"Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans regardless of their health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums."
-barackobama.com
WHAT?!? What is the point of having insurance if pre-existing conditions will be covered? People will pay nothing into an insurance policy and be able to reap the benefits for something that took place when the person was not paying for the insurance. Isn't that the point of insurance? You pay hoping that you will never have to collect on it.
Will they offer this with car insurance also? Just wait until you get into an accident before you pay for insurance.
This sounds like a great idea.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Gas Stations Setting Society Back Years
Over the past few years, society in general has started to move away from cash transactions. Nearly everywhere you go allows you to pay with credit/debit cards, or even checks. There is even that Visa commercial where the person not using a card to pay for something was "un-hip".
I have given up checks a long time ago. I pay all my bills online. The only regular check I write is for daycare. There was a stretch of about 15 checks this past spring all written to my daycare provider.
Now, here come the gas stations. I know for some time that stations near truck stops offer cash discounts on diesel fuel. Now it is starting to become an epidemic. The gas stations are tricking people into thinking gas is cheaper. I stopped yesterday along Highway 100 in Hales Corners. All the stations on the street were advertising $2.89 on their signs. I pulled into one only to see that the pump said $2.94 (lets just ignore the .9 which is another way that gas stations try to make you feel good about paying for gas!). I took a few steps to look at the sign to make sure I saw it correctly. I did, but when I looked again, I noticed that there was now a little "cash" notation next to the first number on the sign.
I have come to the point where I rarely carry cash, since I know that places will either take my card, or I can get money from an ATM in a pinch. There has even been talk about eliminating the penny completely. Now the gas stations go and pull this, which I know is completely legal, and saves the station a credit card transaction fee.
You might say, "Just get some money out of the ATM to save money." I say, "That is a rip-off". Many gas station ATM's are owned by the station themselves and would actually make more money off you getting cash from their ATM to pay for your "discounted" gas. How?
Gas is $2.89 with cash and $2.94 with a card. That is a savings of $0.05 per gallon. My car has a 15 gallon tank. If I fill up completely, it would save me $0.75 to pay with cash. When is the last time you saw an ATM with a fee of $0.75 or less (unless it is at your bank or one of the few left that do not charge a fee).
It all seems somewhat deceptive...especially for those who are getting cash out of the ATM to "save" on gas. Reminds me of the "discount" for getting a car wash. Pay $0.20 less if you get a $5.00 car wash. $0.20 x 15 gallons = $3.00. You get the idea.
I have given up checks a long time ago. I pay all my bills online. The only regular check I write is for daycare. There was a stretch of about 15 checks this past spring all written to my daycare provider.
Now, here come the gas stations. I know for some time that stations near truck stops offer cash discounts on diesel fuel. Now it is starting to become an epidemic. The gas stations are tricking people into thinking gas is cheaper. I stopped yesterday along Highway 100 in Hales Corners. All the stations on the street were advertising $2.89 on their signs. I pulled into one only to see that the pump said $2.94 (lets just ignore the .9 which is another way that gas stations try to make you feel good about paying for gas!). I took a few steps to look at the sign to make sure I saw it correctly. I did, but when I looked again, I noticed that there was now a little "cash" notation next to the first number on the sign.
I have come to the point where I rarely carry cash, since I know that places will either take my card, or I can get money from an ATM in a pinch. There has even been talk about eliminating the penny completely. Now the gas stations go and pull this, which I know is completely legal, and saves the station a credit card transaction fee.
You might say, "Just get some money out of the ATM to save money." I say, "That is a rip-off". Many gas station ATM's are owned by the station themselves and would actually make more money off you getting cash from their ATM to pay for your "discounted" gas. How?
Gas is $2.89 with cash and $2.94 with a card. That is a savings of $0.05 per gallon. My car has a 15 gallon tank. If I fill up completely, it would save me $0.75 to pay with cash. When is the last time you saw an ATM with a fee of $0.75 or less (unless it is at your bank or one of the few left that do not charge a fee).
It all seems somewhat deceptive...especially for those who are getting cash out of the ATM to "save" on gas. Reminds me of the "discount" for getting a car wash. Pay $0.20 less if you get a $5.00 car wash. $0.20 x 15 gallons = $3.00. You get the idea.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Another Rant
What a surprise, the first post I make in over a year is a rant!!
Who is to blame for the "economic crisis" we are currently in? Everyone thinks they have the answer. I use the quotations because there is a strong part of me that feels that this "crisis" is nothing more than people needing to get their heads out of their asses and realize how to manage their money.
Having spent May of 2006 until May of 2007 voluntarily unemployed, I was lucky enough to get the task of managing my family's finances from only one income...and a teacher's income at that! I always found myself to be somewhat frugal, but I was required to take it to new levels during that time.
The funny thing during all of this though, is that we were able to pay every single bill we had, on time and in full. To make this happen, some things happened. I clipped coupons. I went shopping on double coupon day. I didn't buy the pretty flat-screen HDTV that I had been drooling over since they came somewhat near my price range. We didn't go out to dinner as much (though Anna gets most of the credit for that!). We took options off our cell phones. We switched telephone servers. We used the credit cards less. We turned the heat down and the A/C up. We held off on home improvements that we really wanted to do.
