A good agent is worth his/her fee. When my last sale ran into issues with quality of offers, with preexisting conditions at the property, our realtor was a fabulous adviser. She helped us evaluate the different offers we received, helped us locate several contractors to fix our foundation, and actually helped us work with the contractor we selected. She also helped advise us on how to negotiate how the work would factor into the P & S agreement.
Real Estate agents as a profession are similar to many in that the 80-20 rule applies. Twenty percent of agents do eighty percent of the business. They are true professionals, and will actually save you money. If you truly measure the value of your time, and the time and mental anguish a good agent can save. For every simple transaction their are probably five disasters.
Most people also can negotiate better with a third party to act as middleman. Helps keep the emotions out.
To find a good Realtor, check with the local real estate association and find out who wins those million dollar and above sales awards, year in and year out, then call them and set up a consultation. If you don't get a good vibe, walk away and check with the next one on your list.
So in summary, I partially agree in that "no agent" may be better than a "bad agent". A good agent is well worth their commission.
And no, I am not a Realtor, married to a Realtor, parent of a Realtor. I have done my share of real estate investing.
So far this has been the best article on Halloween savings on Wise Bread this year. The focused presentation is refreshing. Simple and to the point. I enjoy the practicality of each of the tips.
The agent also serves as a "screener" for the seller... I agree that the buyers' research can all be done without an agent... but if I am a seller, I want to know the people coming through my house are somewhat qualified/serious buyers - as opposed to having unknown people coming through craigslist-style.
I've either purchased (or did all the work but pay) for three houses. I didn't use an agent for two times (where I was buying directly from the seller without an agent), and the third one I used an agent because the sellers agent said they'd assign me one if I didn't have one. I didn't want them getting any more of a cut of the money than they already had and I didn't want to fight/argue it, so I got a ziprealty.com agent who would refund part of the commission to me.
I'd have to say the worst experience was the time there was a seller's agent involved. By the time I got an offer in, there was an offer under contract and a backup offer. The agent didn't even want to hear my offer or present it to the buyer. My agent insisted that we had a good offer, and finally they did. It was ridiculous! How dishonest! The seller's agent also pushed them to seller months sooner than they actually wanted to sell, and also accept the first offer that came along the first week it was up for sale. (and counter offer a lower offer, even though two higher offers came in later!!) I tell you, a good realtor is probably great under the right circumstances, but there seem to be a lot of shady folks out there who care more about making some quick money than actually making things more profitable and easier for their client. Having been through two home purchases with no realtors involved, I'd have to say that this is likely to become more common in the future. Why do we need MLS when we can put up our own Google ads or sell through word of mouth (facebook, website, email, etc). Sure some home buyers are picky and high needs, and some sellers face difficulties selling, but when that's not the case, there can be huge benefits by selling and buying directly for those willing to do the research and paperwork themselves.
After having a couple of bad real estate agents over the years, sometimes they can actually be worse than if you did it yourself. We have gotten some very bad information from people who had their own interests before ours.
The people that mentioned that agents protect their own turf is right. We looked at a house (open house) early in the process before we had signed an agent. The person who was the sellers agent would not even return our calls when we tried to start the process of making an offer. That house sat on the market for almost another year. We really liked the house but were so frustrated with the agent that we just moved on and kept looking.
Having bought and sold a number of times I could probably do the whole thing without an agent the last time.
If agents want to keep some sort of relevance and job security they need to find a way to be useful and clean up all the bad agents and behaviors that are a detriment to clients. They have started to be more like used car salesmen.
It's interesting that travel agents are still around. Can they still get better deals than you and I going on the Internet or are people who don't want to deal with the computer using them?
I'm certainly not trying to say that going to college is worthless. I'm trying to say that "learning the subject material" is only a small part of what you're paying for.
I'd say that "access to some of the leading people in the field" is one aspect of networking and that "just having a degree" is one aspect of certification--and those are precisely the two key advantages that I listed.
Those aren't even the only ones. There are plenty more. My point is that, if you're going to pay extra for those advantages, take advantage of them. Access to the leading people in the field is of little value unless you spend time with those people. If all you want is "just to have a degree," then it may well be that a cheap one from a state school will turn out to be just as useful as an expensive one.
