When the euphoria of being retired finally lifted, I took the time to reassess some of the recurring costs our household costs. Things like TELEPHONE/COMMS, PAY TV, PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE – may be you have others you could also consider.
I decided that we were too entrenched with our telco to reposition but, as with banks, insurance companies and the like, telcos offer new programs all the time largely to entice new customers but do not necessarily promote them to existing customers who are content to pay a premium.
In our case, I was able to bundle our services with an infinitely more robust internet component, upgrade our phone landline handsets and secure more flexible mobile services all for approximately $100 per month less than we’d been paying for the preceding x years!
Around the same time, we happened to receive an offer from our Pay TV provider (for “Seniors” only) for the 20 most watched channels by our age demographic across all channel segments at a significant discount from our then current outlay – naturally the channels offered aligned very closely with our viewing habits and so the decision to make the change was a “no-brainer” – saving us another $60 per month.
The odds for a trifecta looked good, so I went for it!
My next target was our private health insurance which for now just two of us (albeit it “top” combined hospital and other benefits) was then costing us more than $350 per month – a significant cost indeed. With the help of several purpose-built comparative websites, we together pawed over the fine print of every fund on offer and discovered a highly reputable boutique fund offering comparable, and in many instances, better benefits and at a lower monthly premium. Despite our 30 year loyalty to our existing fund they were unable to match the terms offered by the newfound contender, and our transition to the new fund was again a “no-brainer”, saving us almost $50 per month.
With just two days of intensive research at the computer and some strategic telephone calls we immediately saved our ongoing monthly budget a whopping $200 per month or $2,400 per annum.
This was a worthwhile 2 days gainfully employed as a retiree!! Quality time, well-spent! make sure your retirement lifestyle is well funded.
...and remember...have a fabulous retirementLIFE!
