February 29th, 2012 by
Young
Brian P. has been a great reader and commenter of this blog and he was inspired to write a guest blog post about critical illness insurance and the necessity of it (versus just regular insurance paid out in the event of death). I know that most people end up physically disabled and unable to work instead of dying “straight up” so to speak, so should someone get insurance for that as well? Well, Brian hopes to answer the question. I agree that critical illness insurance is important to consider, because you never know what might happen to you. I heard as statistic once that as working adults, we have 1 in 3 chance of being disabled (for some reason or other, e.g. needing surgery, having cancer and needing chemotherapy, having a stroke) long term and being unable to work. So here are Brian’s thoughts on this. Enjoy! (Well, not sure how much you will enjoy it since it IS a depressing subject… but important to discuss nonetheless!)
The History
Critical Illness Insurance was developed by Dr. Marius Barnard (the brother of Christian Barnard, the doctor who performed the first successful open heart transplant surgery) in South Africa in 1983. Dr. Barnard saw an need for insurance that paid a “living benefit” to those who survived a major illness to offset lost income and pay additional expenses.
Why would some consider Critical illness insurance?
When one has cash one has options.
Crisis happens anytime and usually the worst time. Your health is your most important asset!
It is like having a moat around your savings like RRSPs, TFSAs, and not using a line of credit.
Company disability plans pays maybe 60% of someone’s income, the question is can one live with almost half their pay cheque?
What is critical illness insurance? Conditions currently covered in Canada include:
- heart attack, stroke, cancer coronary artery bypass surgery, multiple sclerosis, kidney failure, paralysis, blindness, deafness, rheumatoid arthritis, benign brain tumour, loss of limbs, major organ transplant (or on waiting list), Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, motor neuron disease (a.k.a. ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), coma, loss of speech, severe burns, occupational HIV infection, late onset insulin dependent diabetes, aortic surgery, heart valve replacement, loss of independence
One could get a lump sum up $2,000,000 paid thirty days after diagnoisis. This money has no effect on any disability payments…meaning one’s lifestyle financially would not have to change for quite a period of time.
(more…)
February 27th, 2012 by
Young
I know this isn’t necessarily frugal, nor is it thrifty.. nor does it relate to personal finance. As many of you know, I have a passion for travel (speaking of short term goals, my travel savings account has officially exceeded my emergency savings- how’s that for an emergency fund FAIL? 
).. and I’m nosy. So I was curious to know what your preference for travel style is.
I must admit, I have never gone to an all-inclusive resort before but the idea certainly intrigues me (on my bucket list before I die…is to go into one of those swim up bars and get my mai tai).
To me (and these are just my thoughts), I seem to think that going to a resort where you are served international food (e.g. Japanese food while in Mexico) doesn’t jive with my idea of travel. That being said, I’ve never gone to an all-inclusive before and who knows, maybe I’ll love it so much because it takes the stress out of travel. My mother, she enjoys eating (a lot) and she absolutely loves cruises (she’s been all over the world and the best trip she’s ever had is an Alaskan cruise where she got to eat that Baked Alaskan Pie) . I have never gone on a cruise ship and I’m worried that I would feel claustrophobic, sea sick, and want to put my feet on land. That and I would worry about the captain crashing the cruise ship into an island while trying to impress a waiter on his deck 
I suppose my idea of travel relates to immersing oneself in the culture, meeting new people, seeing the parts of that country that makes traveling so special to me. The other part of travel that I absolutely enjoy is buying perishable goods overseas (e.g. spices, tea etc.) to take home to my friends.
Here is a list of the PROS and CONS of Resorts vs Exploration with incorporation of cost (well, this is a PF blog after all)
Resorts
PROS:
- You don’t have to worry about anything
- Everything is paid for upfront (flight + accommodation + food)
- Alcohol is included (that’s a big plus, right?)
- Safe (except if you’re a Canadian in a Mexican resort and start some sort of fight in the club)
- You have the option to explore
- Less fighting with your significant other because there is nothing to do except to relax
- I would think a resort would be relaxing
- Time for reading, down time
- Supports the tourism industry in that country big time
- Did I mention less arguing with your significant other?
CONS
- Difficult to make sure you have the “best price” because they seem to fluctuate all the time
- You often need a 4+ start resort in order for it to be somewhat decent and without tarantulas, lizards, or large cockroaches in your hotel room
- Less chance for cultural immersion
- Less change to learn a new language because you won’t be using it
- In a way, I find that it feels like “inauthentic” travel because one might not be seeing the “real” side of the country (e.g. poverty)
Exploration Style
PROS:
- Cultural immersion
- Try new things
- You might be able to save more money if you backpack around, bus around, and sleep in hostels
- Higher chance to learn the language
- It can be fun bargaining (but not too harshly because remember, that’s not fair to the people of the country you’re visiting!)
- You get to pretend to be cool because you’re carrying around a Lonely Planet book (haha!)
- Opportunity to see the real country, take beautiful photos etc.
CONS:
- It can be tiring and you might feel you need a vacation after the vacation!
- Takes longer time because you need time to plan, travel to the destination you’re seeing etc.
- Unexpected costs can add up (e.g. paying for a whole new scooter because you dented it slightly)
- Higher risk to get swindled and taken advantage of because you are a foreigner (but that’s half the fun, right?)
- Increased chance to disagree with your significant other because you want to go to the Anne Frank House and he wants to go to the Heneiken experience museum and there is a limited amount of time (*ahem* speaking from experience *cough cough*)
Readers, what is your traveling style, especially if you’ve tried both? Do you enjoy relaxing in resorts or exploring new places on your own? Which one have you found to be more friendly on the wallet?
