I actually have a plan through pet plan. Mainly because their legalese and coverage limitations are understandable. VPI seemed like a huge racket. Especially since I actually interviewed for a job there and even as a potential employee, they ducked some of my specific questions about how their risk allocations.
I actually lost a pet in January -- I walked into the vet's office in the morning with a cat. At lunch, I walked out $1500 lighter and no cat. After that experience, I had pet plan run me through the bill to see what they would have covered.
Minus the deductible, they would have covered all the charges up to my chosen benefit limit (mine is $8K, the other two options are something like $14K and $22K) minus the copayment I selected (I chose a 90% reimbursement) and my deductible. So I would have received about $1000 back. Still wouldn't have a cat. But it sure wouldn't have hurt financially as much as it did emotionally.
Debbie M is right--Google for your favorite dishes and use those recipes as a starting point. I almost always make it simpler one way or another. Also, I am learning that meal planning is close to top in making cheaper, faster, better meals. It beats buying all that clearance stuff that I never end up using before its expired.
Ear plugs definitely help me. I guess I'm a light sleeper and with the windows open during the summer, the outside noise -- cars, helicopter, drunken phone call -- disturbs me.
Reading helps too, but of course not one of those can't put it down ones that make me stay up all night.
One good way to do it cheap: Rice and Beans, (Plenty of SEA salt!) cumin, garlic, onion, mushrooms. Cheap and easy, experiment with veggies, leftover chicken or on tortillas. Also:Boiled potatoes with butter, Paprika, pepper, garlic powder. Add something green, great cheap veggie meal.
I've lived in rural Nebraska for 4 years now. Before that I lived in Chicago. In my 40 years I have never had central air conditioning. My husband and I are not fans of air conditioning. However during muggy and sunny heat waves I run the air conditioner for 2-3 hours max during the day and keep the curtains and windows shut until the sun shifts. It is possible to live without a/c. We will be moving to Arizona soon, Phoenix and our goal is to run the air conditioner as little as possible. I'm am looking forward to getting away for the humidity.
That was a tried and true favorite of mine, too, except that although booze helps you fall asleep, you don't get high-quality sleep. It also depends on how much you drink - I have this tipping point (three glasses of wine) after which I can't sleep at all.
There's "romantic", and then there's blinding. ;) I actually don't have any problem sleeping in a room that has a light on - I kind of prefer it to complete darkness.
Everyone says that you shouldn't read in bed, but I find that that is the fastest way to set me to sleep. And I don't tend to dream about whatever I am reading, oddly enough.
I do not have a financial advisor. Although I work for CFPs, I'm just working on paying off debt and building savings at this point in my life. Once I get past that, I may look into getting professional advice.
No, I don't have a financial advisor. I have thought about it and met with a few over the years, but I have never found one that I thought would be worth the fees it costs.
It's a complicated answer ... at my husband's insistence, we went to see his friend's girlfriend, who was an advisor with a large firm. He needed to roll over his 401K from a previous job into an IRA, and beyond that she also tried to sell us on life insurance for my husband ($700+/mo. due to his size and job - the restaurant industry is very risky, apparently) and additional life and disability for myself; the life insurance policies was one of those that was supposed to also be an investment so you could draw on it later in life. She also advised me to put 10-20% of my income into my 403B.
My husband, thinking that she must know best because she's an advisor and I'm not, tried to push me into it, but I hedged because I wanted to do my own research - and I'm glad I did. We don't own a home, have an outstanding pile of debt and no kids, and I already make a decent salary (enough to comfortably support myself if my husband passes), so it just didn't make fiscal sense to spend $700+/mo on life insurance, when we could take that same $700+/mo and put it in an interest-bearing money market account which we could readily access in time of emergency. I already put 20% of my income into my 403B, so that advice was useless, and I upgraded my life insurance and disability policy at work for a couple extra $$/mo instead of buying her inflated policies. So she didn't help me with our finances at all. But my husband still needed to roll over his 401K.
So my husband has an advisor for one IRA account. We (together) do not, although her company still tries to get us to do "upgrades" and policies and stuff like that on a regular basis.
We have an adviser. He is much, much more knowledgeable than we are in this arena so we are happy to pay him. He has helped up to grow our money so we are thankful for his advice.
i don't have a financial adviser. i am a 24 and i have my first career oriented job. i am always trying to learn about ways to manage my money better and to invest better, but sometimes i wonder if having a point of contact would help.
That's funny - I recently decided the opposite! I've resolved that all of our linens and undergarments need to be white so that they can be bleached (either with actual bleach or by sun drying). We have a lot of animals and two kids that wet the bed. I feel like I'm cleaning up pee all day long, and straight washing doesn't feel disinfected enough. It's probably not the most economical - but neither is having to re-wash a batch of clothes because they still smell like urine :(
No...we don't have a financial advisor. We've got a will and life insurance as well as some retirement funds that we've had some financial-knowing friends help us acquire but we don't have anyone right now that is a go-to person. I guess I don't feel we have any money to manage until we've paid off all of our debt (it all belongs to our creditors right now!).
I don't have a financial advisor, but I get Suze Orman's Money Navigator newsletter (free year subscription) and upgraded my LearnVest account (at a 75% discount) for access to the Ask an Expert feature where I am able to email a CFP with questions about our specific situation.
I actually have a plan through pet plan. Mainly because their legalese and coverage limitations are understandable. VPI seemed like a huge racket. Especially since I actually interviewed for a job there and even as a potential employee, they ducked some of my specific questions about how their risk allocations.
I actually lost a pet in January -- I walked into the vet's office in the morning with a cat. At lunch, I walked out $1500 lighter and no cat. After that experience, I had pet plan run me through the bill to see what they would have covered.
