| I am writing this during some down time on Father’s Day. It will probably go out a day or two after Father’s Day, so happy late Father’s Day to you fathers out there reading this. If you’re not a father reading this, I hope you have fond thoughts about and memories with your own father. The Words of Wisdom story is long again, but… as usual… I think it’s worth it 😋 Here’s the Agenda
How Your Supplement Plan Rates Compare to OthersI did a YouTube Live where I went over the historic Supplement plan increases that are hitting here in 2025. |
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| After recording that, I thought to myself, “What if we all helped each other see what rate increases look like across the country?”
So… I created this Google Sheet: I have access to some general data (Tab #2 in that sheet), but to track down rate increases in every state and zip code – both as the annual increase, but also the happy birthday increase… is nearly impossible without help. If You Are On a Supplement Plan Now: Would you be willing to share your most current rate increase? There is a field for your zip code and age as well – but again, nothing tied to your name or any identifiable information. Plus, you can jump in there and see what everyone else is experiencing compared to you. If You Are On an Advantage Plan If You Are Not On Medicare Yet I’m Curious To See
I’ll be making a video for YouTube to send people to this spreadsheet as well. Hopefully we can get a few thousand entries to help us all see what’s really going on out there. |
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Book Recommendation |
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| Revenge of the Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
I am so glad that I came across this book. If you haven’t read anything by Malcolm Gladwell yet… you are missing out. He is one of my favorite authors because of his ability to take the observations of the world and turn it into a story that explains the seemingly unexplainable. This book covers why there was a bank-robbery epidemic in the 80’s, rampant Medicare fraud in Florida, what factors led to the opioid crisis, and other interesting stories. I don’t want to give away too much… and I don’t want to oversell things… but if you only read one of my book recommendations… give this one a try. Words of WisdomSome Old Photos Recently, it pulled up these pictures that I’d like to share with you and the story that goes with them. |
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If you were trying to figure out which one is me… I’m not in any of these pictures, because I was the one taking them. Where Is This? |
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| Stavropol is approximately where the red dot is located there in the lower, left-center of the map. The red outline is the general area where I spent those few years in Russia in various cities within that outline. Side note, one of my favorite cities was Volgograd (previously Stalingrad), which is where the movie – Enemy at The Gates – takes place. It was a major WWII battle city and the stories from that city will need to wait for another time. Notice that the Russia-Ukraine border is included in this outline. Setting the Scene In Stavropol, there is this beautiful area that has two places that will always be a part of my life story.
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| Story #1 – Lenin’s Square All of the pictures of those kids are happening around that green dot in Lenin’s Square. It was the evening of June 11th… 17 years ago. This place is MASSIVE, and is a popular spot for people to just stroll around. There’s a large government building on the left of that rectangle, a whole lot of concrete within that rectangle, a soccer stadium, and, across the street, a shopping mall touching the bottom right corner of the other green outline, and a massive angel statue. Here is a link to the street-level view of Lenin’s Square where you can take a 360 degree view of what I’m talking about and appreciate how huge it is while also being a popular spot for people to take a stroll: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZizwMXFSW3kED2K37 You’ll also be able to see the Angel monument that’s coming up in Story #2. Attracting a Crowd My friend and I showed up to Lenin’s Square to throw a football to each other. It wasn’t a full-sized football… it was the size just smaller than full size. Same size that kids in 6th – 9th grade use, because it cost less, was easier to ship, and was easier to throw. What this meant is that he and I could throw this thing… a long… long way. The people here had never seen a real-life, American football. My friend and I were only 15-20 yards apart, tossing the ball back and forth. As we were throwing to each other, these kids walking by would just stop and stare at us, mesmerized at this flying, foreign object, and us being able to catch it so easily. They’d hit each other on the arm and point at it going, “What is that?!” “Some kind of ball I think… but why is it shaped like that?” They’d stop girls walking by to show them these weird American guys throwing this crazy object. I caught a pass from my friend, pointed at the kid with the white jersey, and let him know I was throwing the ball to him. His eyes went wide and he put his arms up, waving them in the universal gesture of – NO! Please, don’t! I did anyway, lobbing it softly in his direction. He ran away from it so it wouldn’t hit him and it bounced safely away. He squeezed it with his hands – almost seeing if he could pop it – and looked over at his friend, confirming that it was, indeed, a sports ball. “Kind of feels like a soccer ball, but deformed!” He looked back at me and asked if it was okay to throw back to me. He tried throwing it and it slipped sideways out of his hand. The girls chuckled and his friend made fun of his complete lack of athletic ability. He got a bit frustrated, and told his friend to try it, he bet he’d do even worse. He was right handed, and he stepped with his right foot to throw. He did even worse than the first kid. The first kid is on the ground laughing. I walk over, pick up the ball, and tell them both, it’s all okay. I’d look the same if I tried to do anything with a soccer ball. I showed them the laces on the football, told them how to hold it, showed them which leg to step with, and had them try again. They each tried again. It was still bad… but better. Over the course of the next 20 minutes or so, we were all throwing the football to each other, girls included. |
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| What started as my friend and I throwing the football turned into 9 Russian kids joining us to play American football.
