Escape Insurance Due

Well, the insurance was due for the Escape - for a grand total of $1,183.

That's a couple hundred less then the Kia.  So annually, for both vehicles it's a grand total of $2,529. So we need to be saving at least $210/month to be able to do the lump sum next year.  I had guessed about $250 before we had all the totals, so not too shabby.

Insurance

I'm not sure what automobile insurance is like outside of Alberta and BC but I can tell you that it's wayyyyyy cheaper in Alberta.

The renewal came up for the Kia so we got organized to switch the policy over - for comparable coverage it's going to be $418 more a year.  On top of that, they charge a premium to pay monthly, unlike Alberta where they just divide the premium by 12.

So, we paid the $1,346 upfront.

The Escape is up for renewal next month... So I'm sure it'll be about the same again. 

Life Insurance 2.0

I've written quite a few times about life insurance - I know it's something we need...but now that we have Little Man, I'm feeling a lot more pressing urgency to get it taken care of.  There was a medical issue that we needed to get more information on before we felt like we could confidently pursue it, but now that we have some answers - we can go ahead.

I've got some initial quotes from a Sunlife Representative, but want to do a bit more research before we settle on things.

I would love to hear what you guys pay and for what kind of insurance.  I would also love to hear people's thoughts on critical life insurance too.

I still feel like Jordan and I would be wise to have somewhere in the neighbourhood of $300-$500 in term insurance and maybe $25K each of permanent....because there's always costs at end of life no matter what and yes while people should, and you hope to have money to take care of things at the end - the fact is sometimes other crap has happened and you just don't.  I think critical life is important too - I just don't know how much of all of this we can afford right now.

Insurance Premiums Going Down?

That never happens....never.

...Unless you switch providers, and that's just what my company has done recently.

My long term disability premiums are being reduced from $1.097/$100 insured to $0.771.  That means we'll be saving $144.94/annually OR about $12/month.

Not a lot - but I'll take it...every little bit adds up.

Auto Insurance - Help

Our vehicle insurance is up for renewal this October; and while we can make changes at any time to the policies - I use that letter in the mail as a reminder to review it in detail.

On both the Kia and the Escape we have:

• One million in third party liability
• $1,000 collision deductable
• $500 comprehensive deductible
• Accident rating endorsement (if we get into an accident, we won't be penalized in our insurance rates)

The Kia also has a 5 year replacement cost solution - which basically means if the Kia gets totaled (at fault or not), we would get a replacement; not a repair.

Our annual premiums for both was $1,668 for both and is increasing to $1,763 for both.  If we got rid of the accident rating endorsement and the 5 year replacement solution - we would save $164/year reducing our annual to $1,599.

So I'm really debating that.

The risk of course, is that paying that every year would save us a lot of we were to get into an accident.

Now...Jordan has never been in a collision.

I was in three early in my driving history - but have had zero infractions over the last six years.

So...what do you think?  Do we save the $164 - or do we suck it up and pay for 'just in case'.

Hail Damage

Quite a few of you know that Jordan and I are based out of Alberta, and some of you may know that we had some pretty intense hail storms here this past month (among others).  We certainly didn't have it as bad as many people, but both the Escape and the house took some damage.

Here's a snapshot of Aries eating the hail off our our patio furniture...she was in heaven!

I don't have any good pictures of the vehicle or house damage - bad angles.

We've seen the adjusters for both the Escape and the House and are now just waiting for the damage estimates and the next steps.

From the sounds of it - we'll at the very least need a new roof and some new siding...and the Escape it's right on the cusp of being a total loss.  We should know in the next week or two for sure.

Life Insurance

There are a lot...a tonne of resources online around Life Insurance.  Calculators for how much you should have, blogs on what kind you should buy (whole, term, term to 100, universal), and debates around insurance as an investment vehicle...not to mention the plethora of do's and don'ts articles out there.

So..I'm not going to recycle all of that and write something of my own, but entirely unoriginal, but I will share with you a couple of my favorite blog posts as well as what I think Jordan and I should do.  I would also really appreciate your thoughts, and opinions of our plan.

