I have a lovely little old lady co-worker (literally little, about 4'10"). She's 70 years old, many pre-existing conditions; like a previous stroke, brain stints, head trauma (these are just since we've been working together for about 10 years). After pushing her retirement 3 more months 4+ times, she finally retired. This is sort of a relief to me, as she was likely the highest risk covid candidate that I am forced to interact with.
On her last week, like 2 days before she retires, at age 70, with pre-existing conditions, she gave me a stressed look and I asked what's up? She's like, "Health care insurance is so expensive! I hadn't even looked and I am amazed at the cost. It's like double my car payment at $1800/month."
I nodded and said yeah, sucks. Internally, my jaw hit the ground and I wanted to scream!! So I came on here instead and wrote this blog post.
She recently traded in her (bought brand new) Jeep Grand Cherokee for a brand new Ford Explorer. We do live in a steep snowy area of the rocky mountains, so an SUV is not a terrible vehicle choice for this area, but I believe the Jeep dealership took grotesque advantage of her trust and charged her an arm and a leg for unnecessary repairs until she finally got rid of it.
First of all, by the time someone is ready to retire, I hope hope hope they've thoroughly researched the anticipated the changes in revenue/expenses for EVERYTHING, especially no longer having employer-subsidized healthcare coverage. Especially if they are old and have health issues!
Second, I hope hope hope that I am fortunate to not have a car payment at time of retirement, especially if it's like $900/month. I plan to have a new (used, low mileage, proven reliable) vehicle, or $$$ for one saved up, before retiring with no car payment - just as I do now.
Her statement blew me away. I feel sorry for this lady about double my age but probably half as ready for retirement?! I wish her the best. I wish financial conversations were not awkward, I would sit down with her and go over some things with her. Like buy a used Toyota; research and financially plan for health insurance; review her 401 options (no idea on that last one, but I'd guess they're not the choices you or I would make even at that stage of life).
Rant over. We're fortunate to have resources like MMM to help guide each other to better financial futures!