I recently interviewed a recruiter to find out why do they ask "why should we hire you". I've digged very profoundly into this question, and got some golden gems out of it.
with the advent of the Internet some professions will be phased out. first the real estate agent and who knows maybe the stock brokers as everyone will have all they need at their fingertips. it may be time to think ahead of time before things catch up and you bear the full force of a developing society
The book "Freakonomics" second chapter has a section devoted to Real-Estate agents. This book helps to crack the Real-Estate code. What does "well maintained" really mean. The book also cites a study that compares how Real-Estate agents sell their own homes vs. those of their clients. The chapter is a very interesting read for anyone considering the use of an agent.
It is sad to read a blog like this. I don't think we love to collect unemployment benefit. I wish I get a job and stop collecting unemployment. It is with guilt and shame I get this and I have not even told my friends this thing out of shame. And there are people who make fun of people who are simply struggling due to this bad economy.
I am an MBA and I was making 80K a year. I now just get around 2k per month that is hardly good enough to put me under the roof. The notion that I am not looking for a job since I am collecting $475 a week is so wrong and flawed. I am even applying to jobs that just pays $40-$50K per year. That is 50% down to what I was making. The notion that I should be looking for a dishwasher job is so disgusting. Would I not be replacing those people who would just qualify for those jobs should I seek those jobs too??
We tried to buy a house in 2004. One of the crazy bubble years we were approved for much more house than we could afford. Picked up an agent that sounds a lot like yours. He showed us a lot of houses that were simply unsuitable. Either too high cost or really awful for the cost. He made us feel like he was doing us a huge favor by taking our low price range and constantly tried to upsell us. He sounded a lot like yours. We didn't hate him (there were no insults) but we were distinctly unimpressed by the whole affair. If it hadn't been for the fact that some listing agents refused to show unless we were represented or consented to letting them represent us for all sales we'd have skipped one for sure. In the end we were so unimpressed by what he had to show us that we simply opted out of the market.
Knowing what I know now- he could have earned a commission by being blunt and telling us that we were barking up the wrong tree- the kind of neighborhoods we wanted weren't in our range. The neighborhoods close to those neighborhoods that *were* in our price range were there for a reason. With our budget and demands our only option was to go to the suburbs. Instead he showed us a lot of terrible houses and a lot of out of our price range houses.
We had a house picked out when we got a realtor this spring. We failed at contacting the listing agent and picked up a family members realtor to help us broker the transaction. Told her it'd be a quick sale and the easiest commission she'd ever earned. 4 months, 3 contracts (one broken the week before closing by the seller), about 50 shown houses, and 4 lunches with our realtor (who actually listened to what we wanted and who was not shy about telling us where she thought we could find it even if it cut her commission) later- we bought a sweetheart of a deal. She knew the forclosure was coming on market- knew that it'd be a good fit before the for sale sign went up- and arranged for a showing within 12 hours of the sign going up in the front lawn. She knew the representing agent and called in a few favors to get our contract in the banks hands less than 24 hours after the property went on market. Which is the only reason that we managed to get a house 20k under neighborhood market with 15k in upgrades- whistle clean and exactly what we wanted. A higher bid went in a few hours after ours- but we already had verbal confirmation. She negotiated with the bank to get us a long laundry list of cosmetic repairs, arranged for us to have access through the entire deal so that we could get contractors in (the kitchen isn't as updated as we wanted) for measurements and such before closing, and kept track of the seemingly hundreds of documents we needed as first time home buyers.
The house was 35k less than the one we'd originally called her in to negotiate for us and she not only accepted a lower commission without a single comment- she paid our home warranty out of her commission when there was a mess up in the paperwork.
There are agents who aren't worth the time of day. And then there are agents who are worth every cent of their commission.
bought my first house without an agent and did a good amount of research and definitely should've used one...bought my second home with an agent and not only saved time, saved 30k since that's what she got me off the house-never would've done that on my own...worth every penny i didn't pay her---why would i make that kind of investment and not have a competent and experienced person help me to make the right choice? yeah there are bad people in every industry but there are good people too...saying agents are not worth it is crazy imho..i really like my agent and i'd recommend her to everyone i know who wants to get a great deal....and i got a terrific friend too....(by the way-if she was trying to make MORE money off me, why'd she negotiate like that? i was willing to pay more and i told her that, she just wanted me to get the best deal i could)
try toothpaste. Put some on a brush and dip it in warm, water. Scrub and rinse well. Toothpaste disolves all kinds of ink including permanent marker. I also use it as a degreaser on my stove hood.
