FUNDS. Go-anywhere moderately-aggressive-allocation (70-90% equity) EKBAX (ER 1.1%; no-load/NTF at Fidelity, Schwab) invests in stocks (45% tech, 29% industrials) and bonds (including HY, convertibles). Manager Margret PATEL was a HY specialist in her former career (at Wells Fargo, Pioneer, Third Avenue, Northstar). (By
@lewisbraham at MFO)
EXTRA, FUNDS. THEMATIC funds have been disasters for investors (but they do sound interesting). Moreover, investors have poor timing with those – the M* investor-returns lag the fund TRs badly. Most big firms offer such niche/thematic ETFs – Fidelity, Blackrock/BLK (ICLN), Invesco/IVZ, etc; others also offer them, ARKK, DRIV, etc.
INCOME. Treasury FRNs (=< 2 year maturity) have rates that reset weekly to 3-month T-Bill auctions rate, so their effective duration is just 1 week. These can be bought at monthly auctions via brokerages or Treasury Direct, or in the secondary market. There are funds – USFR, TFLO, both with the ER of 15 bps. The interest is exempt from state/local taxes. Interest in FRNs grew after the Fed started to increase rates in mid-2022 (so, don’t look for long performance histories). (Finally, the FRNs are getting the media attention they deserve) (Be aware that now there are 3 types of floating-rate (FR) funds – Treasury FRNs, corporate FRs, junk FRs/BL (these have done well this year), so pay attention to which ones you are buying/holding.)
RETIREMENT. Some healthcare groups and doctors may not accept MEDICARE ADVANTAGE (MA; Part C), or that may change annually. Issues may be related to reimbursement rates and prior approvals. So, check whether your healthcare provider is in/out-network. The MA plans combine Parts A (hospitals), B (doctors), D (meds) with other supplementary coverages (eye, dental, gym). Almost 50% of Medicare-eligible people now use MA. Common enrollment periods are OEP Oct 15 – Dec 7, MA OEP Jan 1 – Mar 31; be sure to check the possible changes. (Also check plan’s formulary for any changes to your meds’ tiers)
LINK 
Comments
There are some (an admittedly small number) of providers who have opted out of Medicare entirely. In this sense, Medicare too has a network, it's just a very large network.
https://data.cms.gov/tools/provider-opt-out-affidavits-look-up-tool
Medicare PPOs cover all providers who have not opted out of Medicare. PPOs typically do not require referrals. The claim that MA restricts you to networks while Original Medicare does not is close to a canard. The only network that Medicare PPOs restrict you to is the Medicare network.
IMHO the key differences between MA and Original Medicare are: MA plans require preapprovals for some procedures; and costs differ. MA plans come with built in (max out of pocket) caps and often fixed dollar co-pays (as opposed to Medicare's uncapped 20% coinsurance). Though it does cost more to go out of network than stay in network with a PPO.
Medicare Supplemental plans that contain costs and cover coinsurance are not cheap. They often cost more than Medicare Part B itself. One doesn't need, and cannot buy, a Medicare Supplemental plan with a MA plan. However, a MA plan will tend to have higher out of pocket costs compared to Original Medicare plus Medigap.
Cost differences between MA and Original Medicare could explain why MA participants tend to be poorer than Original Medicare participants.
2024 MAPD plans in each Hawaii county (from Medicare.gov):
Hawaii: 6 plans, 4 are PPOs
Maui: 9 plans, 7 are PPOs
Kauai: 11 plans, 10 are PPOs
Honolulu: 17 plans, 13 are PPOs
Kalawao: 2 plans, both are PPOs
Sample plans (not saying these are especially good, just providing examples):
Humana Choice PPO H5216-233-1, $0 premium, $0 drug deductible is available in Honolulu county.
Humana Choice PPO H5216-233-2, $0 premium, $0 drug deductible is available in Maui and Kauai counties.