Assumptions

• We will not use life insurance as a way to invest
• We will use life insurance to hedge our bets on the timing of our eventual deaths
• We will, sometime in the next few years have children.  Maybe one, hopefully three, probably two.
• While our mortgage and other debts will decrease over time, and assets will increase over time - other financial needs (for eventual kids) will go up.
• That while we both of life insurance through our employers, we may not forever and so this won't be counted on (mine is 3x salary, Jordan's is 1.5x salary).

Our intention with regards to life insurance is to leave one another with enough money so they have choices. The choice to move, or to stay. The choice to take as much time that is needed away from work to grieve. Our intention is not for either of us to have more money than they need - our deaths will not be a lottery.

Assets & Income

• Current debts including mortgage, both vehicles, and the LOC is about $375K.
• Removing our home and vehicles from the equation (because we want choices), our current assets are about $72K.  This leaves a gap of about $300,000.

Okay...what else, well, we need to sort out other than the debts - what the loss of each other's income would do to our lifestyle.

Monthly Budget Needs

We both earn respectable salaries - and either of us could run the household bills without the others salary without the mortgage/car payments needing to be serviced. I have only to look at my stay at home mom/dad budgets to get an idea about income replacement needs.  The fixed bills would be fine, but when I add in a childcare assumption as well as continued savings for emergencies/vehicles ect - things get a bit tight...and by tight I mean un-affordable.  Have a look:

I would need about another $400/month, and Jordan would need about another $900/month.

Looking to Life Insurance Canada's website, endorsed by my favourite money author Gail Vaz Oxlade, I used the income replacement calculator to sort out how these monthly costs translate into insurance needs.  To replace the $400/month for 20 years, Jordan's policy would need to be for an additional $87K.  To replace the $900/month Jordan would need for 20 years, my policy would need to be for an additional $197K.

Something we'll have to ask an insurance broker is should we buy insurance assuming children - or wait until we have them and then adjust the policy, or buy another policy.

The Cost of Death

Okay...this one is sort of uck to talk about, but it's important too.  For my dad for example, who passed just two and half years ago, we had a very modest reception in a community hall.  The fees for the funeral parlor were just under $6,000 which included the rent of the hall and the incidentals associated with that.  His headstone was around $3,000, and the cost of the plot in my home town was around $500.  So $10,000 is not an unreasonable estimation.

Summary

Okay...so when we have kids I'll need a policy of around $500K and Jordan will need $400k - before kids I need a policy of around $310K.

What do you think?  Are we ready to go to a broker, are there things we're not thinking about?

Good Links

• 8 Common Mistakes
• Insurance you Shouldn't Buy
• Do's and Don'ts

Updated Auto Insurance

I have good news!  I called to update our auto insurance now that both vehicles are commuters - and our annual premium actually went down by $1!  Crazy!  I thought for sure it would go up, but the second vehicle being a commuter was off-set by the decrease in premium because of the shorter distance traveled for me.

Another Increased Expense

I really shouldn't be surprised but here it is, another increased expense.  Just got notice our house insurance is going up $168.96 annually.

For those of you who have owned a home for a long time, is this a lot?  Or, is the increase reasonable?

They also increased my deductible to $1,000.  

$7,900 in Teeth

Jordan was born with two congenitally missing teeth - every since he was small; his benefits have only provided for a flipper/mouth piece that give the appearance of teeth.  That appliance after 20+ years is now starting to wear on his existing healthy teeth causing more problems.

So...given that for the past year we have been exploring alternatives to the mouth piece.  There are two - either bridge or surgical implants.  For a variety of reasons; primarily longevity, quality and ease of maintenance Jordan has chosen implants.

After many quotes, and many arguments with our benefit providers and dental surgeon...we have a plan.  The total cost of the two implants is $7,900 - are combined benefits will reimburse us $3,000 each calendar year....that led us to the tough decision to plan for two surgeries rather then one.

Jordan's already undergone the first surgery to implant a screw into his jaw bone and now we wait 2-3 months for it to heal. Once healed (end of December), the implant/screw will be fitted with a tooth.  Then, and only then - when the first tooth is considered 'complete' can the dentist submit the expenses to our benefit providers.  So, Jordan and I have had to pay cash (read use the credit card) for the first part of the procedure (and will continue to pay cash each time something happens related to the procedure).  In January we should get our first reimbursement; and then we'll promptly schedule the second surgery.  

Our debt load is getting a bit scary, but we have a plan and will eventually be reimbursed.  Jordan and I would both rather pay the interest now for him to have a happy and healthy mouth before we have kids or anything else when there are more demands for the money.

