Recent content by brianinsf

While not 50 when I went off Cobra last month my conversion plan went from around $340 per month on Cobra to $660 per month on the high deductible plan or $875 for the same coverage. The conversion rate was still better than I could get on the open market thanks to pre-existing conditions.

I think the main thing you need to do is make sure you have enough of a cash cushion to support going a few months without a tenant in the units or major repair costs. Murphy's Law says that everything that shouldn't break will all break at the same time resulting in poor cash flow. It seems...

Ok, this is the wrong weekend to brig this up but, the other big elephant in the room is the two wars and one Nato action we are currently engaged in. We have spent almost 1.2 Trillion spent on the two wars (source: costofwar.com). Until we get that spending under control we have no chance on...

norcal, Welcome from SF and a member of the family. I recommend using mint for the budgeting. once you set it up it's pretty much no work other than making sure things end up in the correct budgets. If you use CC's or Debit Cards for most transactions it's painless. Cash is a bit more of a pain...

We were in an "at will" employment state and a written resignation letter wasn't required in normal times. When discussion about the rumors about an impending layoff came up in a staff meeting I made sure to tell my staff not to volunteer. Other managers saw it as an opportunity to get rid of...

I would say dropping hints is as far as you want to go. We went through almost yearly layoffs in the 90's and the last 5 or so I was a manager and we were given instructions to treat anyone "volunteering" for a package as a resignation and had to walk them out the door the same day without the...

pletal, It may be best to ask your question in the Hi I am... or Fire and Money section as it's own topic. The same info along with your spending will get better traction...

The relevant codes on the 1099-R, at least on my conversion, are: Box 7 Distribution code = 2 IR/SEP simple box checked. Might also need box 2b checked in both boxes (Taxable amount not determined and total distribution)

If you can keep your spending at your current rates and inflation stays low you can last for quite a while. It may be difficult to keep your spending down at the 10K (adjusted for inflation) level. One or two trips back to the US would blow your budget pretty easily. At a interest rate of 1.15%...

If you are real then it sounds like you are going through minor depression. The change from work to retirement can be huge if you're not ready for it. It sounds like you didn't have much of a plan before you decided to jump ship. You need to get out and meet people, being introverted that can...

Amazing savings and with three kids to boot. You're on your way...

That's leaving in 7 days :) , the trip should last 6 months...

Sounds like a great trip. Must be the summer for bike rides. I'll be doing a loop ride around the perimeter of the US in 7 days. brian

I was there once at the start of summer. It's sounds like a much better time to cycle around there. I'm getting ready for an around the U.S. loop ride in 7 days. It's one of the reasons I E.R. from mega corp. Hard to take 6 months off work without someone pitching a fit. The blog will be at...

I had been using Mint but my Chase accounts stopped updating. Given that the CC I use is Chase based it made it pretty much worthless. They are coming up 60 days without an update to these account. Sending in a question to the support team returns a form letter "we're working on it" but nothing...