Finance Gets Personal

Well, we tried our hardest, but there was no BFP (big fat positive) pregnancy test to be had at the end of my first cycle of charting.

I did learn some interesting things about my body through recording my basal body temperature and other fertility signs though. For instance, I ovulated on day 16 of my cycle - slightly later than the day 14 average. And, more importantly, my luteal phase between ovulation and menstruation was only 9 days, for a total cycle length of 25 days. That is bad news, girlies (and boys who haven’t already clicked the “back” button)!

The average luteal phase is between 12-16 days, and 9 days is not long enough for an embryo to implant in the utereus before the lining starts to shed. A short luteal phase can be a sign of low progesterone, the hormone that takes over once you ovulate. Low progesterone can also lead to early miscarriages in those who do achieve pregnancy.

Luckily, this problem is usually easily treated - I just need to go see my OB/GYN and have some tests run.

But wouldn’t you know it, there’s a small problem: My insurance doesn’t cover infertility treatment!!!!!!

Now, I’m not (quite) freaking out yet, because I want to see what my cycle does this month. Although your luteal phase doesn’t usually change from month to month, I want to make sure the first time wasn’t an anomaly. Meanwhile, I’m taking 50 mg of vitamin B6, which is supposed to be a natural way of lengthening your luteal phase.

But the lack of insurance coverage ticks me off, and I’m also ticked at myself for not thinking about it sooner. You see, I only use my employer’s health insurance plan because it’s about $100 less per year than being added to my husband’s insurance, which does cover infertility, and also has a slightly lower co-pay. I can switch to my husband’s insurance plan, but without a major life event (like, ahem, having a baby) I won’t be able to do so until January 1. And since we’ve already used all of our health care flex savings for the year, I’m not very flush with medical money at the moment.

So, my current plan is to take my vitamins, have well-timed sex and try not to think too much about it until that bitchy old hag makes her next visit.

 
This afternoon, an unexpected hail storm blew through town. Seeing as how I was at work and we have uncovered parking, there was little I could do to protect my car (except run through the parking lot in high heels while dodging ice pellets and move my car into the underground parking garage across the street - which I watched others do to my great amusement).

So, I’m standing at the window in my boss’ office, listening to the hail pound against the building and thinking, “How much is my deductible again? How large does hail have to be to damage a car? Approximately what coin-size is the hail accumulating on the window sill? Dime? Nickel? Why are coins the standard measurement of hail anyway? My husband parks in a garage at work right? Because $500 plus $500 is $1,000. Thank God I didn’t raise my deductible to $1,000 - that would be $2,000!”

At that point, a coworker joined us and exclaimed that she was so glad she’d kept her deductible at $250 instead of raising it to $500, because that would have been $1,000 for both her and her husband’s cars.

This got me thinking some more. “Am I making a mistake by not having a $250 deductible? How many times have I had to pay my deductible - let’s see, once when that rock off a trucker’s tire broke my windshield (actually, I think I paid out of pocket for that one), once when my husband hit that car at a red light, once when I smashed my car into a pole during a snowstorm…”

However, after examining my car and finding no dents (hooray!), I’ve come to the conclusion that $500 is the perfect deductible for me.

Think about it: With a $250 deductible, you’re going to claim any little thing that happens to your car, which will drive up the price of your premium. By choosing a $500 deductible, you won’t be tempted to claim small amounts of damage (in fact, I would probably pay up to $800 out-of-pocket before making a claim to avoid the years of higher premiums). After all, car insurance is meant to cover catastrophic financial events, not a little dent in your hood.

So why not raise my deductible to $1,000, you ask? Well, for one, $1,000 is typically all of the money I have in my emergency savings since I’m working on getting out of debt. Two, I inquired about the price and it would only save me about $30 every six months. Perhaps when I’m well-off, I’ll self-insure for amounts less than a couple grand.

So there you have it: My virtually math-free way to determine which deductible is right for you.

(This post was included in the Money Hacks Carnival, hosted at Be Thrifty Like Us)

Photo Credit: Hail in Vancouver by Andriy Mishchenko, used under Creative Commons licensing

If you’ve listened to the Dave Ramsey Show for any amount of time, you know he is constantly recommending Identity Theft Protection from Zander Insurance. Every time the subject of identity theft comes up, he gives a little spiel about how he’s purchased it for everyone on his team. But why would he recommend this product?

Obviously, Zander Insurance is a paid advertiser of the Dave Ramsey Show. That’s clear from his website (though not always clear on the show). But Dave says he only endorses products he truly believes in, so we’ll assume that he actually feels this product is beneficial to his listeners.

Zander Insurance’s website says the company provides the following services to its Identity Theft Protection Customers:

Protection

• A personalized protection test to see how vulnerable you are to identity theft (Sample question: “Do you use a crosscut paper shredder on credit card bills/offers, bank checks/statements, and other documents with personal information (e.g., Social Security, credit card, and driver’s license numbers) before throwing them away?”)
• Monthly newsletters and scam alerts
• Links to the Opt-Out/Pre-Screen and Do Not Call Registries, and information about how to place a fraud alert (visit AnnualCreditReport.com and click on “Fraud Alert”) or credit freeze (send a written request with a copy of your ID to each of the three credit reporting agencies: Equifax Security Freeze, P.O. Box 105788, Atlanta, Georgia 30348; Experian, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, Texas 75013; TransUnion, Fraud Victim Assistance Department, P.O. Box 6790 Fullerton, CA 92834)

Recovery

• If your identity is stolen, a Personal Recovery Advocate to develop a damage assessment and recovery plan, handle any creditor dispute resolutions, continue to monitor credit bureau activity, work to remove any criminal or civil judgments, and provide information to the FTC and other government agencies

Reimbursement

• Reimbursement for lost income and expenses associated with an identity theft (i.e., legal expenses, long distance fees, overnight charges, etc.), up to $20,000

Here is the statistic Dave uses to justify purchasing a policy: According to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s (ITRC) “Identity Theft: The Aftermath 2006″ study, victims spend an average of 600 hours recovering from this crime.

Wow, how horrible. But I looked up the ITRC’s study, and here’s what the press release about it says:

In The Aftermath 2006, victims spent an average of 97 hours repairing the damage done by identity theft to an existing account used or taken over by the thief.

In cases where a new account was created, respondents in the 2006 study reported an average of 231 hours to clean up the mess. In some cases, respondents used such expressions “eight years and still working on it,” “too many to count” or “endless.”

Hmm, not exactly 600 hours, is it?

Why would Dave tell people trying to get out of debt to make their own meals, fix their own roof, mow their own lawn, etc., but then turn around and tell them to pay a company $72 per year to clean up a mess that hasn’t occurred yet?

Frankly, it’s beyond me.

If you’d like more information about why buying identity theft insurance is a dumb idea, please read Single Ma’s post, Is Identity Theft Insurance Worth the Cost?, at Fabulous Financials.

Now if you’d excuse me, I’ve got to go shred some papers (don’t you just love the way it smells when you grind up eight sheets at a time?).

*I mean, “Protection”
This is not an insurance product.
This is an administrative services contract, with restoration and ancillary reimbursement benefits, issued by Identity Safeguards, Inc. and in connection with Zander Insurance Group providing enrollment and preventative database management services.