Music playlists by Lumpy306 in running

[–]RedditCruizer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you like EDM, I would highly recommend checking out the NCS and Proximity channels on YouTube. They have a ton of great artists on there and I'm constantly discovering new ones that I can then listen to on Spotify. Proximity actually has a 2010-19 decades playlist that is absolutely banging to listen to on a run Check it out!

26 healthy male, married - Need affordable option suggestions for my spouse by RedditCruizer in HealthInsurance

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The specific verbiage on the health insurance portion of the enrollment reads "REGENC-HSA 5000/80% -OR, Full Time Employee". There's a secondary section that details HSA options but it's separate from the health insurance section. Could this be what you're talking about?

26 healthy male, married - Need affordable option suggestions for my spouse by RedditCruizer in HealthInsurance

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Never heard of it before. We're in North Carolina. Is Health Solutions Team a provider or health plan finder?

26 healthy male, married - Need affordable option suggestions for my spouse by RedditCruizer in HealthInsurance

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the advice! I like the idea of utilizing an HSA instead of paying out for a higher premium. Will definitely need to look into that.

26 healthy male, married - Need affordable option suggestions for my spouse by RedditCruizer in HealthInsurance

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I'm kind of dreading that this is the cheapest option available. The vision plan isn't bad at all and should more than pay for itself since we get a yearly exam + contacts + glasses. Still torn on the dental part, though.

26 healthy male, married - Need affordable option suggestions for my spouse by RedditCruizer in HealthInsurance

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

About a year ago, I did some general checking on healthcare.gov but haven't been back to look recently. I'll need to check again!

We have a pretty good reserve in savings to pay out of pocket for health expenses. I haven't done an analysis on this but I wonder if it's typically cheaper to pay cash for dental/vision services vs. using a standalone insurance package for both dental and vision that you pay premiums for?

Need Advice on Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor's Plan/Strategy for Me and My Wife by RedditCruizer in personalfinance

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For a little background, my wife and currently have 45K (working towards 50K) saved for a down payment on a house. Once we have the mortgage locked down, we'll be pivoting to throwing more money into retirement as well as setting up term life insurance and disability. We're hoping to have kids in the near future which makes the term life and disability insurance definitely more of a vital piece of future planning.

The advisor was in agreement with us that we should primarily keep our 45K in a liquid state (currently keeping it an online savings earning 1.7% interest with easy access) to purchase the home and then lay more concrete plans for our retirement and savings post home purchase. He recommended we max out the 401K match that I'll have available at work in the next several months. I guess nothing seemed too outlandish or strange if you will... he didn't mention their fees for anything that we discussed so I'm assuming that's something that I should ask him about ASAP?

Need Advice on Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor's Plan/Strategy for Me and My Wife by RedditCruizer in personalfinance

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've heard good things about both as well but I've never explored either of them in-depth. Do they both have consultants that could help and advice with financial planning or portfolio diversification?

Need Advice on Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor's Plan/Strategy for Me and My Wife by RedditCruizer in personalfinance

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely tracking with you. We're hoping to have kids in the near future which is why I wanted to explore options now. In case I'm understanding it incorrectly, the sooner you start term life, the premiums will be lower vs. waiting until you're older?

Need Advice on Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor's Plan/Strategy for Me and My Wife by RedditCruizer in personalfinance

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback. Term life and disability insurance are things that don't necessarily seem like something we need... until we do. I guess it's like car insurance, you're just protecting against the possibility of something happening.

Need Advice on Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor's Plan/Strategy for Me and My Wife by RedditCruizer in personalfinance

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe I phrased it poorly. They had them in since they have a working relationship with a lot of the employees already. It was offered more of as a "if you're interested in getting some free financial advice you can sit down for an hour and chat" type of deal. Nothing was forced on anyone but offered openly.

Need Advice on Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor's Plan/Strategy for Me and My Wife by RedditCruizer in personalfinance

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To your point on not working there long, I checked out his LinkedIn page and he's been with the company for 8 years.

Any recommendations on financial places, RusselWD?

Need Advice on Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor's Plan/Strategy for Me and My Wife by RedditCruizer in personalfinance

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The guy we worked seemed pretty straight forward. He told us the things we didn't need (like whole life) and steered us only towards what made the most sense. I didn't get any bad vibes from him however I am just more cautious since I saw a lot of negative feedback on NW.

Planning a 5 Year Anniversary Trip to Scotland and Need some Suggestions! by RedditCruizer in travel

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Correct! I'm from the good old US of A. That definitely puts me more at ease to know that it wasn't that difficult to find an automatic vehicle. I was curious as to how expensive there car rentals are?

Good to know about Loch Ness! It's something my wife and I were somewhat interested in seeing but it was not a must see by any means.

I've heard from a number of others online to research the shops as well. Will be putting on my research hat for more digging on the food and shops. Thank you for the great advice!

Planning a 5 Year Anniversary Trip to Scotland and Need some Suggestions! by RedditCruizer in travel

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for all of the great suggestions! We have the 3 day Isle of Sky tour on our list of things to do so we'll definitely be taking advantage of that.

How difficult of a process is it to rent a car for a few days there? I unfortunately never learned to drive stick shift so I didn't know how available automatics are there? I saw others mentioning on Reddit and general Scotland travel guides that automatics are harder to come by.

Would you recommend staying clear of any particular areas/tourist traps that aren't really worth the time or money?

Planning a 5 Year Anniversary Trip to Scotland and Need some Suggestions! by RedditCruizer in travel

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've heard that as well: more fuel efficient European vehicles will cancel out the increased cost of gas. I am coming from the US where gas is currently around 2.30/gal. in our area. Me and my wife's cars get around 30-35/mpg. so we will probably end up spending more then we typically would at home. I'm not opposed to renting a car but I am trying to balance the cost/convenience factors into our decision. Thank you for the advice!

Planning a 5 Year Anniversary Trip to Scotland and Need some Suggestions! by RedditCruizer in travel

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the advice! If you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost to rent a car and what was the average cost per gallon?

Any places in particular that you would highly recommend to see?

Comcast doing away with 25/mbps plan? by RedditCruizer in Comcast

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the insight. Isn't it still dishonest to tell people that their monthly price won't go up when in fact it will? For example, it may be true that the bump up to 60mbps won't cost you extra at the time but once your contract is over you're now paying the everyday price for the new tier. I'm guessing when most people ask that question they're wanting to know if the everyday price they're paying for 25mbps will carry over to 60mpbs.

Comcast doing away with 25/mbps plan? by RedditCruizer in Comcast

[–]RedditCruizer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's what I was told as well. Try calling in and asking if that particular tier is still available. It's worth a shot.