The group wanted my friend and I to have a throwing contest to see who could throw it the farthest. More people stopped to watch – this time, it wasn’t just young kids, but adults, seniors, toddlers… looking back, people were probably a bit worried and wondering, “what was happening?! Were they going to hit us with that ball?!” We backed up to 60 yards. Made it, but it was a bit tougher. He’s not here to defend himself, and it doesn’t really matter (doesn’t it???), but I got him in that throwing contest that day. Our arms were tired, and we started walking towards each other, and on our way to each other, all these other strangers started shouting, egging us on to keep going and try to throw it farther… and this leads me to Story #2. Story #2 – The Angel Statue |
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| We’re going to move across the street to the Angel statue. Here is a 360 view of that: Angel Statue Street View It looks a bit different now than it did 17 years ago. Right now, that open, concrete area left of the green outline and the big building in the upper left corner look nice. If you’re looking at the 360 view, the open area where that teacup looking kiosk and the red building with white accents that says “EBPO OTELb” (Euro Hotel) – these were not there when I was there. They were being constructed, and there were big fences that ran about where my green outline is in the still picture to keep people safe from the construction sites. On another day, my same friend and I were throwing the football around this angel monument. We’d try throwing the ball to each other by throwing it over the top of the monument, which… looking back at it now, would probably be seen as disrespectful, but at the time, seemed like a fun thing to do. Just like the previous story, young kids around our age would wander by, stop and stare at what we were doing, and I’d toss them the ball. I knew that more people were watching, but it wasn’t until what happened next that I was hit with a moment I will never forget. On this occasion, my friend and I wanted to challenge ourselves, so I went to the bottom right of the green outline, and he was running from the right side, around the back of the angel statue, and I was going to throw the ball and lead him to a catch on the upper left part of that green outline. I did the customary, “hut, hut!” And he took off running. Everyone around us was slightly confused by what I said and where he was running, but they were entranced by these two American boys participating in some sort of organized ritual, tracking each other with their eyes. From my point of view, as my friend disappeared behind the statue’s base, I launched the football out to where I thought he would eventually be. It was one of those moments that seemed to go in slow motion. My eyes glanced down to track my friend, calculating whether or not he’d reach where I had led him. It was going to be close… I remember the look of determination in his face as his eyes were locked onto that ball and running hard to try and catch up to where it would ultimately land. As gravity continued its pull, lassoing the ball back down to earth, my friend extended his hands for the final few strides, stretching his arms as far as he could towards the ball, taking one, last, long stride to get to where he could reach it for the catch… But… I’d thrown it too far… by an inch. He would later tell me he could feel the air of the ball rush by his fingertips. The ball landed on the concrete, and the first comprehension of sound returned to my awareness when the ball landed with a thud and bounced about 15 feet into the air. Remember how I told you there were big fences where that concrete area and building are now? Well, our ball bounced over that fence, and disappeared into that construction zone. It was just like the movies, where all of the rest of the sounds and noises around us came rushing in, but it wasn’t just ambient noise. This entire area surrounding the statue absolutely lit up with a combination of cheers, groans, and claps. There were the kids near us that had been there a while, but what I hadn’t noticed until this moment was that a huge crowd of people had wandered over to watch us throw. If you go back to that 360 view, there is a balcony over one of the stores to the left (Gloria Jeans) that had people watching. There is an office building with windows that were open and had people leaning out of them. This entire area is an outdoor, public place with benches and concrete sitting areas filled with passersby who had taken a seat to watch, and what was even more wild, was there was a wall of people that had formed a sort of half circle about where the bottom curve of that green outline is in my picture above. An entire crowd of people collectively made the groans/claps/cheers/gasps when the ball bounced over that fence, but because of the number of people that seemed to have magically appeared out of nowhere, it was this roar of a noise. Even though my friend wasn’t fast enough to catch my perfectly placed throw… and we dropped it, the cheering was loud enough to make me feel that this must be what it’s like to throw a touchdown in the Super Bowl. It was awesome. One of the teenagers knew a way into the construction zone and told us not to worry, he’d get our ball. That same crowd cheered him on upon his return, for his bravery in retrieving the strange American ball. He was beaming from ear to ear. What’s the Point? Here are a couple of things I learned that day. Lesson #1 – Somebody is Always Watching. My dad told me this a lot when I was younger because I was publicly involved in a lot of sports in my area. His lesson was, be the example and type of person you hope to convey, always… because you never know when someone is watching you. I knew some people were watching us throw the football that day, but I had no idea how many until that ball bounced over the fence, and heard the collective noise from this group. When I started on YouTube, I didn’t think anyone would watch my videos. Many come to watch and learn. Some watch to get ideas of their own. Others watch to critique or criticize. But the information and how I portray myself is seen by a lot of people – for good, or for bad. And… whether you want to admit it or not… someone is watching how you behave as well. It may be your spouse, your child, your grandchildren, your neighbor, or your friend. It may be the stranger at the grocery store that notices how you picked up and put back the jar of peanut butter that had fallen out of place and was lying in the aisle, or someone in the booth next to you at your favorite restaurant that sees how you treated your waiter. We live in a world where we observe what’s around us and, with the advent of cameras eternally linked to our hand… we can record and be recorded nearly anywhere. These football pictures and the memory connected with them reminded me that someone is always watching, and I hope that my outward, public persona is the same as the man I wake up to and hope to be when I look at in the mirror each morning. Lesson #2 – We Are So Much More Alike, Than We Are Different. Think about the people involved in these stories! Does America have a more contentious relationship with any country more so than Russia at this moment in time? Americans have given Russians certain stereotypes. At the same time, with many stereotypes, there is some truth to them. For example, based on my experience and the locations I lived, Russians (in general) are slower to trust others. First, think about their history.
