It's that time of year again at my company where I have to submit a War and Peace sized stack of documents updating my life insurance. Yesterday I had to sit through an almost hour long meeting with a LSB Industries representative for life insurance policies and changes. And the entire time was talking about how I should spend more money on my insurance for more benefits and coverage. Oh, and also stating that I'll be paying $208 MORE each year than normal (of course it wasn't worded that way, it was worded in a much more "we are doing this because it's best for you" kind of way). I'm not really up on all the ends and outs but I do know that through the past year, the only insurance I ever took up on was getting a cavity filled at the dentist. I could have paid that without insurance just fine, actually. It would have been less that what I paid the insurance company all year.

This is where I'd like to move onto how life insurance isn't really an option. I have to have it to stay employed at my company. What I find hillarious and a good bit ironic about life insurance is that you (by force) pay a company a sum of money out of each one of your paychecks. And all this money you give them is to go to you IF something was to ever happen to you or your family. The ironic part is if something were to ever happen to you... the life insurance company will fight tooth and nail to not pay you anything at all. I'm sure you've heard the horror stories of people being in horrible accedents or war vets getting nothing short of the finger from companies they have been paying thousands of dollars to every year. All because said company tried their damnest to find a loophole that they could exploit.

Personally, I'm tired of paying them free money. Insurance is almost a big of scam as interest (more on that in a bit). Honestly? If I am paying anyone any sum of money to help me if there ever was a problem. They had best be all up trying to take care of it as best they can (or at least with as much money as I have paid them over x ammount of years). The fact that they'd fight not to is just sick. And there's a special place in hell for that kind of dishonesty.

And on to another form of free money: Interest. I understand that without it, people would let their bills be outstanding for... well... forever. But honestly, interest should only build if you don't keep up with payments AND THAT IS IT. Any deviation of this is free money and is borderline theft. The most recent example I can think of is from SK. He had a student loan to finish up his college degree. He's going to be paying on that with interest for the next 8 or so years. And he's paying each bill fully... but they are STILL charging him interest even though he's kept up perfectly with the set ammount they requested him pay per month. Why?

It's thinks like this that should make anyone in life not feel bad for pirating anything. People scream how horrible that is, but look at this as if it's all cool. So pardon me while I go download $208 worth of software.

Well, when it comes to financial matters I am far from an expert so take all of this with a grain of salt as they say.

Interest is very important. The only reason there was even cash there for SK to borrow to go to college is because someone was willing to loan it. Picture yourself as the loaner of the money. Without interest there is essentially no incentive to put your money out there to be borrowed by someone else (unless your goal is specifically to be a benefactor) but there are plenty of costs or risks for you. First you simply don't have your funds available should you yourself need them because someone else is using it (by borrowing it) to pay for their schooling. Second, you have to wait for this money to be paid over time so you won't have the money for years into the future. Already this makes you ask yourself, "Without interest, why the hell am I loaning this money?" Third there is risk that the borrower will not pay it back on time or at all. So what happens when someone doesn't pay you timely, you slap a penalty. A lot of good that does if you can't get your money in the first place. You aren't going to get that penalty either at least not for awhile and not without headaches. Even if you get all the penalty money eventually it likely will not be worth loaning the money in the first place. Finally, if you don't pay interest someone else might so there is more incentive to loan to those willing to pay interest, let alone high interest.

Otherwise unless your borrower is paying a fee per bill (which is not much different than paying interest) you would have no incentive to loan your money and important reasons not to. Multiply this by all those out there loaning money and then there is no one out there loaning money thus there is no one able to borrow money, thus people like SK and myself would never be able to afford our educations.

About insurance, that is a lot more tricky. There are some types of insurance that are good to have and others not worth the risk. In many ways it is a gamble but you can make better decisions if you do your homework on reviewing available plans, taking stock of your individual needs, and selecting coverage that you feel comfortable with. That is really unfortunate that you don't have the option to opt out of life insurance. I personally don't need life insurance because I have no wife or dependents (and hope to be disposed of after death in the cheapest way possible) but someone who has a family that would need to be taken care of especially if they have a risky job probably wants a good plan.

The same goes with health care. If you have young children you'll need to visit the doctors office a lot and those bills can add up. Others may not need it as much on a daily basis. Like you at my last work place I paid a ton of money in health care and hardly used it. If I would have found and taken the time then to reassess my situation I would have changed to a less expensive plan (and maybe even taken more advantage of it) but as it were I just essentially gave them my money. I do not consider it to be money that I threw out though because health insurance is very important even if don't use it on a daily basis. It is always repeated to me (and presently I myself still believe this) that it is very important to try to secure at least some form of health insurance that will pay out a good portion should you get into an accident. You could have very large expenses if this were to happen where health insurance would have been the best investment you'd ever make. It is not a good idea (I believe as do most experts) to not have some form of health insurance that pays in such a tragic situation. That may just be for your medical costs alone. I think if you become disabled you need a separate plan to pay for you daily living costs after (i.e. once you leave the hospital and go home but can't work).

Oh, and pirating is still bad no matter how you justify it but I'll leave that to a separate topic.

Hmmm. Well, AB makes some points and I'm going to address them, not necessarily to counter them, but just to add a different perspective.

Interest:

Yeah...base form, it's just a plain b*tch. I understand the whole point though, without eventual gain, there would be no point in loaning money period. However, I personally believe the better and more fair idea is simply a flat fee. Borrow $1000? Pay back $1250 (that was just an example). The problem I personally have with interest is that it can compound retardedly, and when it does, it just plain that someone at the top is a money grubbing asshole.

Which brings me to the second point. Insurance. I don't think Lantis truly minds paying insurance AB. I think the problems he has with it are

A) Being forced to pay it to keep his job.
B) The fact that insurance companies will fight you tooth and nail to not have to pay for something.

And the immorality of pirating is subjective. But as you said that's a different topic.

i dislike both for the obvious reason that i know im getting hosed and that there isnt a whole lot i can do to avoid it.

insurance is a business and they are designed to make money. they weasel their way out of anything, every little clause or stupid technicality. rather then support you they just want to suck away money. the only insurance i have is through work because its part of the "benefit" package that i get. i dont use much of it so its kind of a lost point for me.

interest on the other hand is just a nasty evil born out of greed. i can understand a fair rate of borrowing, what i cant understand is the insanity of compiling interest on interest just for the sake of racking up more money. the people who are most likely to have a balance on their card are the ones who are hurt most. with additional fees and other nonsense its no wonder there is so much debt in the world.


all in all i am now understand the poverty trap very well. its quite easy to get trapped by a low income job and then be snuffed out by credit cards. this year my bus pass is going up, the raise im going to get will be just enough to cover that upage if im lucky. in this year my rent, groceries, cost of living have also gone up yet my profit at the end of the paycheck is actually decreasing each year as the raise isnt high enough.

unless you stay for a long time in a low income job, starting over and over at minimum wage can easily push you deeper into debt and make it less likely for you to rise out of poverty. this is why i need to go back to school and encourage everyone else to go for something better.

life sucks, thats the lesson you learn as an adult.