Hope for your financial life and beyond

How Reckless Driving May Affect Your License, Career and Credit History

February 26, 2015 by 6 Comments

Enjoy this article today from New York based attorney Zev Goldstein. Just don’t read it on your smartphone while driving.)

When it comes to traffic violations, reckless driving often ranks just below driving under the influence. A violation can affect every aspect of your life, from your job to your ability to attain future credit.

What Is Considered Reckless Driving?

Although the legal definition of reckless driving varies from state-to-state, it’s generally taken to mean driving in a manner that indicates a wanton or willful disregard for the safety of others.

Excessive speeding, tailgating, not signaling appropriately and running lights and stop signs are commonly considered reckless. Distracted driving from talking on the phone or texting behind the wheel can also fall under recklessness.

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Filed Under: Career, Vices Tagged With: , , ,

The Most Important Things You Need to Know About Life Insurance

February 25, 2015 by 28 Comments

The topic of life insurance is one that many do not like to discuss. The reason is simple - it involves death, most notably our own. And since death routinely shows up on lists of common fears, its obviously something we choose not to think about.

Next to purchasing quality health insurance, I believe this is the second most important insurance a person should buy. I feel this way because there is nothing you can do about it once you are gone. You can’t buy a life insurance policy after you are dead. You can’t provide any financial comfort to those left behind once you are in the ground.

See what I mean about life insurance? Even writing those sentences brought a tinge of emotion I’d rather not feel. That’s what makes it so easy to avoid dealing with this.

But we have to. Life insurance is a big piece of the puzzle to our financial lives - even if we, as the deceased, will never see any of the money.

What is Life Insurance?

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Filed Under: Insurance, Marriage Tagged With: ,

10 Effective Strategies That Will Improve Your Networking Skills

February 23, 2015 by 13 Comments

I’ve known Grayson Bell from Debt Roundup since the early days of this site. We first connected by sharing thoughts in the comments section of our posts. Since then I’ve been fortunate enough to meet him last year at FinCon and have him help me with some technical issues on my site.

Because I had networked a bit and had this connection I was aware he would be publishing a special post in December. Each year he reaches out to personal finance bloggers and has them submit a money related tip that he can share with his readers.

I was happy to submit my tip and it got placed into “The 54 Best Personal Finance Tips of 2014” post he published on December 30th.

A few weeks later I received a curious tweet from someone I had never met. She was an editor of a new website and was looking for freelance writers. “Would I be interested?” she asked.

Of course, I had a lot of questions. In one email I asked her this, “How did you find out about me?” Naturally I was curious. Her reply proved to me again the power of networking skills.

She had read the personal finance tip I had submitted for Grayson’s post. Pretty cool!

You just never know where networking might take you.

The Biggest Obstacle to Networking

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Filed Under: Career, Relationships Tagged With: ,

Is There Ever a Time When You Shouldn’t Use a 401k?

February 12, 2015 by 3 Comments

In today’s post, financial consultant Dave Landry Jr. shares his thoughts on when best to invest in a 401(k). Enjoy!

For decades now, the practice of squirreling away maximum contributions into a 401(k) plan has been a bit of received wisdom. A savings-account nest egg may be safe but accrues paltry interest, and social security is almost never enough to live on. However, a number of financial experts are now bucking this conception.

While there’s no doubting the solid security of a 401(k) for many consumers, in some cases there are better ways to maximize your retirement funds. In general, these situations are predicated on either the dynamics of your income tax rates or your potential need for an early cash out. Here’s a quick overview of when a 401(k) plan is and isn’t advisable.

For Tax purposes

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Filed Under: Investing, Retirement Tagged With: , , ,

Does My Health Insurance Cover Dental Work?

February 5, 2015 by 12 Comments

As a follow up to my health insurance post last week, here’s a look at a some issues surrounding one big health topic - taking care of your teeth.

For millions of citizens, public or private health insurance provides reliable access to core health services, providing resources for a range of facilities, treatments and other medical care. Holding insurance coverage can provide significant peace of mind in most scenarios, but there are a few limitations to standard policies that should be considered when determining the appropriate level of coverage for your lifestyle.

Dental: A Common Exclusion

Standard health insurance policies only provide for what insurers define as necessary treatments (or benefits), which do not include dentistry for individuals aged 18 and older, chiefly because of the expense typically involved with dental care.

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Filed Under: Insurance, Travel & Health Tagged With: ,

A Beginner’s Guide to Health Insurance and the Affordable Care Act

January 28, 2015 by 36 Comments

If you are wondering about the basics of health insurance you’ve come to the right place. Today I’m going to try an exhaust and consolidate all the knowledge I know about health insurance into one post. Yes, it’s going to be long, so if you don’t have time now you may want to bookmark it for later reading.

Of all the insurances out there, health insurance has become the most highly sought after type of insurance based on its direct application to something very important to us - our health. Nothing gives us more cause for attention than when our bodies are not working properly. The kind of health insurance policy we are able to secure can go a long way in determining what type of care we get and what drugs we are able to get our hands on. Those factors consequently then can have an impact on how healthy we are able to maintain our own bodies.

In recent years health insurance has also been hotly debated within society and government. It’s even found it’s way to the highest court in the land in a landmark decision handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States. The Affordable Care Act (more commonly known as Obamacare) has changed the very structure of the health insurance industry - some would say for good, others would say for bad.

This post is going to outline for you the basics of health insurance. I’ll explain what it is and why it’s a good idea for you to have some form of coverage. I’ll address some terms you need to know when researching plans, what types of plans are out there and how to decide which one is right for you.

For those who are looking for ways to save money on healthcare, good luck. Premiums have increased dramatically and health insurance isn’t as affordable as it used to be. However, there are ways you can reduce the overall cost of the plans and I’ll address some helpful tips in that regard.