I am a pediatrician, and when I was in residency I asked this very question of several of my attendings and the nutritionists at my hospital. The reason that several people gave me for why they support Mead Johnson and Abbot Laboratories (the makers of Enfamil and Similac respectively) and recommend these "big 2" formulas is NOT the money that these companies pour into putting their product into hospital nurseries, sending out samples, etc. In fact, in all my years of medicine I have not met very many of these unscrupulous physicians driven only by the powerful persuasion of pharmaceutical and other representatives rumored to be in such abundance on many internet blogs. There is sometimes a real reason to recommend a brand name over a generic, and when there is not a good reason, I will ALWAYS recommend the generic....regardless of whether some new college grad in a nice suit who just got her first job as a sales rep and is "oh so enthusiastic" about her product brought pizza to my office the week before! Rather than being spellbound by sales reps and unable to resist prescribing what they are hawking, most physicians try to dodge their visits as there is no time in the day to stop and talk to them (no matter how badly the office staff might want them to visit frequently and bring free food).
In this case, you are right that there is not something safer or medically beneficial to the big 2 brand names, compared to generic formulas (unless the generic does not have the additional fatty acids that Similac Advance and Enfamil Lipil do...then there is a difference, and you have to be comparing apples to apples). HOWEVER, I tell all of my patients the following when they ask me about brands of formula. I do not "recommend" one per se, but I give them the following information and let them make their own decisions:
One reason to support the big 2 is this: Mead Johnson and Abbott make their money off of the regular infant formulas that the vast majority of formula feeding babies eat, but what you might not know is that they are the sole manufacturers of many specialized formulas for premature babies (elemental formulas of various forms, etc), formulas made for patients in kidney failure, and formulas for patients with GI tract malformations or problems due to surgery of the GI tract that inhibit their ability to feed normally. These formulas do not make the companies a significant amount of money, and though medically essential for many patients, could be discontinued at any moment if these 2 large formula companies chose not to continue to produce them. SO, when I buy Similac or Enfamil, I am buying from companies which provide the sole nutritional source for some of my sickest patients. Their formula is more expensive than the generic because these companies not only make the regular formula you find at every store; but also have huge research and development divisions, and manufacture these important specialized therapeutic formulas. Walmart, Costco, Target, etc. are not, as far as I know, producing any of these specialized formulas, nor is any of the money that they make from their infant formulas going toward anything but their profit margin. If the big box stores undercut Mead Johnson and Abbott enough, it is possible that they will discontinue formulas that are very medically necessary for a small number of patients but do not make them money in and of themselves. These specialized formulas only exist because these companies make their money off of regular formula.
That's my reasoning. I would never fault anyone for trying to save a buck, and when after I give my reasoning for choosing Enfamil or Similac to a patient, if they choose to buy generic formula, I have no problem with that (again, as long as it has the additional fatty acids "for brain and eye devel"). With my own kids, I did breastfeed them, but I also supplemented with formula from day one, so I'm a formula consumer as well. I know I'm not getting the rock bottom best price, but I'm comfortable knowing that part of my money is going to something that I think is really important for some of my patients and many other kids (and adults) with significant medical needs. I just choose to pinch my pennies elsewhere.
Local Nourishment,
Oils are fats, they are just liquid at room temperature. All fats are composed of a glycerin backbone with three fatty acid chains attached (kind of like an "E"). Oils tend to have more double bonds between the carbon atoms in the chain, this decreases the melting point, therefore they are liquids at room temperature, not solids. Plant fats tend to be oils and animal fats tend to be solid fats. Both kinds of fat can be healthy. Also, your body makes many of the necessary fats. It breaks down the fats you ingest, through digestion, and then reassembles the fatty acids into the configuration needed; or your body can store the fats.
I have a degree in biochemistry and pursue hobbies of gardening, cooking, and nutrition. To verify the information presented (in my statements or any of the books mentioned) I would suggest referencing basic chemistry books, general organic chemistry text for the basic construction of oils/fats, and a biochemistry book for the metabolic pathway information. The information will not be biased by an author's agenda as no conclusions are drawn in most textbooks.
