How many go without Health Insurance?

Sure. Disability insurance is there in case you become unable to work. In that event, you will be paid a certain amount each month. That amount is predetermined when you first get the policy.

Policies normally have an Any occ and a Current occ clause. What they normally state, is that if you're unable to perform your job anymore, but can learn to do SOMETHING else, you'll get your benefits for the first year, but after that, you better have learned to do something else. However, if you go blind(as an example), you'll end up pulling benefits for the rest of your life.

If you can get it through your work, or from an organization you;re part of, it tends to be a lot cheaper than getting it from a broker on your own. Also, if you pay for the policy yourself, it is not taxed if you use it. However, if it's paid for by your employer, then it will be taxed if used.

Another thing that is in the policy is the Grace Period. The longer the grace period, the lower your rate per month will normally be. Some policies have a 90 day waiting period, while others have a 6 month waiting, or grace period, before benefits start. The amount of cash you have on hand to keep you going once you fall ill/hurt will determine how long of a grace period you will want.

There's more to it, so if you have any other questions, ask away.

 

This is a sore subject for me. I had a intermittent short in the wiring somewhere on my trucks wiring. After a week or so I climbed up on a fender and pulled a muscle in my back. Now get this! I went to my own family doctor and he said I don't handle Workman's comp. Then he sent me down the street and the Doctor said take five days off. He gave me muscle relaxers a steroid shot and something else, I forget. Anyway I was fired in 2 days. And Management say drivers are lowlifes.

 

That's an issue with a lazy Dr. and a crappy employer, more than it is an issue with disability insurance.

However, I would have made sure the second Dr. gave me a letter for my employer, and I would have sent it to work using registered mail, return receipt requested, so that they couldn't say they never got it. Then, if they fired you, you could see them in court, and probably get a years' wages in a settlement.

 

Health insurance premiums took 98% of my Swift paycheck. There was only enough left over to live on peanut butter sandwiches for weeks at a time. Nothing to pay bills with at all. Drained my IRA down to nothing, quit Swift after 10 months of living on peanut butter sandwiches... and was denied unemployment because I didn't earn enough in 10 months to qualify! Appealed twice, denied twice.

No other work here. Figured I might go back to Swift and just do without the health insurance. But they're not hiring now. Rawr.

If they take me back (when they're hiring again), I'll skip the health insurance. Besides, I don't think starvation is covered anyway.

Live 'n' learn,
Robin

 

With taxes, SS, and other state and federal paycheck leeching, I'm taking the money I make with no benefits, putting it into investments that will pay for my financial and medical security rather than relying on my job alone.

If I were you, and if it was logical, do company match 401k plan, take out all the cash, pay the 10% tax and use the leftover funds the company gave you to pay for your own healthcare or something.

Example. Company does 100% (or 50% or whatever) match.

Put in $1,000
They give you $1,000
You withdraw early and get taxed 10% ($200)
You now have $1,800 cash.

The company just "gave" you $800 to pay for your health instead of retirement. I'd put it into my health otherwise I can't retire if I'm dead, and I can't work if I'm not in good health.

Wash rinse, repeat, make sure you play by the rules but think outside the box.

 

The 10% penalty on early withdrawal is over and above the taxed rate you'll get nailed with on withdrawal. If you're in a 30% tax bracket, you're losing 40%. Also, not every employer allows you to draw from your 401k before leaving their employment.

 

Maybe talk with the employer and ask them to company match plan and instead of 401k, have them contribute to a Self Directed IRA which lets you invest in anything you want, you could invest in a orange grove or gravel partnerships, etc...

If you invest that money into something that pays interest (even as a loan, you can loan out that money if I am correct) and collect interest or any other form of 'rent' on that investment, such as if you invested in a property, and have that rent pay for your health plan.

As a real estate investor my bias is in real estate. I'll be transferring virtually all the money I make into my SD-IRA into my real estate investments to collect rent. The rent I make is going to pay for the things in life my job doesn't, until the money I make in rent matches what I make in trucking.

 

You're a gutsy lady to be buying real estate and holding mortgages with the way the economy still is. Just my personal bias, I wouldn't buy any rental properties unless I was buying it outright. I hate the idea of paying a mortgage on a vacant place. That's if it's a single family dwelling. If it's small apartments or even quad-plexes, then I would be okay with dropping 50% down and financing the rest. But, again, that's my bias.

Also, I've never heard of any company willing to contribute to an employees Roth. I'm not saying it isn't done. Just saying I've never heard of it before. I'd be curious to know if there are a number of companies willing to do that.

 

The rental market shoots up when home buyers drop.

All depends on the local market, even in one town it can have a different market based on which side of the street you are on. I'm not stupid about real estate, I have incredible experts who have been my mentors and are personal friends that will definitely make sure I don't screw up. I also know -where- to buy. With the economy the way it is now, there has never been a better time. The reason why people don't believe it is because they only get excited when everybody got paid which by then a market is saturated and inflated (real estate, gold, currencies, stocks, or otherwise). They don't see the potential in the here and now when things "appear" bad. They try to go where the gold is being found rather than taking the time to plan where the -next- gold will be found.


I have the knowhow and the training, resources, mentors, networks, inventory, names, people, places, and things. So I have no problem with that stuff. The only things I have trouble with are lenders because they're the ones controlling the economy which is why I'm getting into trucking for the next 5-7 years. By that time I'll be well positioned and have several properties and the market will officially be at it's bottom or partially recovered if nothing inflates it artificially.

(Average is usually about 20 years from peek to peek so to get to "where we were" like everyone wants would likely take until 2027. But with the internet speeding up exchange rates through online trades and transfers I imagine crashes and booms are going to become much faster, much more common, and much more dramatic than ever before.)

Note: I say at the bottom because all the commercial notes on commercial mortgages come due after 5 years, and the crash started in 2007. Residential already tanked, but commercial has been lagging the entire time, and now we're 3 years into it. So between now and the next 3-5 years, all the commercial notes issued at the height of the market are going to come due, and the commercial business owners are already starting to default.

Residential is big, but commercial is WAY bigger, that's where the double dip is going to come from.

FYI.

You can either be fed doom and gloom about the economy, or you can use it to your advantage, because if you're going to ride a wave, you have to see it coming, and catch it from the bottom and ride it up. Most people only get excited once they see it at the top before it crashes. (with the sub-prime 0-down lending in this case)


I work with systems that work in -any- economy and I focus on markets that are much more stable for cash flow, not speculative gambling/flipping.

 

I agree that buying when the market is down is the right thing to do. I just disagree with using OPM(Other Peoples' Money) to try and make myself rich. If I had a million at my disposal right now, I would be buying up property too. But, I don't, so I don't.

I can't be foreclosed on if I don't owe on a mortgage. Only those with a mortgage can be foreclosed on. And again, as I said, this is just my bias on it. By all means, go to it Remrie, and I hope you do well. I'd much rather hear about you succeeding than here that it didn't work, and you're driving to pay off some sort of a bust. Much better to drive because you want to, and enjoy it.