My HSA Eligible HDHP

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Try eHealthInsurance
I switched my health insurance plan to a high deductible health plan(HDHP) that is eligible to be paired with a health savings account(HSA). My deductible only went from $5000 to $5200 a year but the policy is about $120 a year cheaper in addition to being HSA eligible. Not all health insurance with a high deductible is HSA eligible. If a health insurance plan is HSA eligible it will most likely feature that fact in the plan’s description.

I purchased my insurance through eHealthInsurance which makes it easy to compare plans. I set the search to filter out any plans that weren’t HSA eligible and then ordered the plans by price from low to high. This made it easy to find the lowest priced HSA eligible health plan. I’ve found eHealthinsurance to be very easy to use and am happy with their service and I’m not just saying that because they pay me commissions. I haven’t had any problems and needed to use their customer service yet so I can’t really comment on that.

I haven’t opened up an HSA yet. I was planning on setting up my HSA and using it to pay my health insurance premiums but I then discovered that in most instances you can’t use your HSA to pay for your health insurance. I should have done more research before I switched health insurance plans. I’ve decided to put off opening an HSA for now for a couple of reasons. The first is that I don’t need the tax deduction. My income will most likely be below taxable levels this year even without this deduction. I don’t want to tie my money up in an HSA if I’m not getting the benefit of a tax deductions as well. The other reason is that I haven’t been impressed with the HSAs available. Most of them have setup and/or monthly fees with limited investment options. These usually can be waived if you have a sufficient balance in your account but again I don’t want to put too much in an HSA if I’m not getting the benefit of the tax deduction. The HSA looks to be a great way to save money but I don’t think it will work for me right now.

If any of you have an HSA that you are happy with please let me know about it.

Complete Your Character and Fitness Application Early

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You have the option of submitting character and fitness application for the state bar early during your first two years of law school.  You’ll receive a discount of about $200 for filing early.  A more important reason for filing early is to get it out of the way so it is one less thing for you to worry about when you are preparing for graduation and studying for the bar. I didn’t submit my application early and I wish I had. I have not started my application yet but just looking at it I can tell it is going to take a major chunk of time to complete.

One of the requirements of the application is that you list everywhere you have lived since you were 18.  That might not be a big deal for a 25 year old but for a peripatetic 41 year old like me it is going to be a major pain in the ass.  I have lived more places than I can remember.  Hopefully, I will be able to come up with all of the addresses by looking at my credit report and my tax records.  This will take a lot of time though and it isn’t the only part of the application that will require a lot of time.  If you have the option to apply early for your character and fitness determination in your state I highly recommend you do so.

Former Employer Closed Out My 401(k)

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My former employer closed out my 401(k) and sent me a check for the balance.  They didn’t tell me they were going to do this but since I had a balance of $175 in the account I wasn’t surprised that they closed it.  They didn’t withold any taxes from the check.  I believe I’ll owe tax on this money unless I roll it over to a traditional IRA.  I don’t have a traditional IRA and I don’t think it is worthwhile to open one just to contribute such a small amount.  I could put the money in my Roth IRA but I’d still owe taxes on it.  I’m wondering if I will owe a penalty for early distribution.  I’m thinking I shouldn’t since I didn’t initiate the withdrawal but I’m not sure.  My thinking is that I can do whatever I want with this money as long as I declare it as income.  They didn’t close the account until this year so it shouldn’t have any effect on my 2008 taxes.  If anyone has any knowledge of whether my thinking is correct or not or has more information on this subject I’d love to hear it.

Publicity: Good,Bad, and Possible Click Fraud

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Traffic to this blog has skyrocketed over the past couple days due to multiple plugs of some of my posts. First I had a post in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance which is being hosted at The Writer’s Coin. My post “Five Radical Ways for the U.S. Government to Raise Revenue” is the very first one listed which leads to a lot of traffic. The Carnival wasn’t as large as usual this week either which probably also led to more traffic for my post. Next, my post “Five Things You Should Get for Free” was featured on the MSN Smart Spending blog which resulted in a huge surge of traffic. With both of these combined I’m likely to receive about as much traffic in two days as I usually get in a month. My site seems to be handling ok though.

I’ve also received some negative publicity and negative comments. BA posted “The limits of frugality” which is in response to my “I’m Frugal So Why Am I Poor” (part 2), (part 3)series of posts that I wrote shortly after I began this blog. I’m glad to see someone is reading my old posts and I’m pleased to expose them to new readers since I didn’t have many readers when the post was first published. BA is critical of the results of my frugal efforts in the post. For the most part I agree with him. The series was meant to be a critique of the shortcoming of frugality efforts to that point in my life and determine what I needed to change. I don’t agree with his criticism of my future. I’m not sure if he understood that it wasn’t my plan to continue with the same behavior. Also, my definition of success is not the same as most people’s definition. The get married, have 2.5 kids, and work until you’re 65 life is not one I aspire to. I plan to work for myself, have a great relationship with my wonderful GF, and live a life of semi-retirement.

I wrote that series of posts almost two years ago so it is the future now. I like to think I’ve made great progress since then. I have almost two years of expenses saved. I’ll be graduating law school in May. I’ve been dating my GF since last April and I think we will be together for a very long time. I plan to go on a five month hike after I graduate. The difference between this trip and trips in the past is that even while hiking I’ll be making almost enough to cover my expenses. The hike should cause only a small decrease in my savings if it causes a decrease at all.

The other negative thing is that I think people might be fraudulently clicking on my ads. Even with the increased traffic the number of clicks on my ads is absurdly high. I’m wondering if one of my posts has angered someone and they’re trying to cause me to lose my Google account. I’ve removed my Google ads for now and I’ll put them back when my traffic is back to normal levels. Oh well, I guess you have to take the good with the bad.t

A Rather Dramatic First Day of Using Public Transportation

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Today was my first day of using the bus to get to school. I’ve used public transportation in other cities I’ve lived in but I haven’t used it very much here because I’ve always had a car. Now that I’m car free I need to take the bus. I have to take two buses each way to get to school and back. The bus ride to school went fine although I did misread the schedule and cause myself to have to wait an extra 10 minutes for the first bus. I had to wait less than 10 minutes to transfer to the second bus. I like the second bus because it has fewer stops making for a quicker trip. They are also equipped with GPS and there is a sign at the bus stop telling you how many minutes it will be until the next bus arrives. That is a great feature. You don’t have to wonder if the bus is late or on time, you know for sure when the bus will arrive.

The bus ride home didn’t go as smooth. I either have to catch a bus two minutes after my class ends or twenty minutes after my class ends. The bus stop isn’t close enough for me to have a realistic chance of catching the first bus. Catching a bus twenty minutes after class would be fine because that gives me plenty of time to get my stuff together, go to the bathroom or whatever, and still leisurely walk to the bus stop. The problem is this bus arrives at my transfer point about twenty five minutes before the bus I take home arrives. If I could catch the first bus I would just make it to the transfer point in time to catch my second bus. I’m probably not explaining that very clearly but the point is that I have a long wait to transfer buses on my route home. That is just something you have to deal with when you use public transportation.

The drama came on the ride home. A lady had a seizure and the bus driver had to call an ambulance. That obviously kept the bus from continuing on its route. We had to disembark and catch another bus. That would have been about another 10 minute wait. Luckily, I have the best GF in the world and she volunteered to come pick me up.

Overall riding the bus isn’t that bad. It will probably be less dramatic next time. I just need to consult the schedule before I go to minimize my waiting time.