Giantaxe

My COBRA coverage is expiring so self and wife are about to start ACA coverage - me for one month (!), before Medicare coverage starts, my spouse for much longer. Our projected monthly premiums for the rest of this year are $1 per month each. Of course, this is for high deductible coverage that will likely pay nothing this year except for the cost of us getting a flu vaccine.

My situation is also indicative of just how messed up healthcare access is in the US. In the course of 18 months I will have gone from employer coverage -> COBRA -> ACA -> Medicare, all with different rules and gotchas in how they interact with each other.

scrubbedexpat091

And for some people they think the current system is so efficient....

Canada may not have the perfect system, but at least I never have to worry about random bills, or medical debt for the most part, I just have to show up at the doctor, they do the rest.

Steerpike

I presume this is due to the tax credit / subsidy as you aren't earning above the threshold?

I presume you sank low in March? Also - are you quite confident that we won't see another similar fall? With huge sections of the economy clearly in trouble for some time - airlines, hospitality, retail, restaurants, etc - I can't figure out why the stock market is doing as well as it is. My good friend has spent his entire career in "the market", and he says he's totally dumb-founded.

Giantaxe

I have no earned income this year, only interest/capital gains. My wife has some self-employment income, but our adjusted gross income is well below the threshold of 4 x federal poverty level.

Quite confident is an overstatement. But as I don't expect to start making withdrawals for quite a while and hope to live into at least my mid 80's, I think my investing horizon is long enough to want to be in mainly stocks. Otoh, I have a friend who has the opposite view and sold _all_ his stocks a few months ago and is in cash. I don't think it's so difficult understanding the stock market. Firstly, tech companies are doing exceptionally well. Secondly, the Federal Reserve is essentially printing money to buy all manner of things they never have before. Absent that, I would be being much more defensive.

ddsrph

I never made much money in my career even though I had the potential being a Dentist and Pharmacist. I mainly worked part time but was very active in Navy Reserve. I retired at 56 except for working a few hours as hospital pharmacist. My wife and I both have IRA’s all in stock mutual funds and significant savings in CD’s but my Navy pension and both our SS brings in more than we spend as we have zero debt other than taxes and utilities. My greatest worry is not spending and enjoying what I have worked hard for. We have no children to leave money to. We are both in excellent health and have military and Medicare so have zero concern for healthcare costs. Maybe I can blow it all on travel when the pandemic is over. I certainly don’t need anymore toys/stuff to take care of.

Steerpike

Yeah, that pretty much reflects my position. I was at about 70% stocks, 30% bonds/other in March, and then I rebalanced in June when the market recovered, and now I'm 50% bonds, 40% stocks, 10% cash. My friend cautioned me that bonds have nowhere to go but down, since interest rates are at practically zero right now. If and when interests rates go up, bonds will suffer. So I'm really unclear on what to do next. I went to 10% cash, in part, so I could 'buy back into the market' during the next drop ... but that may not happen. As you say, currently the Fed is printing money but how long can they keep that up? A counter argument is ... where else can people (and big investors) put their money, if not the stock market?

Giantaxe

The Fed has indicated it will keep interest rates "near zero" for a long time and tolerate higher inflation:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/federal...olicy-changes/

So the value of cash will likely be eroded and interest rates essentially zero, which is a tough situation for older people to be in. Maybe property is the way to go? Of course commercial property - office buildings, malls etc - look in deep difficulty too, so how about ETFs that invest in apartment buildings etc?

vespucci

I only have a low retirement income, which goes up with inflation, etc, so I decided to sell part of my stock and buy a deferred annuity indexed to inflation. But when I looked at an annuity website I saw that, though they of course promoted many types of annuities, for what I had in mind they actually recommended stocks. So I changed my mind and have decided to keep my stocks.