While you make valid points I think number one is a dangerous suggestions. While others mentioned pre-existing conditions, there is also the question of rescission and after the fact underwriting as well as the one question to dread, "have you ever been denied health care coverage before?"
The only time I might suggest going to the open market over a group plan is if the insurance your employer is providing you is in reality just window dressing with little or no coverage. Again that assumes you can read a medical policy and know the differences.
In addition a good group plan will have better prescription drug package than you can get in a one off basis. I will admit I dont know much about HSA's except for a friend of mine that had an HSA, and after his kidney stones passed he was out on the order of $9k in out of pockets.
I agree to gift cards, especially from certain people. My MIL and FIL, and SIL, never ask what we would like for gifts and I always ask for a gift. My mom always asks for a list because she knows that we do not spend much on ourselves so she asks what we would like because she knows she can get us something we wouldn't normally buy ourselve. One SIL doesn't ask for a list but she listens and always purchases a gift she has noticed we needed or wanted. I always tell the other in-laws we would love gift cards but instead we get things like velour jumpsuits (in white no less) or Disney clothes. Always the Mickey Mouse sweatshirts. I would much much rather have a gift card if they aren't going to take the time (like I do) to get us something we need or want.
Every situation is different...there is no one answer on this issue. The best 5% I ever spent was for my RE Agent. She handled everything, found the buyer and got me out before the market tanked.
When the kids carved their pumpkins yesterday, I didn't want to dig out the pulp. I was too lazy. But cutting off the inside of the lid would have been easy.
Now that they sat out overnight inside our house, I don't think I want to use them, though. They are probably spoiled. At least I know our pumpkins tend to get moldy before Halloween even arrives. We can't put them outside where it is cooler because the squirrels will eat them.
By the way, when I cook a whole pumpkin I find it much easier to bake than steam. Just half it and put on a cookie sheet, then the pulp will come out so much easier when it's done.
I'm so happy you retired early, are loving life and attending to your family needs!
Way to go!
Keigu,
Financial Samurai
"Slicing Through Money's Mysteries"
A good agent is worth his/her fee. When my last sale ran into issues with quality of offers, with preexisting conditions at the property, our realtor was a fabulous adviser. She helped us evaluate the different offers we received, helped us locate several contractors to fix our foundation, and actually helped us work with the contractor we selected. She also helped advise us on how to negotiate how the work would factor into the P & S agreement.
Real Estate agents as a profession are similar to many in that the 80-20 rule applies. Twenty percent of agents do eighty percent of the business. They are true professionals, and will actually save you money. If you truly measure the value of your time, and the time and mental anguish a good agent can save. For every simple transaction their are probably five disasters.
Most people also can negotiate better with a third party to act as middleman. Helps keep the emotions out.
To find a good Realtor, check with the local real estate association and find out who wins those million dollar and above sales awards, year in and year out, then call them and set up a consultation. If you don't get a good vibe, walk away and check with the next one on your list.
So in summary, I partially agree in that "no agent" may be better than a "bad agent". A good agent is well worth their commission.
And no, I am not a Realtor, married to a Realtor, parent of a Realtor. I have done my share of real estate investing.
How do I do it, and how much do you pay?
So far this has been the best article on Halloween savings on Wise Bread this year. The focused presentation is refreshing. Simple and to the point. I enjoy the practicality of each of the tips.
The agent also serves as a "screener" for the seller... I agree that the buyers' research can all be done without an agent... but if I am a seller, I want to know the people coming through my house are somewhat qualified/serious buyers - as opposed to having unknown people coming through craigslist-style.
I've either purchased (or did all the work but pay) for three houses. I didn't use an agent for two times (where I was buying directly from the seller without an agent), and the third one I used an agent because the sellers agent said they'd assign me one if I didn't have one. I didn't want them getting any more of a cut of the money than they already had and I didn't want to fight/argue it, so I got a ziprealty.com agent who would refund part of the commission to me.
