We (DW and I) are likely to be moving to the Seattle area sometime in the next year. We've been retired a few years, and have just started Medicare. We've lived in the Silicon Valley area for many years, liking it well enough, and have friends here, but many in our generation have started drifting off in other directions now that the career ties are finished. For us, the primary draw to move is to be closer to kids/grandkids who are pretty anchored in WA. This move was always somewhat in our minds, but a health condition for DW makes selling our current house (with steep hillside and stairs) and moving more urgent. We're planning to move to a CCRC near one of the kids (large deposit, but refundable when we leave). DW's condition (Parkinson's) is more mobility limiting than lifespan limiting; one factor in moving to a CCRC at this age is to have a supportive environment (and friends) in case I go first.
That background in place, I'm interested if the BH crew has any particular insights or suggestions for us. The following questions came to mind, but there may be others (yes, we're familiar with the weather):
1) Medicare - we've been using a Kaiser MA plan, having been satisfied with Kaiser for many years in the bay area. I know that there is a Kaiser option in the Seattle area, but it's not a long-established there (they took over another group health plan a few years ago). Any feedback on MA options would be good (DW is past the 12 month MA trial period, and so may be locked into MA vs supplement plans because of underwriting).
2) Taxes - no income tax in WA, which is nice but not really definitive. We'll have a substantial cap gain beyond the exclusion when selling the CA house (which will be taxable on our part-year CA return). We may do somewhat more Roth conversion, but have to keep in mind that we have a higher chance of deductible LTC expenses at some point in the future.
3) Estate planning - For CA, we've had a living trust. It's about time to update this stuff in any case, so we'll do that after the move. I think WA has a substantial estate tax, so we will likely want to do some planning around that (our estate today would be between the WA and federal tax levels).
That background in place, I'm interested if the BH crew has any particular insights or suggestions for us. The following questions came to mind, but there may be others (yes, we're familiar with the weather):
1) Medicare - we've been using a Kaiser MA plan, having been satisfied with Kaiser for many years in the bay area. I know that there is a Kaiser option in the Seattle area, but it's not a long-established there (they took over another group health plan a few years ago). Any feedback on MA options would be good (DW is past the 12 month MA trial period, and so may be locked into MA vs supplement plans because of underwriting).
2) Taxes - no income tax in WA, which is nice but not really definitive. We'll have a substantial cap gain beyond the exclusion when selling the CA house (which will be taxable on our part-year CA return). We may do somewhat more Roth conversion, but have to keep in mind that we have a higher chance of deductible LTC expenses at some point in the future.
3) Estate planning - For CA, we've had a living trust. It's about time to update this stuff in any case, so we'll do that after the move. I think WA has a substantial estate tax, so we will likely want to do some planning around that (our estate today would be between the WA and federal tax levels).
Statistics: Posted by curmudgeon — Sat Oct 26, 2024 8:17 pm — Replies 3 — Views 335