Updated Budget

Over the last couple of blog posts I shared with you our recent new car purchase and some of the expected fuel savings that we're looking forward to.  This post is all about how much it's going to cost us to save that gas and how the budget is going to change.

The total price we are financing, including fees and taxes, is $21.013.91.

Not too shabby for wanting to be under $20K.  Here's the breakdown:

We start at just under $20K with a $1K discount because we're good negotiators (at least we think we are) - next up are some pretty standard add on and fees.  I wasn't sure about the protective paint coating but Jordan works in the industry and was confident that it was a good price for a good product.

We are financing at 0%.

The 0% financing deal accompanied terms up to 60 months as well as their 60/84 plan.  I hadn't heard of the latter before but basically is their way to trap people into owing a balance at the end of the plan with an option to re-finance (most people just roll the amount owing and trade in for a new vehicle apparently.

Well, we're not that silly but we like flexibility of lower payments and we like 0% financing.

So, we went with it.  Our payments will default to $115.65/bi-weekly for 60 months with $5,979.41 owing at the end of the term.  We intend on comming up with the extra $1,000 each year to add to the loan (it's open with no penalties for early payments) to make sure it's paid off sooner rather then later.

So!  We have increased payments of $115.65/bi-weekly - now what? Well, we're also saving about $110/month on fuel and will have increased insurance premiums of about $31.48/month (it's about because our insurance is currently under renewal).

We were planning on increasing our day-to-day spending from $375 to $400 in January, instead we have reduced it to $300/month.  That leaves us with an unplanned overage of $77.78 (($115.65*2)+31.48-75-110).  We'll have a little bit less cash going towards the backyard debt, but it's not significant enough to worry about - you'll see more changes coming to our budget in the months ahead, but this will get us to the end of the year.

Our new Kia Rio - Saving on Gas

Yesterday I shared with you that with you that Jordan and I took the plunge to purchase a 2013 Kia Rio EX manual transmission sedan.

In pearl black with a grey interior an 16" alloy wheels - it looks super sporty!

But looks...well that's just a side benefit.  The big reason we are making this change is fuel economy.  When we moved outside of the city and decided that we would commute into work every day, we didn't realize how taxing that would be on the gas budget.

Here is a graph that shows our average gas expenditure over the last three and a half years.

2010 was back when we lived and commuted in the city - into 2013 we carpool but drive upwards of 100KMs a day plus more on weekends and holidays.

Perhaps an even more interesting graph is the ebb and flow of gas expenditure over the course of a year.  Check out this one:

Clearly we drive a lot - and a lot more in the summer then in other months...of course what's not factored in here is the cost of gas and that does fluctuate a lot too.

I took the number of KMs we drove in July and our gas consumption to come up with our average fuel economy for the escape (10.42 L/100Km).  I used the advertised city fuel economy to come up with this chart which projected a savings of $109/month based on a fuel price of $1.20/liter.

Next week, I'll share with you the updated budget which will encompass the savings in gas, plus the new car payment and increased insurance costs.

This Christmas

This Christmas was hard.

It was the first without my dad.  It was also the first without my brother (he's moved to Winnipeg).  It was Jordan's first without his mom and his brother (they were on a trip together).

I tried to stay upbeat and positive, mostly I faked it until I could make it.  I think for the most part people believed that I was in good spirits, and that put me in a better mood then I would have been otherwise.

I had a lot of lists.. I always do, but this year it felt a bit more mechanical.  That helped get through I think...task lists...accomplishing things.

To distract myself, I made a lot of Christmas gifts this year.  We also spent a lot - but instead of telling you how much we spent (I don't 100% know just yet... haven't added up all the receipts), I would like to share with you some photo's of my creations...

Homemade Chocolates

Hand Painted Christmas Bear

Home Made Spice Blends

Stocking Stuffer for Jordan

Scarf for Jordan's Cousin

Scarf for my Mom

Scarf for My Cousin 

STD - It Continues

So yesterday we found out that Jordan was actually only paid for 6 days at full time for the days he was at work before he went on short term disability.  The insurance company, will pay him separably for 80% of his pay for the 9 full days that he was off work.

Jordan also found out yesterday that the rest of his raise is FINALLY approved.

