Beating Broke

Temporary Health Insurance Options

August 8, 2022 By MelissaB 1 Comment

My husband accepted a new job in another area of the country, allowing us to relocate to a place that we prefer from one we didn’t care for as much. His salary has increased significantly, and he feels the job will be better for his mental health and his career. The only difficulty is that he will not qualify for health insurance during the first two months he’s employed. We’ve searched for temporary health insurance options, but there aren’t many good options.

Why Not Go Without Health Insurance?

We could always take a chance and go without health insurance, but we’re not young; we’re firmly in middle age, so we visit the doctor more than we used to. Plus, young, middle-aged, or old, on any given day, we could be involved in a catastrophic health event such as having a car accident or being diagnosed with cancer.

My husband and I aren’t gamblers, so we don’t feel comfortable foregoing all health insurance options.

Utilize the Spouse’s Insurance

Another option for many couples is to utilize their spouse’s insurance during this time. However, I am a freelance writer, so my only insurance coverage is through my husband’s employer. This option is not available to us.

COBRA Is an Expensive Option

When my husband leaves his current employer, he can opt for COBRA insurance. COBRA allows us to retain our current insurance for the two months we’re without health insurance with the new employer. However, rather than paying our portion of the health insurance premium, we also pay the employer’s portion. Therefore, we would need to pay $1,659 a month for COBRA insurance or $3,318 for the two months we’re without insurance. Ouch!

Insurance Through the Affordable Care Act?

I looked into the Affordable Care Act, but getting insurance here is not much more affordable for us than COBRA. Insurance here is based on your income, and my husband’s income is good, so theoretically, we can afford to pay more.

We would need to pay nearly $800 a month for health insurance, and we would also have a high deductible. The insurance would only cover us for catastrophic events until after we meet the high deductible.

Insurance Through Our Car and Home Insurer?

We also looked to see if our car and home insurer offers medical insurance. The company does, but not in the state in which we’re moving.

What We Decided

Ultimately, we looked at our temporary health insurance options and decided to take advantage of a stipulation in COBRA. You have up to 60 days after leaving your employer to apply for COBRA. When you do, you pay for the time since you left your employer and are retroactively covered.

So, if the next two months don’t involve any health issues, we can save ourselves $3,300 in COBRA premiums. If we do need insurance coverage, we will pay for COBRA. This is a bit like gambling, but a safer way to help us stay protected while potentially not costing us thousands of dollars.

Reasons Not to Buy Long-Term Care Insurance

There Is No Ideal Time to Contribute to Retirement

3 Lessons I Learned When Looking for a New House

July 18, 2022 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

This is a crazy market in which to buy a house. While I knew that from watching the news, recently we got to experience the market firsthand because we’re moving from Arizona to New York. The plus side is that our house in Arizona sold within three days of listing. The bad news is that we had to visit many properties in New York and put in offers on three different houses before we finally got one. Along the way, there were many lessons I learned while looking for a new home. These were the most important ones.

Beware of Low Prices

We started our search by looking at houses at the lower end of our price range. We have one child starting college this year, and two more in the next five years, so keeping housing costs low made sense. However, we quickly veered away from those houses for two reasons:

House Problems

Most houses in the lower end of our price range had problems. Two of them stunk. One smelled throughout the house, and the other smelled fine until we opened the basement door. Then we were confronted by an awful odor we couldn’t place. Others were outdated or had a strange layout such as having to walk through one bedroom to get to another one.

Neighborhood Problems

If the houses in the lower price range didn’t have problems externally, the neighborhood did. We saw one meticulously kept and updated property. However, it was the nicest house in the neighborhood, which means it might be more difficult for us to sell later. Plus, the neighbors were gathered outside and started talking about us as we walked into the house. Not the type of neighborhood in which we wanted to move.

Beware the Unkempt Exterior

I was amazed how many homeowners didn’t attempt to create curb appeal. We walked up to homes with dirty siding, peeling paint on the window frames, and a rotted piece of wood with a hole on the steps to the home, just to name a few problems.

Unfortunately, many of the backyards weren’t much better. One had a tiny mowed section, but the rest of the small yard contained weeds and overgrown grass.

If you want people to buy your home, try to make the yard and exterior of the home inviting! Not surprisingly, most properties with unkempt exteriors were also not in good shape inside.

Final Thoughts

Finding a home to purchase is a challenge no matter when you’re looking. However, in this current seller’s market, there are important lessons I learned when looking for a new house. Hopefully, we won’t need to buy another house anytime soon, but if we do, I know what to look for and when to walk away, sometimes before even seeing the inside of an unkempt house.

Making an Offer on a House

Shopping for a New House

The Irrationality of Seeking the Lowest Gas Price

July 4, 2022 By MelissaB 1 Comment

This week, I drove through the Costco parking lot, and I noticed that the usual entrance to the Costco gas station was blocked off. Instead, gas station traffic was diverted to the area by the entrance of Costco so a longer line could form and not block other parking lot traffic. I followed the line for gas and discovered it was at least 10 cars long. What?! What is this irrationality of seeking the lowest gas price? I am a Costco member, and yes, gas there can be up to 25 to 30 cents a gallon cheaper, but I would never wait in such a long line for gas.

Why do Americans obsessively attempt, at any cost, to pay the lowest gas price? Do they not know that their efforts cost them precious time and yes, even money?

One Woman’s Pursuit of the Lowest Gas Prices

I have a relative I will call Judy, who is a low gas price chaser. She will drive 10 miles or more out of her way to save a few pennies per gallon on the price of gas. She has a 10-gallon tank. If she pays $5.04 at her local gas station, filling her empty tank will cost $50.40.

If she cruises to a town 10 miles away, she might pay $4.98 per gallon, meaning a fill-up will cost $49.80. She saved .60 cents, but did she? She also wasted gas to get to the lower-priced station and took 20 to 30 minutes of her time to do so.

Why We Don’t Seek the Lowest Gas Price

I’m frugal in general. My husband and I only take our family out to eat about five times a year. We drive old vehicles. My Toyota Sienna is a 2004 and has 231,000 miles on it. My husband’s car is a 2013 and has 105,000 miles on it. We live in a modest neighborhood, and when we bought our house, we bought one that was on the lower end of what we could afford.

We like to save money, so you might be surprised to learn that I don’t play the lowest-gas-price game. It’s not worth it to me.

My minivan has a 20-gallon tank, and our nearest gas station sells gas for $4.86 a gallon. To fill up my minivan costs a whopping $97.20. Ouch! Gas at our nearest Costco is $4.55 a gallon. Filling up there would cost $91, so I would save $6.20. However, I do not want to wait in line for 30 to 45 minutes to save six bucks.

Instead, I choose to limit my driving while prices are so high. We stay home a lot more, and when we drive, we combine errands, so we don’t use as much gas. Right now, I’m filling up every two weeks.

Final Thoughts

Americans are obsessed with seeking the lowest gas price, only to save at most a few bucks, or, at worst, a few cents. To do so, they have to spend money and precious time. Rather than chasing the lowest gas price, a more lucrative option may be to find other frugal ways to save money that more significantly impacts their bottom line.

Don’t Make the Cost of Gas Your Scapegoat

Is a Costco Membership Worth It When Living Alone?