Money is considered such an important part of our society that we are often judged according to how much we are worth — in terms of dollars. We see this everywhere, and we talk about ourselves in terms of net worth. When we get life insurance, we have to try and put a dollar amount on how much our lives are worth. Money is such a big part of our society that many stay at home spouses eagerly read estimates of how much everything they own might be worth on the market.
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Health care is expensive. My six year old son just had a minor surgical procedure that will cost us somewhere north of $1,200 (deductible plus whatever the co-insurance ultimately winds up being). Needless to say, his health and well-being is worth the world to us, but at the same time, I don’t want to pay any more than we have to.
Based on my experiences dealing with medical bills and insurance over the years, here is some of my best advice.
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For young couples, having a baby is one of the most life-affirming experiences they will ever have. At least it is until the bills start piling up. Between disposable diapers, formula and clothing, a very small person starts to eat up a significant part of the monthly income. Parents often wonder how such a small individual costs so much, the baby years is actually just the beginning.
This could sound discouraging, but the first years of a person’s life are actually the cheap years. Before you know it, your child can point at a toy on the shelf and start making demands. And let’s not even talk about college. Nevertheless, any money you can save now will more than pay off in the future.
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Growing up, everyone around me thought our family was rich. We drove nice cars, dressed neatly and never hinted at our money woes. It was strange because we couldn’t be more middle class when it came to our household income but the truth didn’t matter, there was no point denying.
One day, I asked my mom about this, and she told me that though we didn’t have doodles of money, we stretched every dollar like it was noodles that wouldn’t snap. Here were a few of her tricks:
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It drives me crazy to see personal finance articles and blog posts recommending mutual funds that no one should ever buy. You know, those mutual funds that are very lucrative for the broker who sells them (because of sales charges) and for the fund manager (because of high expenses), but are in no way a good deal for you.
It’s especially infuriating, because while I accept that investing in individual stocks requires a fair amount of research and knowledge, the basics of mutual fund investing are not that complicated. Perhaps the concept of asset allocation is a bit more complex (although by no means impossible to learn), but anyone can learn how to pick a good mutual fund. Here are the basics:
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Health advice doesn’t show up too often on most personal finance blogs, especially when it goes beyond where to cut health costs. But the fact of the matter is that getting and staying healthy is a good financial choice. There are plenty of expenses that go along with being out of shape or even outright sick — the number of bankruptcies in the U.S. caused even indirectly by unbearable medical expenses should be a strong argument in favor of the importance of health in figuring out your personal finances.
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