HMSA Akamai Advantage Standard PPO H3832-007-0, $0 premium, $400 drug deductible is available in Hawaii, Kalawao, Kauai, and Maui counties.
Most standalone Part D plans have substantial drug deductibles, often the $545 legal max.
Are you talking about a single-purchase maximum copay for the criminally expensive drugs?
Some that my Dr. prescribed come over, or close to $400/single purchase co-pay. So, what kind of extortion racket would you call that?
https://www.medicare.gov/drug-coverage-part-d/costs-for-medicare-drug-coverage/yearly-deductible-for-drug-plans
After you pay the deductible, then you are charged copay (fixed dollar amount) or coinsurance (percentage of the negotiated cost). This is called the "initial phase". Once you've paid $5030 for drugs (including the deductible) you enter the "gap coverage phase" aka the "donut hole".
https://www.medicare.gov/drug-coverage-part-d/costs-for-medicare-drug-coverage/copaymentcoinsurance-in-drug-plans
These are all 2024 figures. 2023 figures are a bit lower.
Here's an inexpensive (50¢/mo premium) Part D plan in Honolulu. It has a $545 deductible; after that it charges 50% for non-preferred brand name drugs. Assuming you've met your deductible, then for a non-preferred brand name drug that cost $800, you'd pay $400 and the insurer would pay the rest.
Wellcare Value Script S4802-164-0
Another plan might have a $100/mo copay for non-preferred brand name drugs. In such a plan, once you met the deductible, you'd pay $300 for a 90 day supply of the drug.
Is this extortion? That's an economic, a business, and a political question. If you have investments in pharmaceutical companies, you are getting some benefit from this system. Not nearly as much as it is costing you on the consumer side, but this is the system that was set up in 2003. A Political History of Medicare and Prescription Drug Coverage, 2004.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690175/
Only now, 20 years later, are we beginning to see changes. The $2K out of pocket cap doesn't become effective until 2025.
https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/how-will-the-prescription-drug-provisions-in-the-inflation-reduction-act-affect-medicare-beneficiaries/
Unfortunately, writers in the media often ignore the distinction between MA-HMO and MA-PPO (we have that) and only focus on the lower-cost MA-HMO with its associated restrictions. The Original Medicare doesn't have HMO vs PPO and the default is like PPO. This has also led to long discussions in various discussion boards.
is a worthy OEF in its category.
But...with an over 52% Tech allocation and a relatively paltry 14% YTD TR, we'll instead use FSELX (63% YTD), FBGRX (50%) and/or FSPTX (46%) for our hi-flying exposures.
@yogibearbull: Sorry if a bit off-topic. We're looking for an SP, equal-weighted index OEF. So far researching VADAX. Are there other OEFs like it to consider?
@yogibearbull: Sorry if a bit off-topic. We're looking for an SP, equal-weighted index OEF. So far researching VADAX. Are there other OEFs like it to consider?
Added :
My bad , I see info at top of thread. ot enough Joe I guess.
VADAX, Investor class, ER 0.53% (high), no-load/NTF at Fido and Schwab. May have front-load elsewhere.
VADDX, Institutional class, ER 0.28% (so-so), min only $1K. It seems that Invesco has restricted access and that may be why Fido and Schwab don't offer it on their platform.
VADFX, Retirement R6 class, ER 0.19% (lowest). Restricted to large plans.
AUM in all classes $6.1 billion.
But there is a huge ETF version RSP, ER 0.20%, AUM $41.2 billion. That seems like the best deal for retail investors as the general choice is VADAX or RSP.
Drum roll …..
Thanks for all the great info. We prefer OEFs but were also looking at RSP as the ETF option given the ER difference.
Encouraging for such as myself: 2 dedicated junk funds = 23.49% of total. I moved into one of them way too early, in '22. Still had a long way to fall. Climbing back up to sea level, ever so slowly, but steadily. Junk divvies are tasty. (2022 = worst year, ever, for the category.)
TUHYX PRCPX.