May 2025 – My Problem with Chocolate

Young Erik liked the rain storms for the sounds and smells.
Older Erik likes rain storms because it means I don’t have to spend as much watering my lawn.

I’m turning into my dad.

This newsletter isn’t as crazy long as last month’s!
So, you should be able to skim through and find some useful nuggets without having to invest an entire afternoon to get through it. 🙂

Here’s the Agenda

1. All the Nitty Gritty Details Around How I Make Money
2. Some Humbling Medicare Supplement numbers
3. A Book Recommendation that is Out of this World
4. Why Chocolate is my Nemesis

How I Make Money

There is a member’s section on YouTube where I posted this video, but I wanted to share it with you as well, because I think it’s important to understand how people in this space make money.

Everybody has incentives, so… if you know mine, you can make more informed choices about whether or not I’m the type of person you want to hear from with these monthly newsletters 🙂

Click The Picture or Here to Watch

I’m always open to your thoughts and stories. More specifically, actual cost comparison videos prove incredibly helpful for viewers.

So, if you’ve had any hospital or medical procedures with the actual bills and coverage through your plan I could show to the viewers (removing any personal information of course) that would be amazing.

Medicare Supplement Cost Problems

In many parts of the country, Medicare supplement plans are getting rocked with some aggressive rate increases.

I’m making a video about it after I finish writing this, but states like California, Illinois, and Nevada, to name a few, have several insurance companies releasing 30%, 40%, and I even saw a 51% increase to certain supplement plans.

This is concerning for many who already struggle with the cost of supplement plans.

For residents of California and Nevada, you are in a birthday rule state, so you can more easily switch from one insurance company to another.

Illinois, you are technically a birthday rule state, but you don’t have nearly as much flexibility as California and Nevada.

If you are seeing big increases, and you live in a state that has a birthday rule, anniversary rule (Missouri), or is open enrollment (New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts), make sure you are working with your broker to ensure you aren’t paying too much for your plan.

If you do not live in a state where it is easier to switch, you would need to pass medical underwriting in order to switch supplement plans. If your health is good, great!
Work with your agent to make a switch to a lower-cost plan.

If your health is not great, you are a bit more limited with either sticking with the higher premiums, going to an Advantage plan, or going with Original Medicare only.

Staying with Original Medicare only is rarely a recommendation I have for anyone. Something I cover in my whiteboard comparison of Original Medicare only, Plan G, Plan N, High Deductible Plan G, and an Advantage plan here:
Cost Comparisons

Medical costs and insurance company loss ratio are super high, and this trend tends to be cyclical. Hopefully, after 2025, the insurance companies will be more stabilized to go back to the days of 0-7% increases.

We’ll keep on top of this and I hope your plans are not the ones affected by the larger increases we’re seeing out there.

Two other videos I’ll have releasing soon relate to the Medicare headlines around illegal incentives from insurance companies to call centers, the United Health Group lawsuit, and what concerns me in the Social Security “Influencer” space.

Stay tuned.

This book is awesome.

I’m kind of a sci-fi geek at heart, but even more applicable, I’m super intrigued by space itself. It’s just so HUGE!
And… what would we even do if we learned there was other intelligent life out there?

This book got me thinking about the world, the universe, and our little place in it all from a unique perspective.

It’s a pretty popular book, so you may have already read it, but if you haven’t, it’s a must-read.
Same author as The Martian that was made into a movie starring Matt Damon.

They are turning this into a movie as well with Ryan Gosling that should release next year, so even if you have read it already, read it again to be ready for the movie 🙂

Get it Here

Words of Wisdom

My Problem With Chocolate
Sure… it tastes good. I’m not arguing that.

ESPECIALLY chocolate outside the US.

Have you ever had chocolate in Europe?
It’s… velvety. That’s the best way I can describe it.
Here in the US, it seems more waxy.

But, here is where you have to keep on your toes with chocolate.

So there I was… enjoying Jared’s baseball game in our lawn chairs.

Prior to the game, I had purchased a box of chocolate chip cookies for myself and for my girls (mostly for myself).

I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of person that bends the cookie in half or in smaller pieces to snack on cookie chunks rather than just biting into the cookie.
This technique helps me avoid cookie-bits latching onto the sides of my mouth.
It’s cleaner that way.

Or so I thought.

The game is in full swing and Jared does something awesome, so I need to get up and go congratulate him at the dugout.

Before I get to the climax of this story, you need to know one other thing.

I had just purchased this brand new, perfectly fitting pair of light brown pants.
I love these things.

I’m an awkward build because I’m 6’4” with long legs.
Finding pants that are long enough and fit well enough is a challenge for me.

But these… THESE pants were the ones.
The color, the feel, the brand. All of it.

And, this was my very first time wearing these beauties.

Caitlin says they make my butt look good so… I’m basically planning on wearing these every single day for the rest of my life.

OK. Back to the story.

I come back and Caitlin is staring at my butt, making me feel super sexy – and she says, “hey… um… it looks like you had an accident…”

I pivot on one leg and twist around to check out my own rear end – super smooth of course – and look in horror as the back side of my upper right thigh (of my new favorite pants that I’ve worn for a total of 2 hours) is smeared with chocolate.

Not feeling sexy anymore.
I’m feeling quite embarrassed.

Apparently, a chocolate chip shard had slipped off the cookie while I was enjoying the morsel and, distracted by my son’s baseball skills, I didn’t notice it fall into my chair, under my upper right leg, and my shifting in my seat over time had rubbed that chocolate everywhere.

The problem is, ladies and gentlemen, chocolate smears on light brown pants could EASILY be mistaken for me – a grown, adult man – having a tragic and graphic accident in his pants.

Luckily for me, it was cold outside and we had brought a blanket for each of us to stay warm.
So, I wrapped a blanket around myself and wore that the rest of the game and all the way back to the car. Kind of like a cape but without all the super power perks.

Unluckily for me, I had already walked by our entire team’s bleachers with all the parents and young children when I went to talk to Jared, unknowingly smeared with chocolate, and the damage was already done.

It gets worse.

Once I get home, the pants go straight into the washer, all the while I’m praying to every higher power I’ve ever heard of, hoping the chocolate stains come out of Caitlin’s favorite sexy pants.

Tragically, they did not.

Chocolate is the worst.

And my favorite pants lasted me a whole 2 hours.

I’d like to say this is an isolated incident.
Something that “never happens to me.”
But, that would be a lie.

It’s usually any white shirts that turn into looking like a murder scene minutes into wearing them and attempting to eat spaghetti or anything with ketchup.
The life expectancy of an Erik white shirt is right around that 2-hour mark.

This skill seems to have been passed down to my children.

Yesterday, on our drive to my in-laws, Noel had a chocolate chip Chewy bar.
Once we arrived at our destination, it was clear that she had fallen into the same trap I had, as her bright pink shorts had chocolate smeared all over her back side.

Luckily for her, grandma’s washer and her shorts fabric made it so hers are not irreparably damaged. If only my pants had the same fortune – may they RIP

Warning to all.

Be careful eating chocolate and give heed to the clothes you wear while eating said chocolate

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