round number that is the goal to sustain you through every month of retirement.

While having a goal is a must, this big-picture focus has let many retiree’s down. One of the most significant failures in retirement planning is allocating for healthcare costs. Most of this is due to the fact that financial planning is flawed in that it simply ignores these mandatory costs. In a nutshell it is simple to understand, the more income you have in retirement, the higher your mandatory costs.

Mandatory Healthcare Costs in Retirement

So what are our mandatory costs in retirement? Any person entering retirement should expect to have the following costs deducted directly from their social security check:

Medicare Part B
Medicare Part D (optional but suggested):

Everyone knows about Medicare, however most do not know how you pay for it. Payments for your Medicare benefit come directly out of your social security check. So basically, if you do not Elect to take Medicare, you will either be penalized or not receive a Social Security Benefit.

How much these expenses add up to are calculated using IRMAA.

What on earth is IRMAA?

Coupled with the base costs of the parts of Medicare, we also have IRMAA (Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amount).

IRMAA basically takes the amount of income you make on a yearly basis in retirement and adjusts your base premiums up or down based on how much income you have.

For example, an individual that is making under $85,000 a year and files with a tax status of single can expect to pay $148.00 per month in 2019 for Medicare part A. However if that same individual makes over $85,000 a year the Part B cost increases simple because they make more money.

Simple Rule of thumb. the more money you make in retirement, the more you will pay for your Medicare

What Is The Average Health Care Cost In Retirement?

Many people eager await their retirement days with long lists of places that they will travel, the things that they will do and even perhaps stuff that they will buy. Not many, however, look past the “dream” that retirement it to see what a financial burden it actually can be if not properly prepared for. Do you know what it actually will take you to retire? In terms of health care, do you have any idea what percentage of your retirement income will be spent on your health? Recent studies have revealed that 7 out of 10 people anticipate their average health care costs in retirement to account for a mere 10 percent of their retirement income. In actuality though, this factor is more like an average of 30 percent. Imagine how many plans that’ll wreck if not accounted for!
According to Fidelity, last year a retired couple spends about $220,000 on health care in retirement. Mind you, this does not include any long-term care. Regardless, of how good some Medicare coverage may be, it does not cover all expenses. In fact, it is estimated that it only covers an average of 51 percent of medical expenses. A lot of factors go into what your average health care costs in retirement will be and so it can be difficult to formulate a reliable guesstimate on your own.