During retirement, many things change. More free time may be the most obvious change, but there are also other lifestyle adjustments, including the switch to a fixed income. Retirement is a good time to review insurance needs and make sure that your current coverage is still appropriate for your new lifestyle.
If you no longer commute to and from work each day, that may drastically reduce your annual mileage. Check with your company to see if you qualify for a low mileage discount, once you’ve started a new routine. Another consideration is the number of cars necessary for the household. If previously each spouse needed a car to get to work, upon retirement it may be possible to get rid of one of those cars which would not only reduce the insurance required but also provide at least a small amount of cash upon sale. If selling a car, it is worth looking at the features of all available cars before deciding which one to sell. Some car insurance companies offer discounts for safety features such as multiple air bags or anti-theft devices. Retain the vehicle which offers the best combination of safety features, gas mileage, and policy discounts.
Many states also require insurance companies to offer discounts for drivers who complete a Defensive Driving course. It’s never too late to learn good strategies for safe driving – and often the insurance discount will more than pay for the cost of the course over two to three years. Taking a course like this by no means indicates that you’re a bad driver – it’s just an easy way of saving more money!
If you pay your insurance premiums by writing a monthly or quarterly check, your insurance company probably charges a small service fee or installment fee with each payment. But, if you choose to have your payments deducted automatically from your checking or savings account using Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), you will save the cost of the payment processing fee. If your fee is $3.00 per payment, you’ll save over $30 a year – and every dollar helps on a fixed income.
Companies offer many different auto insurance policies, and even if you’ve been with the same company for twenty years and are quite pleased with the services provided, it still is worth taking a look at what else is available when retirement arrives. While the basic services are generally the same, the prices can vary widely. Some companies offer special auto insurance discounts to seniors, and many also offer defensive driving and driver training classes that can reduce premiums.
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Filed under insurance by on Jan 6th, 2011. Comment. 
How do I get medical assistance?
I keep having seizures, I’m unemployed and don’t have health insurance.
How do I go about getting some type of medical assistance so that I can go to a doctor? (I live in Baltimore, MD)
Call 211, which is a help line that can connect you to social services available in your community. They should be familiar with what is available in your community and what you qualify for. Best of luck!
Filed under Health Insurance by on Aug 13th, 2010. Comment.
While everyone is talking about gun toting VP candidates, “lipstick on a pig” and “drill baby drill” the real issues of the economy such as energy independence, foreign policy, education and healthcare take a back seat.
A lesser known issue is the McCain plan for health care. With the free market and less regulation clearly a failure (Lehman Bros., Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Bear Stearns, Enron etc.) the Mc Cain plan would dismantle the employer sponsored group health insurance system by forcing employees out on their own to be insured in the “free market” and take policies that require underwriting, cost sharing, high deductibles and of course, higher premiums.
How so? The group plan would first become taxable to the employee. The employer would be required to withhold the tax money from the employee’s paycheck. Younger, healthier employees will not want money withheld and will go without insurance or seek an individual health plan for themselves leaving older, less healthy employees on the group plan until the premiums become so expensive the employer drops the plan altogether. Then the older employees will have to search for individual health insurance in the individual market as well.
And the carrot on the stick? A tax credit in the amount of $2,500 per individual and $5,000 per family allowed to be used to pay for health care and any excess(what excess?) would be deposited into an HSA. With current premiums in the vicinity of $400 per month individual and $1500 per month family, the tax credit would only provide a bandaid for a hemoraghing family budget where health insurance premiums are now a line item along with food, mortgage, heat, gasoline, school etc..
The McCain plan would attempt to drop all State restrictions and regulations on health insurance so that people would be “free” to take a plan in any state. This also means that the state regulations that have protected insured individuals for so long would be removed. Employees would be on their own and unprotected in a free market system designed to profit insurers.
The really scary thing is that this is not a secret. Look up John McCains website and you’ll see the plan. In the first presidential debate Sen. Obama brought up the health plan and McCain ignored him but did not bother to respond. The media have not reported on this at all, yet it potentially affects every person that has a group health plan, including you and your family. So forget the nonsense about lapel buttons, teenage pregnancy, lipstick, “drill baby drill” etc. and pay more attention to this proposal because it could cost us all, blue state or red, dearly. Democrat or republican you must let your local representatives know what you think about this plan.
Alan S. Fernandez is president of Foundation Financial Services with a BBA in Finance and Economics from Iona College, studied under the Life Underwriters Training Council and Certified Financial Planner programs and with 15 years in the insurance industry is a well known problem solver among businesses and individuals alike. He is also an insurance instructor with Citicorp. He can be contacted at afern109@optonline.net or visit the FFS website at http://www.foundationfinancialservicesny.com
Filed under Health Insurance by on Jul 7th, 2010. Comment.