Medical Expenses after retirement, are you prepared?

Data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) finds out-of-pocket health care expenses are typically miscalculated. This study (pdf file) estimates how much retirees spend on out-of-pocket health care expenses after age 70 until their death. Unlike many other studies, it includes only expenses for health care services actually used (i.e., Medicare and insurance premiums are not included), and it is based on self-reported expenses of actual retirees and not on projections for hypothetical individuals. The numbers are adjusted for medical inflation and reported in 2015 dollars.

The self-reported expenses are from panel data from the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) cohort of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Here are the key findings:

·  For the majority of surveyed people, out-of-pocket health care expenses are not as high as commonly believed. For those who die at age 95 or later, the median cumulative out-of-pocket expense after age 70 until death is slightly above $27,000.

·  But these expenses are catastrophic for some. Again, for those who die at age 95 or later, the 90th and 95th percentiles are nearly $172,000 and just over $269,000, respectively. In other words, the distribution of cumulative out-of-pocket medical expenses is skewed toward those with higher expenses.

·  Nursing home expenses are one of the biggest contributors driving the skewness of the distribution. Without out-of-pocket nursing home expenses, the 90th and 95th percentiles for those who die at age 95 or later drops to nearly $96,000 and $154,000, respectively.

·  For all surveyed people, the median out-of-pocket nursing home expense is zero. But just like the distribution of total out-of-pocket health care expenses, the distribution of nursing home expenses is also skewed toward those with higher expenses, which means a small percentage of retirees face very high expenses.

·  For those who die at age 95 or later, the 90th and 95th percentiles of nursing home expenses are slightly over $87,000 and $175,000, respectively.

·  When the sample is restricted to include only those who enter a nursing home, the 90th and 95th percentiles go up to nearly $182,000 and $266,000, respectively.

·  There are significant differences between men and women.

·  Women are significantly more likely to enter a nursing home after the age of 70 (38 percent of men vs. 51 percent of women).

The Ultimate Ethnic joke

My thanks to Joanne for this

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an  Irishman, a Welshman, a Latvian, a Turk, a German, an Indian, several  Americans (including a Hawaiian and an Alaskan), an Argentinean, a  Dane, an Australian, a Slovak, an Egyptian, a Japanese, a Moroccan,  a Frenchman, a New Zealander, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Guatemalan, a  Colombian, a Pakistani, a Malaysian, a Croatian, a Uzbek, a Cypriot, a  Pole, a Lithuanian, a Chinese, a Sri Lankan, a Lebanese, a Cayman  Islander, a Ugandan, a Vietnamese, a Korean, a Uruguayan, a Czech, an  Icelander, a Mexican, a Finn, a Honduran, a Panamanian, an Andorran, an  Israeli, a Venezuelan, an Iranian, a Fijian, a Peruvian, an Estonian, a  Syrian, a Brazilian, a Portuguese, a Liechtensteiner, a Mongolian, a  Hungarian, a Canadian, a Moldovan, a Haitian, a Norfolk Islander, a Macedonian, a Bolivian, a Cook Islander, a Tajikistani, a Samoan, an  Armenian, an Aruban, an Albanian, a Greenlander, a Micronesian, a  Virgin Islander, a Georgian, a Bahaman, a Belarusian, a Cuban, a  Tongan, a Cambodian, a Canadian, a Qatari, an Azerbaijani, a  Romanian, a Chilean, a Jamaican, a Filipino, a Ukrainian, a Dutchman, a Ecuadorian, a Costa Rican, a Swede, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a  Greek, a Belgian, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian and 2 Africans,  walk into a fine  restaurant.

"I'm sorry," says the maître d', after scrutinizing the group. 

"You can't come in here “without a Thai." 

ZEN AND GARDENING

Many of us find ourselves caught up in the stress of modern life as we struggle to achieve our goals in business, social and emotional lives.  I found this post by  by  Surabhi Johri posted at Friday  On October 7, 2011 and thought as we move closer to Xmas I would share it.

We all crave for time and space where we can shed our guard and just relax in a sanctuary that heals and soothes our senses. Our gardens play a vital supporting role, helping us get some respite from the pressures and chaos of the outside world and bring a sense of personal fulfillment.

