Your (Professional) New Years Tips
It occured to me that all of you really smart folks have jobs...and that you are probably really good at them..and that we could all benefit from your expertise. I was reading some stuff on what do to with your computer at the end of the year, as a good idea on how to keep it clean and running smoothly, and I thought, what about:
- My accounting?
- My legal stuff?
- My health?
- My house?
- Etc...
Anyone feel like playing? Would love to hear what you have to say...only rules are:
- Please keep it to three tips.
- There is not one right answer, if you have more to add to someone else's input, then go for it!
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Comments
As a Doc, I'll pick health:
You're healthy now, but when something goes wrong, it usually goes wrong quickly. That's not the time to be wondering if you can trust your MD. And most athlete people stuff themselves with worthless or even dangerous crap that has no nutiritional or health improvement value.
• Have a Power of Attorney for Health Care. With HIPAA, it is getting harder and harder to tell anyone anything about you if you end up in the ER.
• Have disability insurance to protect yourself and your family in the event of a catastrophe.
• Road ID is a must.
Personal Finance (only 2 bullets for now)--
1. Agree with Mary - have a durable power of attorney for health care
2. Have a living will and convey your wishes to your family so there are no "debates" over your intentions if you are unable to communicate
3. If you do not have a will, have one prepared. If you have a will, review it to make sure it still meets your needs.
As a backup & storage consultant, the only things I can suggest center around data security and accessibility in the event something happens to you. It need not be getting hit by a bus - just getting a concussion or temporary memory loss may necessitate a spouse or someone else needing access to your online world:
1) Find a program to store all your important account login info in, in an encrypted, secure file. I use passwordsafe, but there are others.
2) Sign up for something like dropbox, or use a google drive to store said encrypted file
3) Write down instructions for how to access that file, print out those instructions, and put it in a safe that is accessible by your spouse/partner/someone-you-trust.
The beauty of this is that it is virtually maintenance free - as you add login accounts to the passwordsafe file, the cloud version automatically gets updated, and you don't need to keep a written copy up to date manually. I've heard a lot of stories of something happening to someone, and their relatives/spouses/whatevers go through hell and back to try to get information they need for insurance and financial purposes.
I'm also paranoid enough that we have a safe with a key and a code - with a spare key at my parents house, and the code at my in-laws house. Two factor authentication (cuz those inlaws and parents can't be trusted!)
How on earth do I make a GOOD long island iced tea that actually tastes at least remotely like iced tea, but without tasting like god-awful alcohol?! I know it can be done - I've had them. Just not any I've made.
Perhaps the quality of my ingredients is sub-par?
As the in haus adventurer, you only need 4 items with which to fix any problem in the modern world:
Set up a medical directive
Have your personal insurance looked at.
Get long term disability insurance.
As noted above, use a password manager. I gave the password to that to me 21 year old daughter (yes I trust her!).
Do something that scares you.
Oops - too many tips
1. Find a mechanic you trust and then trust your mechanic.
2. Change your engine oil every 3,000 miles. I don't care what your manual says you go. 3,000 mile oil changes is cheap insurance.
3. When you have your oil changed by your trusted mechanic, he will do a complete inspection. Everything else you need to know about your vehicle will be explained by that inspection.
I have many more, but coach limited me to three things.
Ryan-I was thinking about this topic on the way home from work today as I saw my life before my eyes when the "AH' cut me off-I really need to make sure my spouse has all this locked up somewhere! Is passwordsafe really easy to use?
1. Brush your teeth.
2. Floss your teeth.
3. Don't drink soda.
That'll be $200.
Aim high in steering ( dont just focus on the car in front of you )
Get hell off the phone/texting while driving
Watch out for others... bikes, bikers and people.
1. Don't set your house on fire
2. Don't set yourself on fire
3. Stop, Drop, And Roll should #2 occur
1. If you're over 50 look into long term care insurance...quickest way to watch your entire nest egg disappear is for you or your spouse to end up in a nursing home for a couple of years. Be warned, it's not cheap, but for most companies the cost curve starts bending up around 50-55, so you need to do it sooner rather than later if you're going to. In our state the fastest growing portion of the state budget is medicaid and the fastest growing portion of medicaid is long term care...you don't want to have to go broke and rely on the state do you?
2. Ditto refi your mortgage, and set it to be paid off around when you want to quit working. Retiring without a house payment significantly reduces how much you are likely to need to live on in retirement. I redid 2 mortgages 6 months ago...one at 2.875, one at 2.75, both for 15 years. That's almost free money!
3. Recheck your disability insurance. Big cause of bankruptcy is health problems, and it's not the medical bills that get people, it's the fact that they can't work, don't have disability insurance, and their mortgage and other bills swamp their savings. You probably have some coverage at work, but it might not be enough, especially if you're the only person in the family making an income
oh yeah...since I'm licensed, don't take this as personal advice...consult a professional concerning your individual situation!
My job is professional stay-at-home Dad.
My tips:
1) Tell your kids you love them.
2) Give them hugs.
3) If you do nothing all day, just make sure the kitchen is tidy before Wife gets home from work.
1. Stretch out on your foam roller 2x a day minimum with roller along spine and supporting head- lifting arms overhead and to the side to stretch thoraci spine- tuck chin in while doing this.
2. Take frequent posture breaks from your computer, realign head over spine, chin tucked in, shoulders back- keep elbows at sides while using the mouse. If arm is out in front of you unsupported you will overuse your neck, shoulder and back.
3. Always always get up and change positions during the day.
As an FBI Agent who specializes in Financial and Economic Crime (think Securities Fraud, Bank Fraud, and Corporate Fraud):
and don't eat yellow snow.
@BobMcC -- Too funny! I just had that very conversation with my 12yr old daughter tonight at dinner!
(1) Assume that all your e-mails, texts, blogs, facebooks and forum posts, and basically all electronically stored information, is public and will remain in existence eternally.
(2) If it isn't in writing, it doesn't exist. Oral contracts and modifications are generally valid, but impossible to prove effectively and cheaply.
(3) Read things carefully and completely before signing them. "I didn't read it" is generally not a defense.