health care costs Archives

How to Build a Retirement Budget That Lasts

October 7, 2026October 7, 2026 by Trevor Hanson

Bar chart comparing 2024 spending by households 65 and older with all households: housing 36% vs 33%, transportation 16% vs 17%, food 13% vs 13% and health care 13% vs 8%

For decades, your budget had a built-in safety net: the next paycheck. Retirement changes that. Your income now comes from Social Security, maybe a pension, and the savings you spent a career building, and every dollar you spend is a dollar your portfolio has to replace. A retirement budget isn’t about restriction. It’s about knowing … Read more

Using Your HSA for Retirement (and the Medicare Rule to Know)

October 7, 2026July 23, 2026 by Trevor Hanson

Timeline for using an HSA for retirement around Medicare: stop contributing six months before applying, Part A can be backdated, then keep using the HSA

Health care planning is one of the few areas of life where unpredictability isn’t the exception but the expectation. Costs shift, coverage evolves and important decisions often arrive during already stressful moments. Health Savings Accounts are usually introduced in pieces, through a benefits meeting or a passing recommendation, so many people treat them as a … Read more