What about Healthcare?

In making the decision to retire early, one of our primary concerns was the area of healthcare.  Both Mr. Breeze and I have Pre-existing conditions.  I am curious to see how health care reform starts to change over the course of  5 years.

In fact I have added a new section titled Health.  This is an area where I will post about healthcare, what we find, and changing to living a healthier lifestyle (recipes, activities, who knows I might even track our weight goals on line.).

So we decided to buy through the exchange but unfortunately with leaving our jobs and income it was confusing to fill out the paperwork.  We tried to make phone calls, and had our forms reentered but found out that we were applying for aid (i.e. welfare).  That is not what we wanted.

I ended up panicking, and decided to purchase directly from the insurance company as I was afraid to go without coverage for myself, and my family.  We chose Humana as they were one of the best for the medications we were on and I liked the options.  By going direct to the insurance company we are not on the exchange (although our plan is considered a Bronze plan through the Affordable Care Act); therefore, we are not eligible for the subsidies.

So what is insurance costing us:

Well for our family of 3, we have a monthly premium of about $885 a month.  We are not eligible for the subsidy, however, if our healthcare expenses exceed 10% of our income and this includes the Premiums that we are paying, we can deduct medical expenses from our tax liability.  This may or may not be better for us in the long run, we will see what our income ends up looking like after 2016.  We may try to get on the exchange plan for 2017, but for now we are happy to have insurance.

Oh and because neither of us are "working" we were also eligible for medicaid cards, so we are using that as a secondary insurance - this will only help us to reduce our deductible. Speaking of the deductible, we have a family deductible of $12,500.  While I hope we will never reach that amount, if for some reason we have a large medical event, such as a hospital stay, then I know our cap will be our premiums plus the $12,500.  Long term this is a expensive option, but it is affordable today, as we are learning.

So to have insurance for 2016, we are paying:
$885 x 11 (we were covered in January)
And an out of pocket deductible of up to: $12,500
Total potential healthcare expenses for 2016: $22,235

So if our 2016 income is below $222k we should meet the 10% medical deduction for 2016.

The only thing I wish I had done differently, was read Root of Goods post on the Pitfall and Subsidies of the Affordable care act!  Unfortunately I had to make my decision before he posted this, and didn't have the luxury of time (I was leaving my job, moving across the country, and stepping up a new home!).  Oh well, lessons learned and maybe we will do better next year!

Finding Your Way Home

It has been almost 2 months since I left the rat race of the working world.  And while I don't feel like I have all the time in the world (something that working full time made me feel like I would have if I quit).  I do find myself with time to be creative, learn, and breath.

One area that I have been focusing on, is definitely spending more time with Baby Breeze and Mr. Breeze.  We have taken advantage of warm days, lazy afternoons at the park.  Another area for myself, is reading and learning new thoughts and ideas.

Recently I picked up a book at our local library:

Finding Your Way Home: How to Become a Successful Stay-At-Home Parent, by Lucynda Koesters. 

This book would have been a great read, about a year or two ago, as I was developing my plan to stay at home.  That being said, I did gleam some great tips from this book.

In the first section Ms. Koesters focuses on reason why it is important for a parent to be at home, whether your child(ren) is an infant, toddler, gradeschooler, or teen. We know it is important for parents to bond with their child when they are infant or toddlers, but it is just as crucial to have a parent at home when they are in school and hitting their teenage years.  I love the idea that as my child goes to school, this will give me a chance to volunteer and get to know his friends, and to know that he will not be one of the many latch key kids who spend hours every afternoon unsupervised.  Most juvenile crimes happen between 3 PM and 6 PM and no wonder, a child needs guidance and a safe harbor to come home to.  Plus if you want to find out about your child's day you need to be there within the first 30 minutes - before they begin to focus on other things and the answer is "fine."

The second section of the book focuses on courage building strategies to find your way home.  While I have already made the jump to early retirement, I did enjoy her approach to visualizing what your day would look like.  She goes through weighing your options and examining your finances.  It is amazing how much of our income goes to be prepared for our jobs - clothing, parking, gas, daycare, convenience items such as fast food, guilt presents, etc.  As you eliminate these it is amazing how little we really bring home from out incomes.  She has some great money savings tips and strategies to talk to your spouse and employer.

What really hit home with me, was Part III - Transitional Strategies to a successful life at home.  This was full of great advice for me.  It is OKAY for me to slow down, and it might take me a while to learn how to do that.  I was shocked when I found myself looking at job opportunities within a month of being home.  This apparently is very common, and it is just because the reality of slowing down (and not receiving a paycheck for the first time in my adult life) was quite a shock.  I am now trying to focus on just being present at home and enjoying the peace that comes with it.  I also thought I would be able to start saving so much money now that I am at home, but found we were eating out more, and spending more on little things, as I now had more time to shop.  Realizing these things was a critical factor for me (and I will be writing more about this area in the future).

Establish a weekly routine is the next suggestion, but go SLOWLY!  Hard advice to take for someone who just exited the crazy rat race.  One of the areas that I am currently following is to set up BLOCKS of time.  For example:

7 AM to 9 AM get up, breakfast, and get dressed
9 to 11:30 AM errands or fun activities
11:30 - 12:30 Lunch
12:30 - 2:30 PM nap/quiet time
2:30 - 4:30 PM activities, outdoor time
4:30 - 6:30 PM make, eat, clean up dinner
6:30 - 8 PM - family time, games, movie, activities
8 - 9 PM - bath, story, and light out at 9 PM

This helps us to accomplish more during our day, without over structuring the time.  We might decide it is nice out and go to the park, or maybe it is cold and we bake cookies, or there might be something fun going on at the library so we go there!  It is also easy to know when to schedule appointments, play dates, and when to be able to say No!

Stay flexible!  Now is not the time to become rigid in a new routine, as that will only cause me the stress I am trying to get away from.

The book was published in 2005, so some of the information is a little dated, but overall this was a great read for anyone who is considering retiring early, especially to be home with their children.

I am thrilled to say, I found my way home!  

Early Retirement - Snow Day

It finally hit me today, what early retirement can truly do for the mind and the spirit.

We are having a snow day here in Colorado.  This morning I was listening to the news mention all the closed schools.  I was thinking about all the parents who now have to arrange baby sitters or call in to work in order to take the day off and make last minute arrangements for assignments, meetings, and calls.

What does an early retired parent do . . .

Well our morning went like this:
- Warm bacon and eggs for breakfast
- Puzzles and working on our letters
- Reading books in front of the fire under a cozy blanket
- Walking the dog in the snow
- And we are now about to have some hot chocolate after nap!!!

Now this is a Snow Day!!!

You can do this, save your income, so that you can enjoy an early retirement lifestyle!