Long time subscriber, first time caller.

I’m a new dad, my daughter is great. She’s 11 weeks now. I’m fortunate that we have all of the financial stuff in order. I do have a demanding job, but I make it a priority to leave by 5 to spend time with my daughter before she sleeps for the night.

I’m ethnically Chinese although I never learned formally. After my daughter was born I now have this overwhelming desire to teach her Chinese but I will have to learn it too to keep it up (my wife is not Chinese). Otherwise she will fall into the same trap I fell into as a child.

My question is, I firmly believe I can learn Chinese with 2 hours a week private lessons, plus 30 mins homework a week. But, I also cannot bear being late to see my daughter, and the thought of cutting out all this time for me to learn something, no matter how beneficial is driving me insane. What’s your take? Is this a quality investment of time, or shall I just enjoy my daughter and our time together?

Drew Brees

Love it!!!! I’ll take Drew any day, he is on fire!!!

anytime you consciously change your eating habits it takes some mental effort and willpower. Start small and work your way up. For example, just have a protein shake and a piece of fruit for breakfast (or, even easier, a piece of fruit blended with the protein shake).

Your body will get used to the new habit over several weeks. But you have to consciously decide to add this to your schedule, whether or not you feel like it.

It can feel weird to eat when you don’t feel like it, but a small amount of food isn’t burdensome and will build a habit. If you note positive results in your day, that will reinforce your decision.

I’ve had to deal with this issue myself in a different way. I recently started barbell training according to Mark Rippetoe’s book, Starting Strength, and the nutritional part of the strength training program is increasing both my calorie intake and my protein intake. It feels like a job because I’m not currently used to eating that volume of food and my body doesn’t call for it (at least, at first it didn’t), so I had to “force” myself to eat on a schedule every three hours to fulfill the dietary recommendations. I wasn’t at first used to eating the amount of food that was necessary/prescribed, but as the weeks have gone by and I’ve seen the desired results from following his advice, seen that it works, and gotten positive reinforcement from the results, which makes it easier.

The same thing will happen to you if you just start having breakfast *whether or not you feel like it*. Then you can evaluate the effects and decide whether to continue.

I also second the use of pain medication as you need it

Giving money to a family whose house burned down is NOT eligible for income tax deduction You have to give it to a non-profit organization. You may be able to give it through the non-profit, though.

Re the HSA: Young teacher, you may not PLAN on becoming pregnant now, but I have a friend who has three children. The first despite the birth control bill, the second despite condoms and the third despite an IUD. After the third she had her tubes tied.

If you have good–not discount store–items, not clothes, then a regional flea market will get you more customers than anywhere else. If it’s the same-old-same-old that every garage sale in the city has, box it up and give it to a family whose house has burned, then take a tax deduction.

About that tip: Kids are known to steal tips off tables, as are other restaurant employees, even managers. Day before yesterday, I would have said cut her some slack. Yesterday, a vendor told me of leaving a $5 tip on a credit card for an inexpensive lunch, then receiving his statement and finding that the server had changed the amount to $25. If you are a regular with this server and request her table, notifying you of the absence of gratuity is sensible on her part. If not, be wary of both her and the other servers.

Travelers’ checks are nothing but expensive and time-consuming … plus you can’t use them in many places. Credit cards have much more potential for local fraud … this is compounded by your increased likelihood of signing for an inflated price because you are doing rate conversions in your head.

Use the ATMs of the big local banks. Their rates are almost always the best. Check with your American bank to see if they have a deal with any banks. Bank of America does have relationships with a number of big banks abroad and therefore they do not charge any fees. If I am in a country that BoA doesn’t have a deal with, I get out a couple of hundred at a time and sometimes store cash in the hotel safe – if I think that is safe. When using the ATMs be extra careful – try to go to ATMs that are on bank premises (i.e. not on their own), don’t get money out at night, keep an eye on what is going on around you, don’t wave your cash around, etc …

My dental insurance covered my veneers (which were not done for cosmetic reasons), but I could not be reimbursed by the FSA for my part of the cost because IRS rules consider the veneers to be cosmetic only. You can visit irs.gov and check which medical/dental/etc items can be reimbursed. This would also apply to claiming any medical expenses on your taxes above 7.5% of your income.

I think I saved ~$1600 that year in taxes by saving out that $5k tax free and getting it reimbursed. My total out of pocket was around $7500 that year and the restoration over 1.5 yrs was ~$30k (good insurance!)

Just wondering if you’ll be doing a post in the coming week about what your plans are for Thanksgiving: if you’ll be travelling, if you’re staying closer to home for your wife’s health (Congrats, by the way!), or having the family to your place.

I know you live more for the experience with family than an extravagant meal, but I’m guessing that some kind of special foods will be making their way to the table. When I was growing up, money was tight, but somehow (through “anonymous” gifts from friends or careful planning) my family had the best memories and meals around Thanksgiving.

So talk with the hospital they just want to get paid something.

1) In my experience, the biggest difference between the high deductible and the PPO is cash flow. When you do utilize services under the high deductible plan, your bills are much higher. For example, a general office visit costs about $70 instead of a $20 copay. The consideration I used when I switched to the high deductible plan was, “Can I afford to pay the entire deductible if I have a catastrophic loss on the first day of the plan?” (It has happened more than once to my co-workers)

2) Deductibles run on a calendar. This only becomes an issue if your benefits do not renew on January 1. For example, my company’s benefit year begins September 1. The first year that I moved in to the high deductible plan, I had the full deductible from 9/1 to 1/1 and then the deductible started over 1/1. Fortunately, I did not have much utilization in the short period.

Most high deductible plans are priced to provide significant up front savings over a PPO. As others have suggested, the way to be successful is to put the savings into your HSA. Personally, I did not utilize any of the money in my HSA for the first 2 years I was on a high deductible plan so I would have at least one deductible’s worth of savings in the HSA.

Also contact the insurance commissioner with copies to the various people you have contacted within the insurance company.

Keep working your way up the insurance company ladder. documenting every contact. Get it all in writing. Always ask for any phone calls to be followed up in writing.

Ask your employer why they bought a policy with this exclusion which is obviously affecting your ability to function at all. Sometimes the insurance company can be moved by the thought of losing a large account.

And last but maybe not least contact an attorney.

Good Luck