This post will conclude with a look at health care reform, how it impacts you and what alternatives are available to traditional healthcare as we know it.

What Is Health Insurance?

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Filed Under: Insurance, Travel & Health Tagged With: , ,

Not So Obvious Steps If You Want a New Job

January 21, 2015 by 14 Comments

Tired of where you work? Looking for a new job? If so, you are not alone. We have all “been there” at some point in our lives.

In fact, in 2102 the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a study that tracked the number of jobs people born in the years 1957 to 1964 held from ages 18-46. They found men held an average of 11.4 jobs and women held 10.7 jobs. I can only imagine those numbers will be considerably higher for those born more recently, to whom a mobile and transient culture has become the standard of life.

If you want a different job though, don’t jump the gun. That could be disastrous on many levels, including landing in a spot that’s not a good fit. Instead take your time and go through an evaluation process that covers these six big areas.

Initial Steps to Finding a New Job

The next job is out there waiting for you. But before you land it, slow down and follow these steps:

Determine Your “Why?”

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Filed Under: Career, Work Tagged With: , , , ,

How Long Do Common Household Items Last?

January 14, 2015 by 37 Comments

Did you have an appliance or other household items that need repaired? One biggie that hit our budget early last year was replacing one of our heating and cooling units. We had to upgrade to a new furnace and air conditioning unit for our upstairs. Needless to say that was pretty expensive.

Since moving to our house over a decade ago we’ve purchased these household items:

2 new air conditioning units, 2 new furnaces, a new refrigerator, a new stove, a new dishwasher, a new microwave, a new garbage disposal, a new water heater, a new dryer, 2 new washing machines (bad luck here), 4 new vacuums (we buy cheap ones), 1 new LCD TV, 1 plasma TV, 2 new garage doors (main and basement), 2 new lawnmowers and countless other electronic devices (computers, iDevices, clocks, etc.)

This is the reality of owning a home…all these items will break at some point. When that occurs you will either have to a) do without or b) replace them.

Research on How Long Household Items Last

The issue here is twofold:

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Filed Under: Planning, Saving Tagged With: , ,

How to Make a Home Inventory Checklist in Case of a Catastrophic Loss

January 12, 2015 by 19 Comments

Recent events surrounding the theft and eventual recovery of our family basketball goal have me thinking more about home security. One issue that presented itself during that incident was that I did not have proof (like a model number or receipt) or identifying marks on the goal that it belonged to me. If I had that proof the police could have pursued the matter more aggressively.

During the ordeal I had a conversation with a friend of mine who used to be a detective. He mentioned a case he investigated where a man had his entire music collection stolen. Fortunately for him, he had written down the title and artist of every CD in his collection. He gave that list to my friend who, believe it or not, was able to track down the collection. Of course, he was aided in his search by the fact that the not-so-intelligent thief sold the entire collection at once…to one pawn shop.

Wasn’t too hard to link those to events together.

My friend went on to say he has made a home inventory checklist of everything of value in his home. In case of a catastrophic loss such as a house fire, he will be able to present his home inventory checklist to the insurance company showing concrete evidence of what he did own. Of course that won’t help him recover the sentimental items he lost but it will give him a better chance of recouping the fair market value to replace all the consumer products he lost.

So, guess what the kids and I started doing over Christmas break?

How to Make a Home Inventory Checklist

We haven’t entirely completed our project but these are the steps we are taking to make our home inventory checklist:

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Filed Under: Insurance, Real Estate Tagged With: , , ,

Reshaping My Focus in 2015, Plus a Short Survey For You

December 29, 2014 by 16 Comments

May I say an early Happy New Year to you! We’ve finally arrived at the final week of the calendar year. I hope 2014 turned out to be all you hoped it would. I’m excited about the future that lies ahead and am looking forward to making some big blog steps in 2015.

I’d like to take a few moments today to share several goals I have for Luke1428 and beyond in 2015. I mentioned the other day how not developing clear and specific goals for 2014 was a big disappointment. It caused me to drift around many a day in that I didn’t have targets on which to focus. I’m not sure why my apathy toward goal development happened in 2014 but I’m committed with renewed effort to a different course this year.

My Goals for Luke1428 in 2015

Here are the three main things I’ll be focusing on in 2015. They represent a change in focus as to how I’ve approached managing Luke1428 to this point.

Understanding the Needs of My Readers

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Filed Under: Goals, Planning Tagged With: , , ,

Insurance: The Black Sheep of Our Personal Finance Family

December 15, 2014 by 17 Comments

This may see like an odd time of the year to be discussing insurance. No doubt your mind is geared toward preparing for Christmas and figuring out how to save money on all the presents, decorations and food you will buy during the holidays. There is a reason however why this is coming out now, one that highlights an issue many people have when it comes to insurance.

I’ve put off talking about it…for months.

This post idea to go over the basic reason why we need insurance has been listed in my “blog topics to cover” spreadsheet since March. But I keep putting off writing about it, pushing it back month after month. Honestly, I don’t enjoy researching and talking about insurance.

It’s like the black sheep of the family. Every family has one at some level, right? That person who brings immediate tension to the room whenever their name is brought up? That historical figure we’ve conveniently deleted from the family ancestral tree?

Insurance is that black sheep in our personal finance family. With the exception of insurance salesmen, I don’t know anyone who gets up in the morning fired up about reviewing insurance policies. I’ll worry about saving, getting out of debt, investing, budgeting, root canals…anything before insurance.

Is it just me or is anyone else with me on this? Insurance can be really frustrating and confusing to deal with.

But I know it’s important and that I need it…badly. Without it I could be putting myself in serious jeopardy.

The Basic Reason We Need Insurance

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Filed Under: Insurance Tagged With: , ,