Neighbors were spying on neighbors. Family members were turning in family members. Russia’s housing infrastructure consists of a lot of 9 to 12-story apartment complexes with a bunch of stair cases. Each staircase typically had 4 apartments per floor, giving you 36 – 48 apartments per staircase and a bunch of these stacked side by side. |
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| In this picture, you can see there are 6 different staircases – there’s another word that more accurately describes this than “staircases,” I just can’t think of the word in English at the moment. The Russian word translate to “entrance” because there are doors to each staircase that had codes you’d need to know to get in or doorbells to each apartment if you knew someone there who could open the door for you. I just tried Googling, “word for separate staircases in apartment complex” and it came back with stairwell. Hopefully, you get the idea. Back to the point of Russians being slower to trust… There were people who had lived in the same apartment for 30 years… with the same neighbors… on the same floor… and neither one of them knew the other’s name. Please do not misunderstand me here… this is not ALL Russians who don’t know their neighbors, nor is it the majority, but there were many occasions where we ran into this dynamic. Second, I was some American kid wandering their streets doing – what must’ve appeared to them – weird things. However… Once trust was established, the Russian people would literally give you the last piece of bread to their name to make you feel welcome. I love and miss many of my dear friends to this day, and these football stories gave me a unique window into their minds. They… Russians… people who are supposed to be nothing like us… were just like me. They were curious about the world around them. They saw a flying object they didn’t recognize, and wanted to investigate it further. With the Angel Statue experience, young, old, male, female, couples, and lonely people all showed up to be entertained and see something neat or exciting that wasn’t the same, mundane experience that we can all find ourselves stuck in. When something surprising happened, like the ball bouncing over the fence, they couldn’t hold back their shock, their excitement, and their emotions. Once we got the ball back, we tossed it around to more kids and adults who were willing to give it a try, and we spoke to probably 100 people as they came up to us and said things like:
I learned so much more about us as humans in that moment than I had at any other moment in my life up to that point. Russia & Ukraine I said this all the way back at the beginning. That area of the world is on the border of Russia and Ukraine. I have many wonderful friends who are Russian. I’m not about to dive into a political rant on this topic. I am deeply saddened by the lives lost on both sides and I don’t know that I’ll ever get the chance to safely go back to where I learned this life lesson and countless others in my years there. Now is the big reveal to all of this… I had a conversation with a friend this week, and he brought up some things about the “Big Beautiful Bill.” We have been friends for a long time, and he pointed out all of the things he felt were stupid and tied to Trump. He asked my thoughts. For example, in my world of Medicare… there are some proposed changes to HSA rules that I think are very beneficial to seniors and people who are eligible for HSAs. His response was, “Oh, so you’re a Trump supporter then?” Now… luckily, he is a dear friend, and I was able to snap him out of the knee-jerk reaction he was having with this conversation. But, it illustrated something that worries me. It has been this way a long time, but it feels as though it is getting worse… We have to be able to acknowledge that it is possible for me to agree with one thing, but not agree with ALL things – whether that be a company, a political party, my wife and kids, or you reading this. If I disagree with your food preference for lunch today, or vehicle preference for a road trip, or hair preference in the winter, or opinion on a singular political topic… I think it is dangerous for us to fall into the trap of heuristics. The world is more complex than that. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… the news is masterfully designed to prey on these mental shortcuts and press on them over and over and over again to make you angry. Do. Not. Fall. For. It. Remember, someone is always watching… but you are also that someone… observing others. Go to a relatively busy place, sit down, and watch the world around you. Realize that they, too… are someone’s father or mother. I appreciate you so very much. Thank you for being a part of this Retirement Nerds community. I hope you have a wonderful month, and I’ll see you in the next newsletter 🙂 Erik PS – Here was a strange site to see when we were inside that soccer stadium. |
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