Besides knowing what you have available as financial resources you need a handle on where you’re spending money. Financial success comes from living within your means. If you don’t know or are unwilling to adjust your outflow to match your inflow you’re going to have an issue.
I’m fascinated by financial aggregators and have tried Mint (Intuit) and Personal Capital (both free). Personal Capital was better in recognizing my financial institutions and accounts. I really like seeing assets and liabilities all in one place.
With elderly parents I’ve seen the current health-care system up close and can much more appreciate the efficiencies in HMOs like Kaiser where health care records are digital and managed centrally. Within the Kaiser system, no matter where you are or whom you are seeing all your information is available to the person you’re talking to at that moment. The downside of Kaiser is that they don’t always operate at the “bleeding edge” and are slower to adopt new treatments than the leading teaching hospitals like UCSF and Stanford.
Questions for consideration:
- Where are you getting your financial advice?
- Have you reviewed and optimized your insurance resources?
Resources:
- Mr. Money Mustache (frugal living and attaining financial independence to retire early – FIRE). Peter Adeney (MMM) is an excellent writer and has some really interesting ideas and perspectives. His blogs are highly recommended.
- Bogleheads
- The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins
- Medicare for Dummies by Patricia Barry
- Optimal Retirement Planner
New Age Retirement 