<p>So far I’ve been waiving everything to save money but, as per a recent thread, I’ve decided to go through with a few things. But I still don’t know what’s “worth it” for me because I’ve rarely been to the doctor/dentist/etc my whole life and so, to compensate, I’ve just tried to be as healthy as I can. </p>
<p>Recently, for instance, I just got new glasses/eye exam and everything seemed healthy, etc. But I’d like to have stuff done for teeth/maybe get a checkup?/etc.</p>
<p>I have these options to look into (I’m leaving out stuff I will waive like Auto Insurance, as I do not drive):</p>
<p>Medical, Dental, Vision, Optional Life Insurance, Group Umbrella Liability Insurance, Optional LTD, Health Care Flexible Spending Acct.</p>
<p>Congratulations you got to the next stage.
every thing else going well?</p>
<p>Many of the “benefits” are not optional but offer levels of service that you may pay for above the minimum required.</p>
<p>Take the mimimum amount of life insurance and then go out and purchase your own private term life, NOT, 1 year term. Reason: If you leave the company for any reason, you may lose the company’s life insurance just when you may need it the most. A private policy may be actually be less expensive on a per thousand amount than if you bought to company’s plan. </p>
<p>Take the LTD. If you only take the STD, and you have a disability lasting more than the STD (6 months), you will generally be taken off the employment roll and you will be on your own --with no means of paying for the other benefits that go along with COBRA, life insurance, dental, etc. Cost for LTD is minor in relation to its benefit.</p>
<p>Without a doubt I would take dental. You’d be floored to know how much a crown can cost…bite into a pretzel rod, break a filling, need a crown and it is close to 1K. </p>
<p>Additionally, just from a medical standpoint, there are things that our mouths tell us before signs appear…i.e. cancer. A checkup done 2x a yr can cost about 200 bucks, it has always been worth it to our family to have dental.</p>
<p>In our family Dental and Vision are the programs we buy the best insurance for, our other programs are the std programs. Then again I have 3 kids, and 2 with glasses, so that is my priority. If it is you and you have no vision issues, take the std, but I would always suggest take the dental if they offer it.</p>
<p>I agree with longprime, buy your own insurance and take LTD.</p>
<p>In my view, life insurance is only important if you have someone (spouse, children, etc.) financially dependent on you. So if you are single with out children I see no need to purchase life insurance, though if your employer provides it for free there is no need not to take it. </p>
<p>If you do have someone financially dependent on you, then you need to do a serious evaluation of how much life insurance is appropriate. It is likely that the company paid-for minimum life insurance (1 to 2x salary, typically) would not be enough in this instance. There are a large number of “how much life insurance do I need” calculators out there on the web. Many of them are sponsored by life insurance companies, and I’ve often felt that they are biased in calculating that you should buy a very large life insurance policy.</p>
<p>Agree with the above posters that LTD is something you should sign up for.</p>
<p>I would add onto this, if you are married and have dependents buy life insurance for the spouse too, even if they don’t work. People don’t realize what if the primary care giver dies, that means they will have to pay for help, so buy a term policy until the children would be old enough not to need day care.</p>
<p>Think about it…what would it cost to put 2 children in daycare full time per yr even if they were a stay at home Mom who never made a penny, you would be hit fiscally because now you have a new expense.</p>
<p>Disability insurance, both long and short term, is much more important for a young person than is life insurance. Until about age 55 or so, you are much more likely to become disabled than to die from an accident. When you are disabled, not only does your income cease, but your expenses can go up dramatically. You need to have a way to pay for those expenses.</p>
<p>For vision and dental insurance, see how much the premiums are, and what limits there are on the coverage. Then calculate how much it’d cost to get the routine services you’re likely to use (2 x dental cleaning, 1 vision exam per year, etc.). If the premium is well over the routine amounts, I’d pass on it. Although crowns may be expensive, if you need one in 5 years, you’ll have the money you saved on the premiums to pay for it. Once you’re older and more likely to need non-routine care, you can pick it up through your employer.</p>
<p>If your company offers a high deductible medical plan, that might be a good option for you. I would get dental and READ THE FINE PRINT. Sometimes restorative work (i.e. crowns) are not covered for 12 months. Get LTD. Best to get this before anything is wrong with you. I would skip the life insurance or just get a small amount.</p>
<p>I went ahead and chose basic medical and dental – came out to arund $40/pay period or about $960/year. It would seem that I am already covered for STD and covered for LTD up to 40% of salary – the “Optional LTD” seems to be an additional component. Skipped life insurance because I am not really sure how I’d benefit from it, esp w/no dependents.</p>
<p>LongPrime: Things have been quite a bit better, thanks for asking – slowly making my way up, haha. XD</p>
<p>If you are young & healthy & have no dependents, you can consider an inexpensive life policy that protects your insurability. Sounds like a sales technique, but I see people all the time who are surprised when their health changes, you are healthy, you are in great shape, until you’re not.</p>
<p>I had a guy who had a 2 year old preferred plus rate plan who applied for more and was declined, HepC had developed in the two years. I have countless stories about men in their 40s & 50s whose amazing health changes But I see it with younger people, too, a 20 something with colitiis just Dx, any college kid who experiments with tobacco and ends up a smoker, a college kid who gets caught with any drugs, even a young person who gains weight.</p>
<p>Just an example, a $500k policy for a 25 year old guy can be had with 20-30 year guarantees for $250-$400 and $50 less annually for a female. If you are able to afford your monthly bills and feel in a stable situation, it can be a good next step. But at your age, I would not buy life insurance until you’ve covered the rest of your obligations and are comfortable with your new budget.</p>
<p>Since you are in the financial field: All insurance is a future’s option (typically a Call). You get it when you don’t need it. </p>
<p>Since you don’t have a car, you can not buy auto insurance.