February 24th, 2012 by
Young
I have a confession to make. The other day, I was being completely unfrugal and impulsive and I bought $30 worth of flowers. Yes, that’s right, flowers for my front garden. I bought some primulas, some tulips, and a planter full of flowers to brighten up the entrance in the backyard. I hope this isn’t a step towards trying to keep up with the Jones’ and having a decent looking front lawn. I was just getting tired of winter (and the rain) and it was the first nice, sunny day in a L-O-N-G time.
Was it shopping therapy disguised in aesthetically pleasing flowers? I don’t know.
What is your cure for the winter blues?
My fellow frugal friends, are you guilty of this from time-to-time too?
PF Blog Love
February 22nd, 2012 by
Young
This is a post by Teacher Man from My University Money. My awesome staff writer who has graduated from college more recently than me. Enjoy!
Finding a career after graduation
If you were lucky (or smart enough) to choose a career path that was in demand while you were going through post-secondary education, then congratulations, you’re transition into the working world will be made a whole lot easier. For those of us who chose to become “well-rounded” students and take courses of study that had a less-defined labour market (ie: we’re not really directly qualified for anything) the journey can be a little more interesting. In my specific case I was in the position of being qualified for a very specific job (high school humanities teacher) that is not even remotely in demand.
Those Who Can’t Dig… Teach
Here is a great case study for post-post-secondary schooling. I graduated with a B.A. and a Bachelor of Education (after 150 very long credit hours). Several of my friends graduated with a Bachelor of Science with a major in Geological Sciences (B.Sc, G.Sc) (120 credit hours) and so I was privy to their after school plans. I spent my whole last year in a fairly constant state of worry as more and more information and vague gossip about the job market poured into our tower of academia. To put it mildly, the outlook was not good, specifically for someone like myself who is not bilingual, and has shied away from the sciences. I studiously prepared for the shark tank of job market I was about to be released into (more on that later) and generally took nothing for granted. My buddies on the other hand spent their whole last semester being wined and dined by big wigs from various mining companies. Apparently this whole taking stuff out of the ground thing is pretty lucrative! For them, finding a career or job after university was about choosing the path they wanted to start down within their industry. Their options allowed them to pick the company that best fit their preferences. As you might imagine, this was definitely different from my experience.
Wait, I Can’t Drop This and Take It Again Next Year?
The transition from being a student, to being a prospective employee was a humbling and scary for me. I had interviewed for several summer jobs over the years, but my core identity revolved around me being a student and the subsequent structure that was a part of that life. I knew that every fall school would commence, every spring it would let out, and in between, the exam and test dates were usually pretty similar year-in and year-out. I figured out how to “play the game” that is post-secondary schooling, and once you have a pretty good grasp of how to achieve success in that arena, it is a pretty straight forward “rinse-and-repeat” process. While the light at the end of the tunnel looks great when you’re striving to get there, when you’re suddenly thrown into it, everyone reacts differently. For me, the loss of immediate control was very disorienting. No longer was my success in my hands. In school, I knew that if I followed a certain criteria set I would be rewarded. This whole notion of trying to appeal to people (school principals and superintendents) that I had no connection to was not a good feeling for me.
That Shiny Diploma/Degree On Your Wall Isn’t That Unique
(more…)
February 20th, 2012 by
Young
Hello fellow personal finance readers. I go by the pen name “Teacher Man” due to the fact that I recently graduated from university and am in my second year of teaching high school. About 9 months ago my partner and I started a website called My University Money. It is aimed at helping young people (with a specific focus on post-secondary students) and just talking about financial and student lifestyle issues in general. Young & Thrifty was one of the first bloggers to really reach out to us and give us a little recognition when we were just starting off. When I read that Y & T was hitting a busy patch in life I offered to do a little staff writing for her, and she graciously accepted. Hopefully you readers don’t notice THAT much of a drop-off from the typical high quality posts you’ve come to enjoy here!
Since it’s Family Day in Alberta, Ontario, and Sasketchewan, I thought it would be appropriate to include a post on RESP’s! (DEAR BC do you hear that? Everyone else is having Family Day except for us).
The RESP – An Intergenerational Gift
Over on my site we constantly talk about Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) and how they are basically our favourite economic tool ever. I LOVE the idea of a government program that is truly a “hand up” instead of a “hand out,” and that’s exactly what a RESP brings to the table. For those of you that aren’t familiar with RESPs, the basic idea is that the government wants to help parents to save for college. So what they do is open up an account that is more like the TFSA than the RRSP actually. Parents can put money away for their children’s post-secondary education (which includes a huge array of programming options), and use this account to invest the money and not pay any taxes on the investment income. The original contribution is not tax-deductible like an RRSP, and the investment income is taxed as income for the student when it is taken out, which basically means no tax is paid, because the vast majority of students don’t earn enough to exceed the basic tax exemption. The best part of the plan, is that in addition to this tax shelter, the government will literally match 20% of your contribution, up to $500 per year ($7200 lifetime). An automatic 20% return on your investment (called the Canada Education Savings Grant)! Your money, plus the government money, gets to grow tax-free in that nice little account waiting for your little one to graduate. If they choose not to continue into post-secondary, there are several options available to switch the money to a sibling, or to move the money over to an RRSP and simple lose the government contribution. Saskatchewan loves the program so much they are now offering their own little top-up to the plan from their own government coffers! I love this plan because it rewards those that take responsibility for their child’s education, and offers strong incentive to invest in our futures.
Just Open An Account Already – It’s So Easy!
(more…)
32
comments