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informed decisions Podcast
The Retirement Risk Irish Plans Never Model: Your Health
November 9, 2026
What is a white swan event in retirement planning?
A white swan event is a risk you can see coming that can still cause financial disaster, a term Dr Jordan Grumet uses for healthcare costs. Unlike a black swan, it is foreseeable, so it can be built into a retirement plan in advance.
We spend thirty years building the pot. We model the returns and the tax, and most of us never model the one variable sitting underneath all of it: our health, and healthcare costs in retirement. This week Paddy is joined again by Dr Jordan Grumet, hospice doctor and author of The Healthcare Heist, to talk about regret, and about what happens to a retirement plan when health doesn't go to plan.
In this episode:
• What hospice patients say about money, and why regret is a gift only while you're young enough to act on it
• Why healthcare, not money, stops so many Americans from retiring early, and what Jordan's own family pays
• How Ireland's two-tier system compares, and why the baseline our taxes pay for is worth protecting
• Health as a "white swan event": the risk you can see coming that can still upend a financial plan
Jordan's book is about the American system, which is not ours. But an awful lot of it travels, and it's worth a listen if you're in your fifties and planning what comes next.
Find Jordan's books and podcast at https://jordangrumet.com
Paddy's Pension Pieces, the short versions of topics like this, are on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLryUp4V7EQw
🎙️ Full podcast episode and 📖www.informeddecisions.ie/post/healthcare-costs-retirement-ireland-jordan-grumet
📊 Want to check where you are? Try our free 10-minute Retirement Readiness Scorecard: https://www.informeddecisions.ie/pension-calculator
📅 Find out how we work: https://www.informeddecisions.ie/our-process
Why is healthcare a bigger retirement issue in the US than in Ireland?
In the US, most people only get Medicare at 65, so anyone retiring earlier has to fund their own cover. Dr Jordan Grumet's family pays $36,000 a year in premiums alone. In Ireland, a public baseline of care is funded through taxes.
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The content of this site including blogs and podcasts is for information purposes only. Everybody’s financial situation is different and the content we share on our site and through podcasts may not be applicable to you.
The articles, blogs and podcasts are not investment advice. They do not take account of your individual circumstances, including your knowledge and experience and attitude to risk. Informed Decisions can’t be held responsible for the consequences if you pursue a course of action based on the information we share
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