However, if you should ever rent a car, buy the offered insurance.</p>
<p>We bought LI in DS’s name, relatively a lot of LI for a single with no dependents and money in the bank/retirement. It’s not for him, it’s for our future grandkids. (He hasn’t gotten the hint yet, and he’s paying for the policy )</p>
<p>You are right in saying that insurance is typically something you get when you may not immediately need it, but my mindset is more of a “Will I <em>ever</em> need it?” If we model it by utility we see that it’s always a good idea to insure against low-probability high-impact occurrences, but usually the costs are low to account for this. Some insurance policies, to me, seem to cover unlikely downfalls but at a cost that I don’t consider very nominal, hence my hesitations.</p>
<p>legend - I can make an example for you regarding insurance…someone i know. extremely healthy… got in a car accident… spent 3 weeks in a hospital, 3 more weeks in a rehab facility… a full month home bound where physical therapists had to come to her… this happened back in april and she’s finally up and walking on her own and pretty much fully healed (thank goodness)… but can you imagine the costs of those bills without insurance? Hundreds of thousands of dollars, literally. for something that came virtually out of nowhere.</p>
<p>Max, you should consider the level of LTD you need. I recall that you do not have family who can support you financially very effectively if you were to have a period when you are laid up… you would want to be in a position to keep your apartment and pay basic expenses for a period of time if something happens. By the way, glad to hear everything is going well! :)</p>
<p>It’s relatively easy to save enough money to pay for burial costs, and if the money is in a bank account, it also doubles as a emergency or rainy day fund which is highly recommended.</p>
<p>Buying a life insurance policy doesn’t help other non-death emergencies, like a plane ticket to see a loved one, dead computer, etc, etc.</p>
<p>Buy the least amount you are comfortable with buying. Health insurance is about the only must have. Life a low-risk life, take care of health, and be safe.</p>
<p>Note: Health insurance does not mean dental and vision. Neither of these are necessary.</p>
<p>LongPrime: I don’t think that credit market response is appropriately analogous to what I am describing, but I do agree with your underlying points. It ultimately seems to be a question of “How much should I really forgo in immediate gains for protection.” For me, I’m not entirely certain. I’ve been pretty safe, generally speaking, but I do understand that things can always go wrong.</p>
<p>ellemenope: I don’t have family – otherwise I wouldn’t be asking these questions here, haha. I’ve asked friends of mine these questions but most of them just say “I just get what my parents tell me to get, really,” which doesn’t help me much – so I come here for more indepth answers.</p>
<p>babyontheway: Health I definitely agree with as being necessary, but why do you think dental isn’t necessary?</p>
<p>Agree that if someone is dependent on you, buy term life insurance in large enough amount to accomplish what you desire. Fidelity sells term life online at moderate prices. If you are married, and if you have children or one on the way, you need covereage for your wife. If she dies it will cost you 30K-40K per year–at least–to replace her support. </p>
<p>Long term disability is tricky to buy. The insurance companies have lots of people selling policies that are good for them and not great for you. Save enough, as quickly as possible, so that you can support yourself with no income for a year. Find a long term disability policy that does not follow the “sales template”. By that I mean, salesmen tell you that “this policy begins paying you within a week after you become disabled”. They then tell you that the payments will stop after a year or so because “statistics show that at that point most people either return to work, or they have died”. I bought a policy that was structured not to begin paying until I’d been disabled for a year, and that didn’t stop until I was very very old. To me, that was what I needed help protecting against. I can handle the first couple of months on my own, thanks. And since its so unlikely that such a disability will occur (one that woudn’t be overcome within a year or so), its a lot cheaper to insure against. The salesman just won’t want to sell it because they don’t cost enough.</p>
But I see it with younger people, too, a 20 something with colitiis just Dx, any college kid who experiments with tobacco and ends up a smoker, a college kid who gets caught with any drugs, even a young person who gains weight.</p>
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