I'd have to say the worst experience was the time there was a seller's agent involved. By the time I got an offer in, there was an offer under contract and a backup offer. The agent didn't even want to hear my offer or present it to the buyer. My agent insisted that we had a good offer, and finally they did. It was ridiculous! How dishonest! The seller's agent also pushed them to seller months sooner than they actually wanted to sell, and also accept the first offer that came along the first week it was up for sale. (and counter offer a lower offer, even though two higher offers came in later!!) I tell you, a good realtor is probably great under the right circumstances, but there seem to be a lot of shady folks out there who care more about making some quick money than actually making things more profitable and easier for their client. Having been through two home purchases with no realtors involved, I'd have to say that this is likely to become more common in the future. Why do we need MLS when we can put up our own Google ads or sell through word of mouth (facebook, website, email, etc). Sure some home buyers are picky and high needs, and some sellers face difficulties selling, but when that's not the case, there can be huge benefits by selling and buying directly for those willing to do the research and paperwork themselves.
After having a couple of bad real estate agents over the years, sometimes they can actually be worse than if you did it yourself. We have gotten some very bad information from people who had their own interests before ours.
The people that mentioned that agents protect their own turf is right. We looked at a house (open house) early in the process before we had signed an agent. The person who was the sellers agent would not even return our calls when we tried to start the process of making an offer. That house sat on the market for almost another year. We really liked the house but were so frustrated with the agent that we just moved on and kept looking.
Having bought and sold a number of times I could probably do the whole thing without an agent the last time.
If agents want to keep some sort of relevance and job security they need to find a way to be useful and clean up all the bad agents and behaviors that are a detriment to clients. They have started to be more like used car salesmen.
It's interesting that travel agents are still around. Can they still get better deals than you and I going on the Internet or are people who don't want to deal with the computer using them?
The Writer's Coin | Follow me on Twitter
Those instructions worked like a dream.. thank you so much!
I'm certainly not trying to say that going to college is worthless. I'm trying to say that "learning the subject material" is only a small part of what you're paying for.
I'd say that "access to some of the leading people in the field" is one aspect of networking and that "just having a degree" is one aspect of certification--and those are precisely the two key advantages that I listed.
Those aren't even the only ones. There are plenty more. My point is that, if you're going to pay extra for those advantages, take advantage of them. Access to the leading people in the field is of little value unless you spend time with those people. If all you want is "just to have a degree," then it may well be that a cheap one from a state school will turn out to be just as useful as an expensive one.
I recently interviewed a recruiter to find out why do they ask "why should we hire you". I've digged very profoundly into this question, and got some golden gems out of it.
Go and listen to the interview here:
Why Should We Hire You
with the advent of the Internet some professions will be phased out. first the real estate agent and who knows maybe the stock brokers as everyone will have all they need at their fingertips. it may be time to think ahead of time before things catch up and you bear the full force of a developing society
The book "Freakonomics" second chapter has a section devoted to Real-Estate agents. This book helps to crack the Real-Estate code. What does "well maintained" really mean. The book also cites a study that compares how Real-Estate agents sell their own homes vs. those of their clients. The chapter is a very interesting read for anyone considering the use of an agent.
Chicken soup is the best for me and its simple to make..
It is sad to read a blog like this. I don't think we love to collect unemployment benefit. I wish I get a job and stop collecting unemployment. It is with guilt and shame I get this and I have not even told my friends this thing out of shame. And there are people who make fun of people who are simply struggling due to this bad economy.
I am an MBA and I was making 80K a year. I now just get around 2k per month that is hardly good enough to put me under the roof. The notion that I am not looking for a job since I am collecting $475 a week is so wrong and flawed. I am even applying to jobs that just pays $40-$50K per year. That is 50% down to what I was making. The notion that I should be looking for a dishwasher job is so disgusting. Would I not be replacing those people who would just qualify for those jobs should I seek those jobs too??
Shame on this kind of writing!!
We tried to buy a house in 2004. One of the crazy bubble years we were approved for much more house than we could afford. Picked up an agent that sounds a lot like yours. He showed us a lot of houses that were simply unsuitable. Either too high cost or really awful for the cost. He made us feel like he was doing us a huge favor by taking our low price range and constantly tried to upsell us. He sounded a lot like yours. We didn't hate him (there were no insults) but we were distinctly unimpressed by the whole affair. If it hadn't been for the fact that some listing agents refused to show unless we were represented or consented to letting them represent us for all sales we'd have skipped one for sure. In the end we were so unimpressed by what he had to show us that we simply opted out of the market.