Minus the deductible, they would have covered all the charges up to my chosen benefit limit (mine is $8K, the other two options are something like $14K and $22K) minus the copayment I selected (I chose a 90% reimbursement) and my deductible. So I would have received about $1000 back. Still wouldn't have a cat. But it sure wouldn't have hurt financially as much as it did emotionally.
I don't have a financial advisor. I try to educate myself about money, because after all, who cares more about my own money than me?
Debbie M is right--Google for your favorite dishes and use those recipes as a starting point. I almost always make it simpler one way or another. Also, I am learning that meal planning is close to top in making cheaper, faster, better meals. It beats buying all that clearance stuff that I never end up using before its expired.
Ear plugs definitely help me. I guess I'm a light sleeper and with the windows open during the summer, the outside noise -- cars, helicopter, drunken phone call -- disturbs me.
Reading helps too, but of course not one of those can't put it down ones that make me stay up all night.
One good way to do it cheap: Rice and Beans, (Plenty of SEA salt!) cumin, garlic, onion, mushrooms. Cheap and easy, experiment with veggies, leftover chicken or on tortillas. Also:Boiled potatoes with butter, Paprika, pepper, garlic powder. Add something green, great cheap veggie meal.
I've lived in rural Nebraska for 4 years now. Before that I lived in Chicago. In my 40 years I have never had central air conditioning. My husband and I are not fans of air conditioning. However during muggy and sunny heat waves I run the air conditioner for 2-3 hours max during the day and keep the curtains and windows shut until the sun shifts. It is possible to live without a/c. We will be moving to Arizona soon, Phoenix and our goal is to run the air conditioner as little as possible. I'm am looking forward to getting away for the humidity.
I do not have a financial advisor but I wish I did.
That was a tried and true favorite of mine, too, except that although booze helps you fall asleep, you don't get high-quality sleep. It also depends on how much you drink - I have this tipping point (three glasses of wine) after which I can't sleep at all.
There's "romantic", and then there's blinding. ;) I actually don't have any problem sleeping in a room that has a light on - I kind of prefer it to complete darkness.
Everyone says that you shouldn't read in bed, but I find that that is the fastest way to set me to sleep. And I don't tend to dream about whatever I am reading, oddly enough.
I do not have a financial advisor. Although I work for CFPs, I'm just working on paying off debt and building savings at this point in my life. Once I get past that, I may look into getting professional advice.
I don't have an advisor, but sometimes wonder if it would be useful!
No, I don't have a financial advisor. I have thought about it and met with a few over the years, but I have never found one that I thought would be worth the fees it costs.
Well, sort of - I have a 403B with a major company and an online "advisory".
It's a complicated answer ... at my husband's insistence, we went to see his friend's girlfriend, who was an advisor with a large firm. He needed to roll over his 401K from a previous job into an IRA, and beyond that she also tried to sell us on life insurance for my husband ($700+/mo. due to his size and job - the restaurant industry is very risky, apparently) and additional life and disability for myself; the life insurance policies was one of those that was supposed to also be an investment so you could draw on it later in life. She also advised me to put 10-20% of my income into my 403B.
My husband, thinking that she must know best because she's an advisor and I'm not, tried to push me into it, but I hedged because I wanted to do my own research - and I'm glad I did. We don't own a home, have an outstanding pile of debt and no kids, and I already make a decent salary (enough to comfortably support myself if my husband passes), so it just didn't make fiscal sense to spend $700+/mo on life insurance, when we could take that same $700+/mo and put it in an interest-bearing money market account which we could readily access in time of emergency. I already put 20% of my income into my 403B, so that advice was useless, and I upgraded my life insurance and disability policy at work for a couple extra $$/mo instead of buying her inflated policies. So she didn't help me with our finances at all. But my husband still needed to roll over his 401K.
So my husband has an advisor for one IRA account. We (together) do not, although her company still tries to get us to do "upgrades" and policies and stuff like that on a regular basis.
I haven't used a financial advisor yet. I read a lot of personal finance articles, and when I have a specific qustion, I find my answer with Google.
We have an adviser. He is much, much more knowledgeable than we are in this arena so we are happy to pay him. He has helped up to grow our money so we are thankful for his advice.
I think the most effective way to help you sleep is to drink some alcohol, that will knock you out pretty quick.
i don't have a financial adviser. i am a 24 and i have my first career oriented job. i am always trying to learn about ways to manage my money better and to invest better, but sometimes i wonder if having a point of contact would help.
Sadly, I don't have a financial adviser. I will hire one if I ever have enough money though! ;-)
That's funny - I recently decided the opposite! I've resolved that all of our linens and undergarments need to be white so that they can be bleached (either with actual bleach or by sun drying). We have a lot of animals and two kids that wet the bed. I feel like I'm cleaning up pee all day long, and straight washing doesn't feel disinfected enough. It's probably not the most economical - but neither is having to re-wash a batch of clothes because they still smell like urine :(
Yes, we do. He helps us keep more aware of our spending habits and how it affects our future.
No...we don't have a financial advisor. We've got a will and life insurance as well as some retirement funds that we've had some financial-knowing friends help us acquire but we don't have anyone right now that is a go-to person. I guess I don't feel we have any money to manage until we've paid off all of our debt (it all belongs to our creditors right now!).
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I don't have a financial advisor, but I get Suze Orman's Money Navigator newsletter (free year subscription) and upgraded my LearnVest account (at a 75% discount) for access to the Ask an Expert feature where I am able to email a CFP with questions about our specific situation.
What a great collection of helpful articles. Thank you. I especially like "Ten Ways to Stop Wasting Money."