In many ways, insurance is a lot like a game. The goal? Trying to get a payment for a claim since you have been paying insurance for that very purpose: Protection against large expenses due to unforeseen events. However, opposing you is the insurance company, which will be on the lookout for red flags and indications that fraud may be at work. What you say to your insurance agent can mean a delayed claim — or even one that ends up denied. If you want to come out on top and be the winner, here are four things to avoid saying to your insurance agent:
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Sara turned 10 this year, and we recently started to give her a small allowance. For now, the monthly amount is tiny but it’s good for her to start making choices on how she wants to spend her money.
Everything is going well so far, as she’s having to weigh the pros and cons of paying for everything she wants. We plan to continue this monthly stipend for years to come, but when should we stop giving her money? There will come a time when we need to stop supporting the kids. When is it appropriate to turn off the financial faucet? And how do we even do it once we figured out it’s time to revoke ATM access to the Bank of Mom and Dad?
How I Stopped Living Off My Parents
In retrospect, my parents were parenting geniuses, as my sister and I were weened off of support without any formal discussions on how the transition was going to work. We basically stopped getting financial support when we got our first job, and it’s a plan I want to follow with my own kids. Here are a few insights on some of the things my parents did right, and how you can stop supporting your child financially too.
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Millions of people fall victim to identity theft each year. The number seems to be decreasing the past couple of years, but even one is too many in my opinion. To prevent the possible emotional and financial stress of having your identity stolen, just praying that the government and credit report agencies will further improve their system isn’t enough.
Below are 45 precautions you can take to prevent identity theft. Incorporate these into your way of life to greatly reduce the chances of fraud knocks on your door.
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Never give out your social security number unless it’s absolutely necessary for what you need to do. - Even if you have to give it out, make sure you know for sure who you are giving it to. Being comfortable with them is not enough. Know the other party and what they do, how they will use that number and where their privacy policy is located.
- Don’t carry your social security card anywhere.
- Get a paper shredder so no one can piece together important information (at the very least, rip up the documents yourself).
- Protect those PIN numbers – Cover the number pad when you are entering pins at the ATM machine and never tell anyone about them. Also, never use something like 1234 as your pin please.
- Pay a little more for an unlisted number – Again, fewer telemarketers mean fewer chances that you can become a target.
- Try to separate your personal information as much as possible – Don’t write your SSN on your checks or keeping your driver licenses with your SSN card. If something is lost, at least the crooks only have one piece of information and not everything about you.
- Don’t Trust Anyone Over the Phone – Never give anything out over the phone. It’s just too dangerous.
- Do not keep any sensitive information in your car – Credit cards, statements, checks are a nono.
- Buy a safe – Better yet, get a safety deposit box at the bank where you can put important documents.
- Educate Others – If everyone teaches others about protections, there will be fewer identity thefts and fewer people who will try to do this because it’s not as lucrative.
- Be Alert – Think about how your identity can be stolen whenever you are dealing with your own sensitive information.
- Be Clam and Patient – Don’t do something with checks, credit cards, SSN numbers, etc when you are in a rush.
- Blank Spaces – Always draw a line on blank spaces: On credit card receipts, always write your amount with a $ symbol followed immediately with the numbers. On checks, always draw a line after you write the amount in English (or in numbers).
It’s important to have an idea of your financial priorities when you are trying to make a financial plan or reach a certain financial goal. After all, it’s impossible to decide what you should do with your money without priorities, not to mention figure out what actions you need to take to reach your financial goals. Determining your financial priorities can take a little bit of time, and it requires some introspection. The good news is that once you figure out what your priorities are, it’s a little easier to get your finances on track.
First, Decide What’s Important to You
According to a survey from Bankrate.com, 38% of Americans list staying current on living expenses or getting caught up on the bills as their highest priority.
Following managing bills, the next biggest priority is paying down debt (21%). Finally, saving is a priority for about 18% of Americans, according to Bankrate.com’s survey.
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I’m very proud of myself today because I just made decisions that will save me $100 per month. I called the cable and cell phone company and told them to:
- Discontinue my cable TV bill (learn how to negotiate here if you want to lower your bill instead)
- Reduce our family plan cell phone minutes
Before you leave this page thinking that this doesn’t apply to you because you make enough money to easily cover these expenses, let me tell you that my wife and I are not trying to save because we cannot afford the luxuries anymore. In fact, our living expenses are so low that we can live comfortably with just one income. We are cutting the fat out because we feel that it’s just not necessary to spend $100 on something we can do without.
Oh and by the way, doesn’t this contradict what I said a few days ago about how I spent my time? That’s because this post was originally from 12 years ago.
Time flies…
Time flies doesn’t it? While I’ve changed to Ting to pay even less for cellphone service since then, I’ve been cable TV free for 12 years now. That $100 a month sounded a lot then, but 12 years’ worth adds up to $14,400. If I invested the entire sum every month, that’d be worth double or even triple that amount. By eliminating $100 off my budget a month for 12 years, I have enough already to pay for it three times over.
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I’ve been busy lately. Instead of sitting in front of my computer waiting for the same email (more likely spam) to come through, I’ve been calling, asking and searching. During the last couple of weeks, I:
- Asked my car insurance agent to price match an insurance policy that I found online.
- Call my Internet service provider to extend my new customer discount.
- Went to get a free piece of chicken from KFC.
Frugal Living is Easy, Not
Most of these types of posts usually have people bragging about how much money they saved and how you can too if you follow the steps they outlined. They make it sound so simple but it’s almost always misleading. It took a while to search and compare all the insurance policies available, to wait on the phone to find a customer service rep for the Internet service provider, and to be in a room full of people at KFC (actually, it was quite fun seeing so many people but anyway…). Instead, I could be spending time golfing, being with my family, or reading a book.
Let’s be clear. Saving money, or more broadly, taking action, isn’t easy and takes quite a bit of work. If you feel like you can always save later when you need to because it’ll be a quick phone call away, then you are mistaken and will get discouraged when you actually need to do it.
I still remember talking to people a few months ago when they just lost their job and needed to reduce expenses in a hurry. A few of them could easily knock $50 a month off their Internet service costs, but the lines were so jammed they just couldn’t get through.
How you think of money can have a huge impact on your financial future. And there are many myths out there that don’t do us any favors. Here are 11 that could be keeping you from the promised land.
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