So far on One Neurotic Egghead I haven't talked about money at all. Which is interesting since an entire section of my goals is based on money and I really really like playing with my budget! Oh yeah, you heard me, I actually enjoy it (most of the time). I think playing with a budget is the poor man's way to play in piles of money like Uncle Scrooge.
One of the reasons I think money is fun is because I really hate shopping and to me when you are deciding where you get to spend your money it's like shopping in your mind. You know where you go into one store, find the perfect item, it happens to be on sale and you buy it? Yeah.... fantasy. So some parts of budgeting is fantasy based. But this post is supposed to be about reality. The reality of some non-"fun" parts of the budget....... Insurance.
When I talk about insurance I call the multiple types and policies, as well as documents such as wills and health planning information, securities. Because really that is what insurance is. When something happens in your life, you have the security of having prepared for it through insurance. This seems like a wise statement, but you have to realize that I have lived insurance free for 4 years. No health (just your basic "they won't let you die in the ER", yay canada!), no home, no life. This means we haven't really gone to the dentist, contacts were my college graduation present from my parents and we are really glad we went for the "shabby" look, so no one wanted to take our stuff anyways. In BC car insurance is mandatory and they have pretty great deductibles and coverage for not a lot of money, so we always had good car insurance.
When I talk about insurance I call the multiple types and policies, as well as documents such as wills and health planning information, securities. Because really that is what insurance is. When something happens in your life, you have the security of having prepared for it through insurance. This seems like a wise statement, but you have to realize that I have lived insurance free for 4 years. No health (just your basic "they won't let you die in the ER", yay canada!), no home, no life. This means we haven't really gone to the dentist, contacts were my college graduation present from my parents and we are really glad we went for the "shabby" look, so no one wanted to take our stuff anyways. In BC car insurance is mandatory and they have pretty great deductibles and coverage for not a lot of money, so we always had good car insurance.
But today I can say something new!
After spending 2 awful afternoons on the phone and in lines we have now moved our insurance over to Alberta! So now I guess we are considered residents here. We have car (which I just got exactly the same coverage as I would have in BC, except it cost more), health (still just basic) and now renter's! I am hoping I will get a job from my job interview yesterday which would include health benefits, otherwise within the month we will be getting extended benefits. Yay! We are so grown up.
I recently wrote out a list of money rules for Prince Charming & me. Here are the ones that involve securities:
1. The easiest way to decrease your insurance payment is by increasing your deductible. So get a $1000 emergency fund in place (this is only a baby fund, as most experts recommend having 3-6 months worth of expenses!) and then increase your deductible to between $500 and $800. You don't want to go for the whole $1000 as you never know when you might have a few disasters, which could really hurt you, so leave a bit of a buffer there.
2. Make sure your securities match your current needs. There is lots of information available about what kind of insurance you will need at different stages of your life. Also many books on personal finance have insurance chapters. For instance, we don't currently have life insurance, but when Prince Charming graduates we will have to look into this.
3. Look at your securities often and ensure that they are still meeting you needs or make appropriate changes. I am trying to do this yearly. Cross my fingers.
4. Keep financial papers organized. Simplify, simplify and purge yearly to ensure that you can find anything you need.
4. Keep financial papers organized. Simplify, simplify and purge yearly to ensure that you can find anything you need.
So I am glad to be done this very business-like week and am going to go bake some muffins. This is a much easier task.
Have you rolled up your sleeves and looked at you security needs lately?
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