So I'm not sure if his STD will get paid at his new salary or his old salary and no one really seems to know the answers.

I had a look at the budget and realized that over the next few days we were going to wind up in the overdraft pretty badly - so I transferred my allowance money ($702) into our joint account as a buffer.

For those folks who remember, yes we stopped giving ourselves an allowance, but I still had some cash stashed away.  I was planning on using this money for a pretty day bed for my craft room - and hopefully will still be able to once we get the disability money and Jordan's raise comes through.

Insurance!

I have a guest post over on Krystal's blog today, Give Me Back My Five Bucks, if you've come my way from there - welcome!  If you haven't seen my post there yet, I hope you check it out.

For the last few years, I haven't had much luck when seeking out new insurance quotes.  I, unfortunately, do not have a stellar driving record and so I have just accepted a big insurance bill each month.  That said, each year I call around a bit to see if I can get a better price.

As my vehicle insurance for the Ford Escape is up for renewal at the end of October I started playing the insurance game recently.  Given that Jordan and I just got married and we will take possession of our new home sometime in the next six to eight weeks - I thought that we might have a bit more negotiating power.  So when I started making my phone calls, I got quotes for our two vehicles and the house.

I called AMA as that's who I use currently and TD because that's who Jordan uses.  We also called a broker (brokerlink) who give rates for Insight (though I'm told I might have heard wrong and it's intact) as well as Peace Hills and Economical.  As a last ditch effort - I heard TD Meloche Monnix has good group rates for alumni so I have them a call too.


Here are the rates they gave us:

I'm astonished at the difference - even in the house quotes alone there were huge variances which is something I wasn't expecting at all.  The choice - is clear.

Switching to TD Meloche Monnix is going to save us $107.91/month - nearly $1,300/year - plus we'll have house insurance too - pretty incredible I'd say.  We've got everything to switch over on my renewal date and then once we take possession of the house we'll call and formally add the house to the insurance plan too.

...next step, life insurance!

Centerpieces & Isle Flowers

This past long weekend I went to my parents place in BC to spend some time with my mom putting together the centerpieces and ceremony isle planter pots.  Other than getting a nasty sunburn, it went really well and was low cost too!

We had gathered the centerpiece pots and painted them a while back and had some excellent soil that we had been given a while ago which was fantastic.  My mom graciously bought some miracle grow as well as the flowers (approx $175) and we had bought some large planter pots from Walmart (approx $30) as well.

All told the total cost was just over $200 for our centerpieces (25) and isle flowers (12).

Here's some photo's of pulling everything together:

Auto Insurance Decrease

When I got home from work last night, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a notification from my Automobile Insurance Provider, AMA.  My policy renews in October and my premiums are reducing.  I'm going from $1803.36 annually to $1477 annually - a decrease of $326.36! 

My car is a '97 Mazda Protege which we bought for $1,500, it's rediculous that my insurance has cost me more than the car itself, and only this year is finally below my purchae price.  Unforutnatly, this is my fault.  I've been in three accidents that were ruled 'at fault.'

As a result, I 'punished' myself by buying this vehicle instead of something nicer/newer.  I figured I shouldn't drive anything else if I couldn't not break it.  So far, it's worked.  I have the least amount of covereage I've ever had (just what I'm required by law to have), and my car is in the best shape!

That's another $325 into the wedding fund!

Renewed Tenants Insurance Today

Today Jordan and I renewed our tenants insurance!

I increased our contents coverage from $15,000 to $25,000 - and the cost only went up by $8 a year! The total was $152.  We decided it was worth it to increase it because, as of late, we've been purchasing more valuable items - such as our new couch and our new set of pots and pans.

On top of that, I had a great conversation with my mom and her sister this past weekend - and I realized that it would take a lot of $$ up front to replace everything that we have.  We have a house full of things - two bedrooms worth of furniture, camping gear, clothes etc.  Sure, a lot of that stuff we got on sale - but when it comes to insurance they coverage what you replace (at least the kind of insurance I have).  So - yes I got my kitchen table for $100 - but to replace it - maybe I'll have to spend $500, you  never know until you're in that place.

I love the feeling of knowing that if the worse happens (flood, fire, theft, my horse freaks out....whatever) - we're covered.

This Weekend...

Canada won gold in men's hockey!!!!

also some other things happened, but probably not anything as interesting....

