Personal Profitability
Personal finance for hustlers and entrepreneurs
On Saturday afternoon, I went to an art gallery and bought my first very high quality painting. I have graduated from the college days of posters to the grown up days of fine art. A lot went through my head before I handed over my credit card.
If you hadn’t seen the news, there are several large fires right now in my home state of Colorado. I have seen the smoke up close. I was four miles away when the Treasure Fire started just outside of Leadville and work just over the hill from the Flatiron Fire in Boulder.
Yesterday, I was told a family friend in Colorado Springs lost their home to the Waldo Canyon Fire along with hundreds of their neighbors. My sister’s friend’s family in Woodland Park may have been evacuated this morning along with much of the rest of the town.
This got me thinking. We often avoid anything that has to do with a worst case scenario, but we need to plan for the worst and have an action plan in place in case we get hit with an unexpected tragedy.
If you read the news today or listen to talk radio, you will most likely hear some mention of unemployment and how bad the economy is. I disagree, the economy is in great shape. You just need to look after yourself to ensure your personal economy stays on top.
Education is the core to most people's financial success. If you look at top CEOs today, almost every single one has a college degree. Many of them have master's degrees. Most of them went to business school or have an MBA. This is not a coincidence.
If you want to keep your economy stable, you need an education and a degree that will lead to the future you want. I am thrilled that so many people want to be social workers, but a $60,000 master's in social work from a private university will likely make you $25,000 per year. Is that warm fuzzy feeling worth it?
The same university offers an MBA for the same cost. That degree will leave you making double what a social work degree will make you.
History degrees, art degrees, English degrees, and other liberal arts do not have a bright future today. Unless you want to be a teacher or go to grad school, these degrees will help you land a job with good benefits at Starbucks. Make sure you know what you are getting into when you pick a major.
If you don't believe me, this graph from the Department of Labor breaks down the numbers.
It is no secret that I am a huge fan of automation and aggregation. The fewer places you have to look for your financial information, the less time you will use and the less likely you are to mess up. Simplee simplifies and automates your insurance just like Mint or Adaptu does with your finances.
What It Does
Simplee works with your insurance account to make sure you really understand where your money is going and gives you reminders when a bill is due. The site also helps create an understanding of how your healthcare costs are distributed (you vs. insurance) and understanding what your true costs are.
I recently had two major insurance changes, and it reminded me of how important it is to shop around when renewing or finding a new policy.
Since I was 16, I had paid my parents for my part of the car insurance. I was always paying my own way, but I had never shopped around for my own policy. My Dad recently decided to kick me off and force me out on my own.
First, I called the company I was using for my renter’s policy for a car insurance quote. I also called the company that I had been using for a quote. I compared the two and asked for apples to apples policies so I could get a fair judgment on the price. It turned out my original car insurance company was significantly cheaper so I stayed there.
Just a few months later, I was getting ready to buy my new condo and had to shop for insurance again. I called the same two companies I was already working with that had quoted me for the auto policy. Much to my surprise, the company I had my renter’s policy from was cheaper than the company my auto policy was from even with a bundle discount.
This exercise taught me that brand loyalty means little in the insurance industry. Just like when you search online for a plane ticket, you need to shop around for insurance policies with good coverage for a fair price.
In addition to auto and home coverage, it is important for young people to have adequate life insurance coverage too. You can get much better rates on a valuable policy if you sign up when you are young.
I have really good insurance. I work at a great company with great healthcare benefits. My monthly cost is only about $60. Even with that, things are not always as they seem.
A few weeks ago I got sick. Really sick. I had a fever over 101. I was coughing, sweating, freezing, vomiting, had a headache, and just felt like crap. After a couple of days of my symptoms only getting worse, I went to the doctor. I didn’t have a primary care doctor (I know, irresponsible of me), so I went to a local clinic. $107 after my insurance paid its part. The prescription was another $15.
The next evening (a Friday), my temperature was on the rise. When it broke 102, we called the doctor I saw the day before. She said I needed to go to the hospital. $481. There is also a charge of $17 for tests. A follow up doctor visit (I had passed my deductible by this point) cost $8.
It turned out I had a nasty virus. They were not sure what kind. But that virus cost me $628. Good thing I have a good job.
But here is what makes me livid. What did it really cost for me to be sick. I paid $628 and my insurance company paid $3362 (glad I have insurance). So apparently being sick cost a total of $3990.
BUT WAIT! DOES IT REALLY COST $3990?
The doctors and hospital billed my insurance company for $5650. Apparently it costs $1660 more than I cost to be sick? That can’t be right. Can it? Why would it cost an uninsured person $5650 to be sick but only cost me $3990 to be sick? I would like to think I got the ‘good looking person’ discount, but no matter how attractive I am, I know that is not the case.
The fact of the matter is that we take advantage of people who do not have the financial insight or means to take care of themselves. If someone who can’t afford insurance walks in with the same problem as me, they are charged thousands more just because they don’t have insurance. That is disgusting, wrong, and should be illegal.
I don’t know why we allow this sort of atrocity to continue in this country. We are allegedly the most developed and powerful nation in the world, yet we can’t even take care of our own sick people without sending them into bankruptcy unless they are privileged enough to have insurance.
To me, going to the doctor is a human right, not a privilege for the wealthy. I usually try to keep politics to my personal blog, but I know that when I vote in 2012 and every year after, I will always vote for the person that thinks every single American deserves top quality healthcare no matter what.
Photo by lydiashiningbrightly.
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