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brin_bellway[cw: poverty, government bullshit, illness, other medical stuff, (fairly mild) death]
Them: [literally anything involving TFSAs]
Me: :'-(
(Although it is unclear to me whether TFSAs are *more* dangerous than non-registered accounts, or merely equally dangerous. I know that if you play your cards right you *can* knock the effective penalty for certain non-registered ETFs (including, notably, all three of the Vanguard/Blackrock/Horizons lines of all-in-one funds) down to between USD$150 and USD$600 per year, depending on whether or not you would otherwise have had to hire a tax specialist that year (since you can't do most of the taxes yourself and hire them *just* for the hard bit: it has to be a package deal) and how complicated your other taxes are. If you think of that as being part of the MER, it becomes a workably low percentage fairly quickly as your investment quantity rises into the tens of thousands. Will have to ask a tax specialist for clarification on TFSA rules at some point, though it's not urgent given how much of the List remains.)
---
Them: >>Thanks to some frugal habits now and then, [this couple, who already own their home outright]'s after-tax spending needs are about $55,000 per year.
Me: ...okay, yeah, I am *definitely* living in some kind of parallel universe.
(We spent less than that last year on three people plus supplying room-and-board to a fourth, and yeah we barely drove anywhere but also we only owned ~half our house equity. And we replaced both the roof and the water heater in 2020, too, so it wasn't like the home-maintenance costs were artificially low that year by all taking place in other years.)
---
Them: [stuff about how most retirees want to travel the world, expand their horizons, and extend their subjective lifespan through more of said life being filled with vivid novelty]
Me: *thinks about how days don't increment properly if I don't sleep in my own bed, which leads to things like being caught off guard by menstrual phase-changes because I wasn't expecting them so soon*
Me: *thinks about how I had to just /accept/ the inevitability that after going to a major global tourist destination I was going to have to completely write off 3 - 5 days of my life due to con crud, and the best I could hope for was that all of the written-off days would be at home and not directly interfering with the trip*
Me: ...*extend* my subjective lifespan??
(like, I *do* suspect my ideal lifestyle would contain somewhat more *day trips* than my current and near-future lifestyles, but my adaptedness to Ontario on psychological and physical levels were both hard-won, and they are not something to be lightly abandoned or ignored)
(and as for filling your life with novelty, pretty sure I'm too autistic for that shit: I don't even fill my *diet* with novelty)
---
Them: >>For a 55-year-old couple:
(Both of these quotes are from Pacific Blue Cross, just for an example. (No affiliation by My Own Advisor.) There are many other carriers.)
The healthcare plans cover:
Me: ...under what circumstances is this *ever* a good idea? Only in the very worst timelines, where several horrible things happen to you all in the same year, would you even turn a profit *that year*. And yes, insurance *is* supposed to be for those long-tail worst-case scenarios, but look at those *caps*! Even if several horrible things *did* happen to *both* of you at once, you'd get maybe $30k of payout! A $30k expense is not an overwhelming catastrophe for the sort of household that can afford to spend $410/month on supplemental health insurance. If I'm going to pay $410/month to insure something, I want *way* more than $30k of coverage, and if at all possible it should be split between fewer buckets too.
Me: The only way I can see this making any sense is if they're burying the lede somewhere within "miscellaneous benefits", but you'd think if there were any major draws there they'd have put them front and centre.
Me: (And those of you living in timelines where you *are* spending $5,000/person/year on medication should almost certainly apply for the Trillium Drug Program. Ontario isn't completely lacking in drug coverage, not even for people between 25 and 65: your medication expenses are effectively capped at 4% of your household income.)
(I had much the same reaction to the health insurance my university offered me a while back, which is why I did not take it. I pay out of pocket for my prescriptions (maybe $40/year, though I'm well aware that this cheapness is unlikely to last as I age: Mom is closer to $800/year), my vision checkups (~$150 every two years), and my dental checkups (~$150, ideally every nine months but in practice more like every couple years; hope to go back to every nine months once I'm making decent money).)
---
Them: Hey, a lot of us have heard of Vanguard's VEQT these days, but have you heard of Blackrock's version, XEQT? Still excellent stock diversification, fees that are if anything slightly lower, and less home-country bias! And make sure to check out Horizons' HGRO too, which despite the name is *not* equivalent asset allocation to VGRO and XGRO, but is in fact 100% equity.
