PF Under 30

Paying off debt and finding my financial lifestyle

Archive for category Insurance

2009 Resolutions Results – I’m worth a Mil!

Jan 29

Posted by kiki in CC Debt Progress, Insurance | No Comments

In late breaking news, I got notice the other day that my application for additional life insurance thru work was approved. So now, I’m officially worth a million (if I croak, of course), and can cross off #4 on my 2009 New Years Resolutions. (A little late I know, but it’s not too far from New Years Eve!)

Here’s how I did last year:

  1. Pay off car ($3,978) DONE!
  2. Pay off Citibank and close ($8,880) DONE!
  3. Pay off Advanta and close ($10,358) FAIL – Still working on – $4100 left
  4. Close Costco Amex Business in February DONE!
  5. 800 Credit Score with all 3 Bureaus FAIL – This one may never happen
  6. $1 million in life insurance DONE!
  7. New house in the Spring DONE!
  8. Start using an accountant for all personal/business tax needs FAIL
  9. Update my trust to current assets/wishes FAIL
  10. Scan all financial info paperless filing system (put into Evernote)FAIL (About 3/4 complete)

Looks like I got a 50% for the year. Not too great if you’re grading me, but the weighted average would look much better, as paying off debts, getting adequate life insurance, and buying a home are much more important than my credit score. An accountant is a “nice to have” but not critical.  The biggest failure is not updating the trust, which could be a huge issue if something were to happen to me (read International crotch bomber incident here).

But paying of $19,116 is nothing to slouch at – especially since I was unemployed for 6 months. There’s no way we would be where we are today if it wasn’t for the extreme amount of debt that we’ve ridden in our lives the past few years.

2010 Goals havent’ been posted yet, but basically include the final chapter of debt in our lives. We’re going to get rid of the remaining debts left, put $30,000 in the bank for an Emergency Fund, and be in the position to start funding our retirement with 15% of our gross income by the end of the year.

Teamwork is an amazing thing!

My Voluntary Deductions

Nov 2

Posted by kiki in 401(K), Insurance | No Comments

Since I just got a new job that has a company HSA (Jumping for Joy!), I thought I would take the time to show you how cool they are, and how much it’s made a difference to my bottom line.

Here it goes:

  Deductions
per year		 You Pay
per deduction		 Employer Pays
per deduction
Medical
Anthem Blue Cross And Blue Shield: Lumenos High Deductible HSA Opt5
Coverage: Yourself and Your Spouse.
Coverage effective beginning 11/01/2009
Family members covered: The BF		 24x $70.36
($1,688.76 per year)		 $211.10
($5,066.40 per year)
Dental
Guardian Life Ins Co Of America: Guardian Dental
Coverage: Yourself and Your Spouse.
Coverage effective beginning 11/01/2009
Family members covered: The BF		 24x $10.00
($240.00 per year)		 $10.74
($257.76 per year)
Life
The Hartford: Supplemental Life and AD&D
Coverage: $150,000.00 (+ $350,000.00 contingent on insurance company’s approval).
Coverage effective beginning 11/01/2009
Beneficiaries: My Living Trust (Primary, 100.00%).  
24x $25.00
($600.00 per year)		 $0.00
($0.00 per year)
Spouse Life
The Hartford: Spouse Life
Coverage: $75,000.00 (+ $175,000.00 contingent on insurance company’s approval).
Coverage effective beginning 11/01/2009
Family members covered: The BF		 24x $8.75
($210.00 per year)		 $0.00
($0.00 per year)
STD
The Hartford: Short Term Disability
Coverage: 60.0% of salary to a maximum of $1,000.00 per week.
Coverage effective beginning 11/01/2009		 24x $0.00
($0.00 per year)		 $8.31
($199.44 per year)

Yeah, Medical and Dental for the 2 of us is $160/month. What we had before was $329 a month with no dental and the equivalent of a $10,000 deductable for two. Now its a $4000 deductable for two. And they give us $2400 per year into our HSA account.

Assuming we get approved for the increased amount, Life Insurance is an additional $68 per month, which includes $500K more for me and $250K more for the BF. This will meet my 2009 goal of 1M in Life Insurance and move his up to $750K. Neither of us are up for a physical this year, and the fact that he could get life insurance at my younger age bracket sort of made it a no brainer.

I will also be having a 4% 401K contribution with a 100% match by my employer. This will increase once I reach baby step #4, but until then, I’m only doing enough to get the maximum match.

That’s it for me…. definately lots of deductions, but all worthwhile given the great HSA benefits and the fact that I can cover the BF as a “domestic partner.” We’ve never felt so lucky to be “domestic partners.”

New Health Insurance- Better Coverage, Less Money

Aug 5

Posted by kiki in Insurance | No Comments

I hate to liken Heath Insurance to shopping around for cheaper car insurance (a la Geico) but there is something to be said for capitalism and putting the customer first.