Knowing what I know now- he could have earned a commission by being blunt and telling us that we were barking up the wrong tree- the kind of neighborhoods we wanted weren't in our range. The neighborhoods close to those neighborhoods that *were* in our price range were there for a reason. With our budget and demands our only option was to go to the suburbs. Instead he showed us a lot of terrible houses and a lot of out of our price range houses.
We had a house picked out when we got a realtor this spring. We failed at contacting the listing agent and picked up a family members realtor to help us broker the transaction. Told her it'd be a quick sale and the easiest commission she'd ever earned. 4 months, 3 contracts (one broken the week before closing by the seller), about 50 shown houses, and 4 lunches with our realtor (who actually listened to what we wanted and who was not shy about telling us where she thought we could find it even if it cut her commission) later- we bought a sweetheart of a deal. She knew the forclosure was coming on market- knew that it'd be a good fit before the for sale sign went up- and arranged for a showing within 12 hours of the sign going up in the front lawn. She knew the representing agent and called in a few favors to get our contract in the banks hands less than 24 hours after the property went on market. Which is the only reason that we managed to get a house 20k under neighborhood market with 15k in upgrades- whistle clean and exactly what we wanted. A higher bid went in a few hours after ours- but we already had verbal confirmation. She negotiated with the bank to get us a long laundry list of cosmetic repairs, arranged for us to have access through the entire deal so that we could get contractors in (the kitchen isn't as updated as we wanted) for measurements and such before closing, and kept track of the seemingly hundreds of documents we needed as first time home buyers.
The house was 35k less than the one we'd originally called her in to negotiate for us and she not only accepted a lower commission without a single comment- she paid our home warranty out of her commission when there was a mess up in the paperwork.
There are agents who aren't worth the time of day. And then there are agents who are worth every cent of their commission.
bought my first house without an agent and did a good amount of research and definitely should've used one...bought my second home with an agent and not only saved time, saved 30k since that's what she got me off the house-never would've done that on my own...worth every penny i didn't pay her---why would i make that kind of investment and not have a competent and experienced person help me to make the right choice? yeah there are bad people in every industry but there are good people too...saying agents are not worth it is crazy imho..i really like my agent and i'd recommend her to everyone i know who wants to get a great deal....and i got a terrific friend too....(by the way-if she was trying to make MORE money off me, why'd she negotiate like that? i was willing to pay more and i told her that, she just wanted me to get the best deal i could)
try toothpaste. Put some on a brush and dip it in warm, water. Scrub and rinse well. Toothpaste disolves all kinds of ink including permanent marker. I also use it as a degreaser on my stove hood.
I am a pediatrician, and when I was in residency I asked this very question of several of my attendings and the nutritionists at my hospital. The reason that several people gave me for why they support Mead Johnson and Abbot Laboratories (the makers of Enfamil and Similac respectively) and recommend these "big 2" formulas is NOT the money that these companies pour into putting their product into hospital nurseries, sending out samples, etc. In fact, in all my years of medicine I have not met very many of these unscrupulous physicians driven only by the powerful persuasion of pharmaceutical and other representatives rumored to be in such abundance on many internet blogs. There is sometimes a real reason to recommend a brand name over a generic, and when there is not a good reason, I will ALWAYS recommend the generic....regardless of whether some new college grad in a nice suit who just got her first job as a sales rep and is "oh so enthusiastic" about her product brought pizza to my office the week before! Rather than being spellbound by sales reps and unable to resist prescribing what they are hawking, most physicians try to dodge their visits as there is no time in the day to stop and talk to them (no matter how badly the office staff might want them to visit frequently and bring free food).
