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health care costs

Tuesday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: How to navigate the Yahoo data breach settlement. Also in the news: Identity theft and babies, getting grandparents on board with using reward credit cards, and a more realistic way to look at health care costs in retirement.

How to Navigate the Yahoo Data Breach Settlement
Here we go again.

Has Your Newborn’s Identity Already Been Stolen?
A rise in synthetic identity theft has put babies at risk.

Getting Grandparents on Board With Using Rewards Credit Cards
More trips to visit the grandkids.

Here’s a more realistic way to look at health care costs in retirement
Considering the factors.

Thursday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: Getting real about health costs in retirement. Also in the news: Watch your credit card rewards pile up with these 5 tips, learning the different types of mutual funds, and how hackers can steal your data at airports.

Let’s Get Real About Health Costs in Retirement
Making costs easier to predict.

Watch your credit card rewards pile up with these 5 tips

What Are the Different Types of Mutual Funds?
Learn the basics.

How Hackers Can Steal Your Data at Airports
Protecting more than just your luggage.

Let’s get real about health costs in retirement

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You won’t pay for health care in retirement with one lump sum. That’s the way these expenses are often presented, though, and the amounts are terrifying.

Fidelity Investments, for example, says a couple retiring in 2019 at age 65 will need $285,000 for health expenses, not including nursing home or other long-term care. The Employee Benefits Research Institute says some couples could need up to $400,000 — again, not including long-term care. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College hasn’t updated its figures recently, but back in 2010 estimated a typical couple could spend $260,000 for medical and long-term care, with a 5% risk that costs will exceed $570,000.

No wonder 45% of people in their 50s and early 60s have little or no confidence that they’ll be able to afford their health care costs once they retire, according to a survey by the University of Michigan.

In my latest for the Associated Press, a health care cost reality check.

Thursday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: Money mistakes even smart people make. Also in the news: 3 reasons to choose a college based in price, the pros and cons of moving abroad for health care, and which state has the highest average credit card debt.

Money Mistakes Even Smart People Make
We all make them.

3 Reasons to Choose a College Based on Price
Spend less time in debt.

Should You Move Abroad for Health Care?
The pros and cons.

Where credit card debt is the worst in the US: States with the highest average balance
Where does your state rank?

Friday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: Should you move abroad for health care? Also in the news: What to do if you still haven’t received your tax documents, things to consider before opening another credit card, and why you should save 4% of your new home’s cost for repairs.

Should You Move Abroad for Health Care?
The cost difference can be dramatic.

Haven’t Got Your Tax Documents Yet? Here’s What to Do
The clock’s ticking.

4 things to consider before opening another credit card
The pros and cons.

You Should Save 4% of Your New Home’s Cost for Repairs
Protect yourself from unexpected costs.

Should you move abroad for health care?

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The notion that health care outside the U.S. could be good as well as cheap is a foreign one to many Americans.

Kathleen Peddicord frequently hears from such skeptics as founder of Live and Invest Overseas, a site for people curious about living abroad. Actual expats like her, however, tell of good-quality care at a fraction of the U.S. price. Treatment for a motorbike accident in Panama cost her $20. Emergency dental surgery that might cost $10,000 or more in the U.S. was $4,500 in Paris. In many countries, medications that would require a prescription in the States are available directly from licensed pharmacies at low prices, thanks to government subsidies or regulation.

“The health care in a lot of places around the world is very good, as good as in the United States,” says Peddicord, who currently divides her time between Paris and Panama. “Some places, it is better.”

In my latest for the Associated Press, why reduced medical costs could prompt Americans to relocate.