I have an Individual HSA with Golden Rule. Got it last year from my Dave Ramsey course and I’ve never looked back. I love the concept of an HSA, and it’s been working very well for me, minus the Golden Rule part of it.

When I signed up I did an online payment for my second quarter’s health insurance. My bank issued a check, and promptly mailed it to them. They never got it, and ended up canceling my account. (Despite me calling in ahead of time saying “I sent this to you, I don’t show you cashed it in yet.”) They kept telling me “I’m sure we have it somewhere.”

Anyway, the process for re-instatement took approx 3-4 months, along with additional info from my doctors, and denial of applications from other insurance companies, because I was currently “uninsured.” When they did finally re-instate me, they put a rider on my coverage stating they wouldn’t cover anything related to my previous back injury.

Now, things have changed. They sent me a notice a few months ago raising my rates from $73/month to $93/month. Then, after I updated my address after I moved, I got a notice saying they upped it from $93 to $105 due to “higher rates in my area.” They have no online web access to my claims, and have been less than helpful every time I had to call in.

As of yesterday I’ve been approved to go to Aetna’s Individual HSA for $79 – no riders for my back, and online access to my health history. The BF is on an Aetna Individual HSA too, simplifying things a lot around our house. Better yet, they’ve got better coverage for Chiropractic care, and annual OBGYN exams. All in all, I think I’m going to be much happier in their hands.

My point is that all in all, we have a pretty great health insurance system around here (minus pre-existing condition stuff above) as long as you remember that you have choices in healthcare just as you have choices in restaurants, grocery stores, and gas stations. I chose not to go with my employer sponsored plan when I had the option (albeit cheaper), because even my GoldenRule HSA was a better plan. Yeah, I had to pay more out of pocket for my expenses, but the gov made it much easier when it gave you the option of rolling over an IRA into an HSA. Now, I still have a nice little account from which to pull money from whenever I have medical expenses. Thanks to the Unemployment rule, that same account is paying my health insurance premiums while I’m unemployed. And if anything catastrophic happens to my health this year, worst case scenario, the max I’ll have to come up with is $5000. My insurance will pay the rest, 100%.

God bless america. There will always be good companies and bad companies, but as long as the rules are set so that consumers can walk if they don’t like the service (or price) at one, then capitalism will help weed out the bad guys and leave only the good ones. If you don’t like your doctor, go find one that you do. Insurance companies are the same way.

I just saved $101 more on Auto Insurance

Sep 29

Posted by kiki in Insurance | No Comments

Yup. It’s policy renewal time. And I just read an article on 14 Useless Insurance Policies ala Dave Ramsey.

The ones that hit me most were:

  1. Deductibles. If you’re set to anything less than $1,000 (mine was $500), that was considered a waste of money. Since I now have an Emergency Fund of $1000 - I already knew I could swing it if an accident happened.
  2. Medical Payments – the article said this was Primary to your Heath Insurance. Why would I want to buy double coverage? Well, in some states there’s a minimum. Not mine, but I moved it from $10,000 to $5000 just incase. (It takes care of medical payments for those in my car too.)\
  3. Rental Coverage – dropped that from max $30/day to max $15/day. (Since I’m such the deal finder w/ online coupons for car rentals anyway!) I could have just eliminated it, but in the event of a real accident, my Emergency Fund will be wiped out by the $1000 deductible.
  4. I also got rid of some extra misc benefits too. $45/week for somebody to clean my house if I can’t do it myself? huh? That’s what friends are for!

Anyway, the 6 month policy premium is about $101 cheaper. That’s  $17/month I can use for something else. Are you past Baby Step #1? If so, look and see if there’s anything you can cut out of your auto policy to save yourself some Ca$h for Baby Step #2!

I’m In!! USAA stole me love!

Nov 7

Posted by kiki in Auto Loans, Big Purchases, Credit Scores, Insurance, Mortgage, USAA | 3 Comments

As of yesterday I am officially a full fledged member of USAA. How you may ask? Well… my Grandfater was a Captain in the military and he had an account. My father has an account as a result of being one of my grandfather’s children, and I now have an account because I am his daughter. Can we say SWEET?!?!?

USAA has some of the best banking and insurance products on the market. Their Bill Pay Service is phenominal. You can deposit checks online, they refund ATM fees, and have free checks for life. They win awards for their phenomenal customer service year after year.

Anyway, as of yesterday I transferred my auto and home policies to them… saving me around $300 a year and putting all my accounts in one place. They couldn’t beat my life insurance premium with Prudential though, so I guess that one won’t go over.

I will probably be refinancing my mortgage with them as well – into a fixed 30 year product – and again – all at the same institution. My new vechicle will probably be financed with them as well, as soon as I figure out what I want to replace the ML500.

Credit Minitoring will probably go to them as well, as they have a $6 a month plan for unlimited Experian credit monitoring. Stay tuned as I learn all the intracacies of USAA!