Me: Ooh. *takes notes*
---
(part 2)
Them: [literally anything involving TFSAs]
Me: :'-(
(Although it is unclear to me whether TFSAs are *more* dangerous than non-registered accounts, or merely equally dangerous. I know that if you play your cards right you *can* knock the effective penalty for certain non-registered ETFs (including, notably, all three of the Vanguard/Blackrock/Horizons lines of all-in-one funds) down to between USD$150 and USD$600 per year, depending on whether or not you would otherwise have had to hire a tax specialist that year (since you can't do most of the taxes yourself and hire them *just* for the hard bit: it has to be a package deal) and how complicated your other taxes are. If you think of that as being part of the MER, it becomes a workably low percentage fairly quickly as your investment quantity rises into the tens of thousands. Will have to ask a tax specialist for clarification on TFSA rules at some point, though it's not urgent given how much of the List remains.)
---
Them: >>Thanks to some frugal habits now and then, [this couple, who already own their home outright]'s after-tax spending needs are about $55,000 per year.
Me: ...okay, yeah, I am *definitely* living in some kind of parallel universe.
(We spent less than that last year on three people plus supplying room-and-board to a fourth, and yeah we barely drove anywhere but also we only owned ~half our house equity. And we replaced both the roof and the water heater in 2020, too, so it wasn't like the home-maintenance costs were artificially low that year by all taking place in other years.)
---
Them: [stuff about how most retirees want to travel the world, expand their horizons, and extend their subjective lifespan through more of said life being filled with vivid novelty]
Me: *thinks about how days don't increment properly if I don't sleep in my own bed, which leads to things like being caught off guard by menstrual phase-changes because I wasn't expecting them so soon*
Me: *thinks about how I had to just /accept/ the inevitability that after going to a major global tourist destination I was going to have to completely write off 3 - 5 days of my life due to con crud, and the best I could hope for was that all of the written-off days would be at home and not directly interfering with the trip*
Me: ...*extend* my subjective lifespan??
(like, I *do* suspect my ideal lifestyle would contain somewhat more *day trips* than my current and near-future lifestyles, but my adaptedness to Ontario on psychological and physical levels were both hard-won, and they are not something to be lightly abandoned or ignored)
(and as for filling your life with novelty, pretty sure I'm too autistic for that shit: I don't even fill my *diet* with novelty)
---
Them: >>For a 55-year-old couple:
- A medically underwritten plan will cost $264/month.
- A group conversion plan will cost $410/month.
(Both of these quotes are from Pacific Blue Cross, just for an example. (No affiliation by My Own Advisor.) There are many other carriers.)
The healthcare plans cover:
- 80% of the cost of prescription drugs up to a maximum of $5,000 per person per year.
- 80% of basic dental services up to a maximum of $1,200 per person per year with 2 recall visits per year.
- 50% of major restorative services.
- 50% of orthodontics.
- $300 per person every 2 years for vision care.
- $500 per person per year for registered therapists and health practitioners (physiotherapists, chiropractors, etc.).
- $5,000 per person per year for medical services and supplies not covered by government plans.
- Miscellaneous benefits such as private duty nursing care, accidental death & dismemberment, etc.
Me: ...under what circumstances is this *ever* a good idea? Only in the very worst timelines, where several horrible things happen to you all in the same year, would you even turn a profit *that year*. And yes, insurance *is* supposed to be for those long-tail worst-case scenarios, but look at those *caps*! Even if several horrible things *did* happen to *both* of you at once, you'd get maybe $30k of payout! A $30k expense is not an overwhelming catastrophe for the sort of household that can afford to spend $410/month on supplemental health insurance. If I'm going to pay $410/month to insure something, I want *way* more than $30k of coverage, and if at all possible it should be split between fewer buckets too.
Me: The only way I can see this making any sense is if they're burying the lede somewhere within "miscellaneous benefits", but you'd think if there were any major draws there they'd have put them front and centre.
Me: (And those of you living in timelines where you *are* spending $5,000/person/year on medication should almost certainly apply for the Trillium Drug Program. Ontario isn't completely lacking in drug coverage, not even for people between 25 and 65: your medication expenses are effectively capped at 4% of your household income.)
(I had much the same reaction to the health insurance my university offered me a while back, which is why I did not take it. I pay out of pocket for my prescriptions (maybe $40/year, though I'm well aware that this cheapness is unlikely to last as I age: Mom is closer to $800/year), my vision checkups (~$150 every two years), and my dental checkups (~$150, ideally every nine months but in practice more like every couple years; hope to go back to every nine months once I'm making decent money).)
---
Them: Hey, a lot of us have heard of Vanguard's VEQT these days, but have you heard of Blackrock's version, XEQT? Still excellent stock diversification, fees that are if anything slightly lower, and less home-country bias! And make sure to check out Horizons' HGRO too, which despite the name is *not* equivalent asset allocation to VGRO and XGRO, but is in fact 100% equity.
Me: Ooh. *takes notes*
---
(part 2)
