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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...

FD, Hard drives in a Camcorder were a good idea when memory was expensive but now, not so much. If you want something to last, less moving parts are a good thing. One small jolt when the camera is writing to the drive and the HDD is toast and any scratches on the housing will be seen as "abuse"...

If you are interested in going for an off-brand model the SupercamHD meets most of your needs. They were selling at MacWorld (I picked one up $300) and were also at CES. The one they are selling is true 1920x1080p with an 8GB camera built-in. So far I can't find much wrong with this Camcorder...

Welcome to the boards....

if the "special buttons" still work on your existing some of the universal remotes can "learn" those codes by pointing your remote at it and putting it into learn mode. You can assign this to one of the free buttons on the remote. The other option would be go for one of the high end Harmony...

I've replaced mine with a universal remote. I was able to get rid of 2 other remotes by using the universal. It was even $4 cheaper than a replacement of the one that broke.

Given you age and spending levels I would go with funding the Roth. Might as well make time work for you and keep the money out of what you see as available for spending. Not having access to it would make me less likely to spend it on the really sweet 55" LDC TV that I don't need but might...

Ken, good luck and it sounds like you've got the right mindset to jump out of the rat race and try something different. Making the move with kids to fund through life will take some creative planning. It will be interesting to see how things work out for you going forward. Brian

Steve, Congrats and I can understand about getting out of Chicago. I don't miss the winters. It's a great city in the spring and fall. I've got 2 months and 4 days to go (but who's counting)

Sound investing, team based out of Seattle that focuses on asset allocation and no-load mutual funds. They have a pod-cast available at FundAdvice.com - Radio It get's a little repetitive week after week but they drive home the basics. They do a good job of balance between pushing the idea and...

Jay, I would recommend writing a letter to the CEO of both companies. The executive relations teams can make exceptions much easier than lower parts of the org. At least that's how it works at my soon to be not current company.