Whether they are Zen gardens or Monastic Cloister gardens, throughout history gardens have played important role in healing.
The idea behind healing gardens is to create a therapeutic environment that provides a gentle stimulation of senses and act as a sanctuary. The considerations made while designing a healing garden are the same as any other garden; however these considerations take on a special meaning in healing environments.
Working with nature is central to a healing garden. It is important to keep the design
simple without much going on so that it is easy to understand and maintain. At the same time the garden should be full of sensory experiences. Lot of variety in terms of form, texture, colour, seasonal interest and scent will wake up the senses and create a new appreciation for the garden as well as nature.
Texture and foliage
Plant trees with interesting bark textures, either smooth or self patterned. Choose plants for their interesting foliage, delicate feathery ones like fennel or smooth and bold like magnolia. Ornamental grasses are full of drama specially when light falls on them and their leaves and flowers dance in breeze.
Plant the daintiest of flowers that invoke a feeling to protect or as bold and open as sunflowers. You can’t resist touching the petals of poppy or play with the snapdragons. Let the seasonal changes in the garden bring awareness to the transience in all life forms and awaken the spirit.
Get into the garden at every opportunity, day or night, and look for changes. Notice the effect of light, change in colours, sprouting of seeds, blooming of buds and fading of flowers, unfurling of new leaves and drop of old ones. This dimension of time is unique to the art of garden design and separates it from any other art form.
Sound adds a wonderful aspect. Try to keep intrusive noises to minimal. Use water features or wind chimes for calming effect or to mask the undesirable sounds. Choice of hardscaping should be subtle and not conflict with the needs of the user. Keep a balance so that the space feels stable as a whole. Make the transitions between spaces smooth. Lay out paths clearly. Do not forget to create focal points.
Create various spaces for different activities. Provide areas for varying degree of sun and shade. Make comfortable and suitable seating available.
You may choose to go with the theme of wildlife garden. Plant to attract butterflies or birds - nectar producing flowering plants for butterflies and berry producing fruit trees for birds. Keep birdbaths and bird feeders to encourage winged visitors.
Keep low maintenance fish in a pond. Watching them swim can be very relaxing. Going with edible garden theme can be benefiting in more than one way.
Not only cultivating edibles for the family will bring you satisfaction but also consuming fresh and organically grown produce will taste better. Design plant beds to grow personal favourite varieties surrounded by herb borders, interspersed with splashes of flowering plants.
Colours play a key role
Use colours for healing since they have strong associations with our feelings and memories. Choose red for vitality, orange to bring joy and optimism, yellow for the feelings of self worth and lifting depression, green for harmony, restfulness and relaxation, blue to encourage tranquility and contemplation, and violet to learn to love yourself. Do not neglect the role of aromatic plants in healing gardens. Aromas from carnation, citrus, eucalyptus, jasmine can be stimulating while rose, basil, lavender can be balancing. Cedarwood, juniper, mimosa are relaxing whereas chamomile, jasmine, rose, citrus work as anti-depressants too. Plant combinations can also be made for varying degree of fragrance desired in the garden.
Healing gardens have found special place in hospitals across the developed world. For the old age people, patients of psychiatry, cancer and alzheimer’s, and patients in rehabilitation centers the healing garden also provides horticultural therapy. This therapy may help them regain confidence. It works as a place where they can feel less pain, safe and to some level be healed by nature’s healing process. For old people, patients, physically challenged or people with limited mobility garden made in raised beds at wheelchair height become most functional. Plan to make their participation in garden easier. When living with limitations growing and harvesting bring a sense of fulfillment and achievement. Certain plants may have special meanings to them – use those. Design to engage senses beyond sight. Choose insect and disease resistant varieties to minimize pesticide use and discourage undesirable insects

What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895....

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education?  Well, check this out.  Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895? 

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

 8th Grade Final Exam:  Salina, KS - 1895 

Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications. 
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of "lie,” play," and "run." 
5. Define case; illustrate each case..
6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation. \
7. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar. 

Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic. 
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. for tare? 
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals? 
5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent. 
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank C heck, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt. 

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States. 
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas. 
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865. 

Orthography (Time, one hour) 

1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals 
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?) 
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup. 
8. Mark diacriticall y and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane , vain, vein, raze, raise, rays. 
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication. 

Geography (Time, one hour)

1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ? 
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America. 
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco. 
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each. 
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers. 
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth. 

Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. 

Gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?

There is more to life than increasing its speed. - Mahatma Gandhi