In this case, you are right that there is not something safer or medically beneficial to the big 2 brand names, compared to generic formulas (unless the generic does not have the additional fatty acids that Similac Advance and Enfamil Lipil do...then there is a difference, and you have to be comparing apples to apples). HOWEVER, I tell all of my patients the following when they ask me about brands of formula. I do not "recommend" one per se, but I give them the following information and let them make their own decisions:
One reason to support the big 2 is this: Mead Johnson and Abbott make their money off of the regular infant formulas that the vast majority of formula feeding babies eat, but what you might not know is that they are the sole manufacturers of many specialized formulas for premature babies (elemental formulas of various forms, etc), formulas made for patients in kidney failure, and formulas for patients with GI tract malformations or problems due to surgery of the GI tract that inhibit their ability to feed normally. These formulas do not make the companies a significant amount of money, and though medically essential for many patients, could be discontinued at any moment if these 2 large formula companies chose not to continue to produce them. SO, when I buy Similac or Enfamil, I am buying from companies which provide the sole nutritional source for some of my sickest patients. Their formula is more expensive than the generic because these companies not only make the regular formula you find at every store; but also have huge research and development divisions, and manufacture these important specialized therapeutic formulas. Walmart, Costco, Target, etc. are not, as far as I know, producing any of these specialized formulas, nor is any of the money that they make from their infant formulas going toward anything but their profit margin. If the big box stores undercut Mead Johnson and Abbott enough, it is possible that they will discontinue formulas that are very medically necessary for a small number of patients but do not make them money in and of themselves. These specialized formulas only exist because these companies make their money off of regular formula.
That's my reasoning. I would never fault anyone for trying to save a buck, and when after I give my reasoning for choosing Enfamil or Similac to a patient, if they choose to buy generic formula, I have no problem with that (again, as long as it has the additional fatty acids "for brain and eye devel"). With my own kids, I did breastfeed them, but I also supplemented with formula from day one, so I'm a formula consumer as well. I know I'm not getting the rock bottom best price, but I'm comfortable knowing that part of my money is going to something that I think is really important for some of my patients and many other kids (and adults) with significant medical needs. I just choose to pinch my pennies elsewhere.
Local Nourishment,
Oils are fats, they are just liquid at room temperature. All fats are composed of a glycerin backbone with three fatty acid chains attached (kind of like an "E"). Oils tend to have more double bonds between the carbon atoms in the chain, this decreases the melting point, therefore they are liquids at room temperature, not solids. Plant fats tend to be oils and animal fats tend to be solid fats. Both kinds of fat can be healthy. Also, your body makes many of the necessary fats. It breaks down the fats you ingest, through digestion, and then reassembles the fatty acids into the configuration needed; or your body can store the fats.
I have a degree in biochemistry and pursue hobbies of gardening, cooking, and nutrition. To verify the information presented (in my statements or any of the books mentioned) I would suggest referencing basic chemistry books, general organic chemistry text for the basic construction of oils/fats, and a biochemistry book for the metabolic pathway information. The information will not be biased by an author's agenda as no conclusions are drawn in most textbooks.
While you make valid points I think number one is a dangerous suggestions. While others mentioned pre-existing conditions, there is also the question of rescission and after the fact underwriting as well as the one question to dread, "have you ever been denied health care coverage before?"
The only time I might suggest going to the open market over a group plan is if the insurance your employer is providing you is in reality just window dressing with little or no coverage. Again that assumes you can read a medical policy and know the differences.
In addition a good group plan will have better prescription drug package than you can get in a one off basis. I will admit I dont know much about HSA's except for a friend of mine that had an HSA, and after his kidney stones passed he was out on the order of $9k in out of pockets.
I agree to gift cards, especially from certain people. My MIL and FIL, and SIL, never ask what we would like for gifts and I always ask for a gift. My mom always asks for a list because she knows that we do not spend much on ourselves so she asks what we would like because she knows she can get us something we wouldn't normally buy ourselve. One SIL doesn't ask for a list but she listens and always purchases a gift she has noticed we needed or wanted. I always tell the other in-laws we would love gift cards but instead we get things like velour jumpsuits (in white no less) or Disney clothes. Always the Mickey Mouse sweatshirts. I would much much rather have a gift card if they aren't going to take the time (like I do) to get us something we need or want.
Every situation is different...there is no one answer on this issue. The best 5% I ever spent was for my RE Agent. She handled everything, found the buyer and got me out before the market tanked.
When the kids carved their pumpkins yesterday, I didn't want to dig out the pulp. I was too lazy. But cutting off the inside of the lid would have been easy.
Now that they sat out overnight inside our house, I don't think I want to use them, though. They are probably spoiled. At least I know our pumpkins tend to get moldy before Halloween even arrives. We can't put them outside where it is cooler because the squirrels will eat them.
By the way, when I cook a whole pumpkin I find it much easier to bake than steam. Just half it and put on a cookie sheet, then the pulp will come out so much easier when it's done.