It feels like this weekend has lasted forever - which is really weird because usually they go by so quickly.

On Friday roommate number 4 and 5 moved a bunch of things to the house - so naturally after work I did a bunch of housework and what not.  We had to clean out our spare room, which we'll be renting (fully furnished) to roommate number four's friend (roommate number 5) for a couple months.  I wound up vacuuming the stairs which only served to remind me that it should be done wayyyy more often!  how often do you vacuum by the way?

On Saturday we did a tonne of running around!  I had to renew the registration for my car (about $75 and we picked up a bra that was getting repaired ($15 to fix a $200 bra) - later on Jordan got a desk and an office chair so he can work/play more comfortably on his laptop, and I picked up an inexpensive shelving unit for all the scrapbooking things that i'm slowly starting to acquire.  When we finally got home (we did a lot of price comparisons which meant driving all over the city) - we wound up completely re-arranging our room and building the new furniture - it looks pretty great in here!

Today we got up early to do a Costco run for my great aunt.  I've never been to a Costco when it opens at 10:00am on Sunday morning and I don't think I'll ever do that again!  There was an insane line-up!  Seriously, a line up for Costco.  There weren’t any special sales, it was just an average Sunday afternoon.  I made Jordan take a picture for the sole purpose of sharing it with you.



Once at my aunts we did a short computer lesson (she's 80, just got a laptop and wants to figure this whole e-mail thing out and did a few odds and ends around the house (this usually involves changing a lightbulb).

We got home in time to watch the hockey game.  In the middle of that new roommates finished moving in and shortly after old roommate finished moving out.  phew!  Jordan and I finally got around to folding all of our clothes...I think just about ever last scrap of clothing we own was in the basement on the couch.  It was pretty bad, but now everything's all put away in it's place.  It's going to be nice waking up in the morning and knowing where to find socks! We also wound up with a big box of clothes to go to charity.

At the end of the evening I decided to try my hand a bread again - this time I made two loaves, 10 buns, and 10 cinnamon buns.  So far so good!! This time I let things rise a bit better so i think the results will be much tastier (also used half whole wheat flour).

Aside from all of that - we've been intermittently working on a 1250 piece puzzle that my great aunt gave us the other day.... and man is it hard!  But it's hours of FREE entertainment - and who doesn't love that?!

this is what it's supposed to look like....i'll be sure to let you know if we ever get it done....:

Tenant's Insurance

This post is for all of the renter's out there.

Landlords have very few legal obligations to compensate tenants for damage to or loss of personal posessions.  Tentants are repsonsible for harm they may cause to any part of the building where they live.

Renters insurance provides coverage for your personal possessions, your legal liability to others within your premises and accidental injury or property damage caused to the premises or arising from your personal actions. You are responsible for the damage you may cause to any part of the building you live in or to others who live or visit there. For example, a fire caused by inattention while cooking can gut an entire apartment complex. That's a lot of liability!

ama.ab.ca

Catch that?  If you, your stuff, or your friends cause damange to the place you are living - - you have to pay for it.  if the place burns down that you live in -- you have to pay for it.

Jordan and I have $15,000 worth of content insurance and $1,000,000 worth of personal liability insurance.  This covereage is extended to protect us if my horse does something stupid.  What could a horse do?  Well, she could bust through a fence, run into traffic and cause an accident.  That would be horrible.  My renter's insurance protects me paying for stuff like.  We're also covered for $3,000 for additional living expenses (should we have to leave this place for repairs or some such thing) as well as $2,500 in medical payments and $500 for property damage.

Of course - I would have to pay a deductible.

What's a deductible?

It's a sum of money that you pay up front when making an insurance claim before the insurance company's coverage kicks in.  Basically - they don't want you making a claim for small amounts - and this protects them from that.

Our deductable is $500.

so, what does it cost for all of this lovely protection?  A total of $144 - a year.  The bill is due at the end of March, and Jordan has said he'll pay this year because I did last year.  Thanks Love!

Well worth the peace of mind I'd say.

One of the reasons why I am particularly passionate about making sure we have proper tenants insurance is because a few years back - our family home lit up on Christmas Eve (that picture above is of my parents house - all of the garage burnt up and the corner and attic of the house did too).  It was tretcherous watching them go through dealing with everything - and should that ever happen to my home, I want to be prepared.