We did things the right way. We lived within our means. By the way, did I mention that we BOUGHT A NEW CAR during that year also?!?
I remember Melissa asking me how people afford to live in the houses that they do. I told her that they are up to their eyeballs in debt in order to do it. Now many of those houses are on the market because the owners were unable to fulfill their obligation to re-pay their debt. Not that we are debt-free by any means (Thanks UW-Madison!), but I think that I have our things pretty well in order.
We realized that we had a certain means that we had to live within, and we did it. I finally got the TV, but it waited until I went back to work (and we got our tax refund). We got the work done on our house (THANKS ROY!!), but it was this year instead of last. We bought the car, but it meant that even more things had to be forfeited in order to do this.
I do realize that there are people out there who were doing things the right way, but still found themselves on the wrong side of their debt, but those people seem to be few and far between.
I was taught that home ownership was something that had to be earned. I was taught that home-ownership was a responsibility, not a right. Melissa and I lived in a less-than-stellar apartment complex for a couple years after we were married in order to save up for a, wait, DOWN PAYMENT!!!
I really think that many of our problems would have been solved if everyone would have just took step back and re-examined their financial situation. When you make $10.00 an hour, there is no way you are going to be able to pay a 4-digit mortgage every month unless all your ducks are in a row. But then again that is why they came up with "Interest-Only Loans". BARF!
That's all for now. I am sure I will be back the next time I hear Barack Obama's voice!!
Who is to blame for the "economic crisis" we are currently in? Everyone thinks they have the answer. I use the quotations because there is a strong part of me that feels that this "crisis" is nothing more than people needing to get their heads out of their asses and realize how to manage their money.
Having spent May of 2006 until May of 2007 voluntarily unemployed, I was lucky enough to get the task of managing my family's finances from only one income...and a teacher's income at that! I always found myself to be somewhat frugal, but I was required to take it to new levels during that time.
The funny thing during all of this though, is that we were able to pay every single bill we had, on time and in full. To make this happen, some things happened. I clipped coupons. I went shopping on double coupon day. I didn't buy the pretty flat-screen HDTV that I had been drooling over since they came somewhat near my price range. We didn't go out to dinner as much (though Anna gets most of the credit for that!). We took options off our cell phones. We switched telephone servers. We used the credit cards less. We turned the heat down and the A/C up. We held off on home improvements that we really wanted to do.
We did things the right way. We lived within our means. By the way, did I mention that we BOUGHT A NEW CAR during that year also?!?
I remember Melissa asking me how people afford to live in the houses that they do. I told her that they are up to their eyeballs in debt in order to do it. Now many of those houses are on the market because the owners were unable to fulfill their obligation to re-pay their debt. Not that we are debt-free by any means (Thanks UW-Madison!), but I think that I have our things pretty well in order.
We realized that we had a certain means that we had to live within, and we did it. I finally got the TV, but it waited until I went back to work (and we got our tax refund). We got the work done on our house (THANKS ROY!!), but it was this year instead of last. We bought the car, but it meant that even more things had to be forfeited in order to do this.
I do realize that there are people out there who were doing things the right way, but still found themselves on the wrong side of their debt, but those people seem to be few and far between.
I was taught that home ownership was something that had to be earned. I was taught that home-ownership was a responsibility, not a right. Melissa and I lived in a less-than-stellar apartment complex for a couple years after we were married in order to save up for a, wait, DOWN PAYMENT!!!
I really think that many of our problems would have been solved if everyone would have just took step back and re-examined their financial situation. When you make $10.00 an hour, there is no way you are going to be able to pay a 4-digit mortgage every month unless all your ducks are in a row. But then again that is why they came up with "Interest-Only Loans". BARF!
That's all for now. I am sure I will be back the next time I hear Barack Obama's voice!!
I'm Back
I am sure there is nobody left out there that is reading this...that is bound to happen when you go over a year without a post! I will fill the gap between my last post and today.
-I turned 29.
-I resigned my teaching job to take a job with the Milwaukee County Parks. I love it. Melissa doesn't at times.
-The Badger hoops team tried to make a run in March, but fell short.
-I turned 30...yikes!
-We had our second child, Matthew, on August 12.
-The Brewers made the freaking playoffs!
The rest of the time in there was spend with my family and friends. I will try to get better at this, but I make no guarantees. I am sure I will need a place to rant considering there is a somewhat important election in about 3 1/2 weeks and I live in what you would call a "politically divided household".
-I turned 29.
-I resigned my teaching job to take a job with the Milwaukee County Parks. I love it. Melissa doesn't at times.
-The Badger hoops team tried to make a run in March, but fell short.
-I turned 30...yikes!
-We had our second child, Matthew, on August 12.
-The Brewers made the freaking playoffs!
The rest of the time in there was spend with my family and friends. I will try to get better at this, but I make no guarantees. I am sure I will need a place to rant considering there is a somewhat important election in about 3 1/2 weeks and I live in what you would call a "politically divided household".
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