To start with … my apologies to everyone that left comments in the last week and heard no response. I got a new iPhone and couldn’t get my WordPress or JetPack apps to work. We also left for Florida and I didn’t have my laptop or iPad to access the site. Sorry! Speaking of Florida, it turns out we didn’t escape Hurricane Milton unscathed. When … Continue reading Hurricane Milton Damage
Just a quick Hurricane Milton update this morning … It turns out the exact ‘eye’ of the hurricane passed directly over our vacation town of Celebration FL as the storm moved across the state from west-to-east last night. We watched the news coverage on an Orlando TV station as the storm produced 75 mph winds – which then dropped to near zero – and back … Continue reading Hurricane Coverage
Last year, I wrote a post on the rising cost of home insurance premiums. In the post (LINK), I included a link to the cost of insurance across the 50 states. No surprise, the state that we are buying a condominium in – Florida – is the highest in the country. As we prepare for closing next week, I’ve learned a lot about Florida’s unique … Continue reading Florida Home Insurance
Yesterday was the 4th anniversary of my heart attack in 2019. Thankfully, all has been good with my ticker since then. I recently had a “nuclear stress test” done where they put uranium into you before & during a steep treadmill run. It’s exhausting. The good news is that my numbers were identical to 4 years ago. The bill for the test just arrived and … Continue reading Running The Health Insurance Treadmill
I ran across these two charts recently and couldn’t help but scratch my head at what is going on in this country. This first chart shows healthcare spending. It’s been steadily growing +5.8%/year on average over the last 20+ years. That’s a whopping 2.4x the rate of overall inflation. The steady growth in healthcare spending stands at odds with political promises that came with the … Continue reading Healthcare Woes
My friend, Jeff, texted me last week asking for an insurance agent reference. He just got his homeowners insurance premium estimate for the coming year and it was up a whopping +29% higher than what he paid last year – which was +23% higher than two years ago! I haven’t gotten my new home insurance estimate yet, but we are definitely going to competitively shop … Continue reading Home Insurance Premiums Rising
Quite unexpectedly this is the second post in an unplanned series about preventative insurance care coverage. After I posted on Monday about being charged for my annual check up, I ran across this article stating that annual check ups and other preventative care claims will no longer be covered under the Affordable Care Act. Link: Court Strikes Down Coverage of Preventative Care It seems that … Continue reading Preventative Care Coverage Prevented?
I’ve always been good about going in for my annual checkup, both when I was working and now 7 years into early retirement. I was blessed to work for MegaCorps that had on-site health clinics and executive health programs, that made it easy. I recently went in to our post-retirement clinic for my annual check up and was surprised to get a bill for $278 … Continue reading A Good Question To Ask At Your Next Check-Up
Wildfires in California. Hailstorms in the Midwest. Hurricane Ian in Florida & South Carolina. It’s a crazy year for home owners insurance. On top of that add in the crazy inflation in the home construction market. After two white-hot years, only now are home prices starting to slow down from higher interest rates. We just got our 2022-2023 premium statement from State Farm. We received … Continue reading Homeowners Insurance Inflation
Have you ever paid for your roof to be replaced? Ever? We haven’t. We’ve lived in houses for 30+ years and never once have we paid for a new roof. Three times the insurance company has on our behalf. Never have the roofs been more than 13 years old. The economics of home insurance don’t make any sense to me. I spoke with a lot … Continue reading Have You Ever Paid For A New Roof?
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