Month: March 2021

Saving Money With These Top Apps

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 30, 2021

Truth is, if saving money were easy, then half of us wouldn’t make financial resolutions each year. However, we’ve got some money saving suggestions that you can pick-up on at anytime. Consider what we deem to be the 4 best money saving and money making apps to date!

Ready, Set, Save Money!

Many mobile applications boast about their ability to help you save money, but which ones are actually worth it? If you’re busy like the rest of society, then you’re probably also looking for something that’s not super time-consuming. Consider these options below:

Trim

A financial assistant in your pocket, Trim has the power to help you automate your financial life. After securely connecting your accounts, Trim will analyze your connected accounts to determine where you can save more money. It’ll specifically look for those recurring subscriptions you have and cancel them upon your request. Maybe you no longer need those weekly newspapers or monthly clothing boxes, huh?

Trim also has a Bill Negotiator, where it helps users save $5-$50/month with Comcast and more! With Trim, you can really make the most of your money without investing a lot of your time.

ShopTracker

Do you often shop at Amazon and want to get paid for it? Then you might want to check out ShopTracker. Sign-up for an account by simply completing an application. You’ll need to provide the following information:

Your name
Birthday
Street Address
Zip code
Gender

After that, you’ll be asked how often you make purchases on Amazon, the type of account you have on Amazon, and the number of accounts in your household. If you qualify, you’ll need to install the application and sync it with your Amazon account. Following successful installation, ShopTracker will automatically pull data monthly from your account and you’ll get paid for it.

Chime

Looking for a bank with no monthly fees, overdraft fees, or foreign transaction fees? If yes, then meet Chime! Chime comes with a Visa debit card, savings account, and checking accounting; it’s very ideal for those who like to bank on-the-go. By opting in to their ‘Save When You Spend’ feature, every time you spend money, it automatically rounds up transactions to the nearest dollar and transfers it to your savings account. They also automatically transfer 10% of every paycheck directly into your savings account, so you can’t help but save!

You Need A Budget

An application that can be used on your computer, phone, tablet, Apple Watch, and Alexa is ‘You Need A Budget’. After connecting your bank accounts, you can set-up some goals and start easily tracking them. Individuals who love visuals will love seeing their progress in graph and pie chart form. Need some extra assistance setting up a budget? Check out their live workshops or send them an email!

Digit

Want to save money without thinking about it? Then download ‘Digit’! Once you’ve securely added your bank accounts, Digit will calculate how much you can comfortably save everyday and automatically set it aside for you. The money is added to your Digit savings account and can be retrieved by simply sending Digit a text message. You’ll be able to access the money in your checking account on the next business day free of charge. Guess what else? There’s no account minimums!

Tags budgeting, money saving apps, saving money

Career Career & Education

Work Hacks? Here Are 9 to Implement This Year

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 25, 2021

Are you stuck working from home this year? Looking for the some great work hacks? Well, look no further. Read here for the 9 best work hacks to implement this year.

1. Leverage The Pomodoro Technique

I used to skip breaks and even lunch on occasion, sometimes working an entire day without leaving my desk. I also have some attention disorders that lead me to be incredibly easy to distract. This technique for taking smaller breaks more frequently helps to manage fatigue, distraction and overworking.

Split your workday into half-hour chunks, and for every 25 minutes of work take a quick 5-minute breather. Stretch your legs, get some water, whatever helps. After four smaller “pomodoros”, take a longer break of 20 minutes.

2. Stop Notifications

Notifications used to be the bane of my workday. Every single time that little “ding” went off, or a saw a system notification pop up in the corner, I had to check it. It always made me feel like I was just barely treading water, distracted me from my current task or project, and made my workday much more stressful.

Silence your notifications, particularly on your email and your smartphone, and set any messaging apps to “do not disturb”. Not only will this cut down your sense of urgency about everything, and will help you focus.

3. Prioritize The Important Stuff And Do It Early

Make a to-do list for your day, before leaving for the previous day. This helps you set your priorities based on what you feel you need to do, rather than what’s waiting for you in the morning. It’s also a way to cut out some prep work from the beginning of your day.

4. Increase Focus With Priority Coding

When you’re creating your priority list, use an easy-to-remember coding system to let you know where the task is located on your task energy spectrum. Use symbols, colors, whatever works best for your thought processes.

5. Eat Well

I know it sounds silly, but it’s really important for an effective workday for you to eat well. This includes eating breakfast and lunch. Protein is best in the am to get your mind ready, even a simple hard-boiled egg is an order of magnitude better than nothing. Try to do a weekly lunch prep if you’re as equally terrible at daily prep as I am.

6. Bracket Your Email Time

Rather than leaving your inbox accessible and distracting you every 90 seconds, set yourself scheduled email answering hours. Set aside 30 minutes or so, three times during your workday to read and reply to emails.

7. Small Goals Add Up

Particularly for larger projects, create a series of smaller milestones that you can reach periodically. These checkpoints are great opportunities to take a breather, evaluate your progress, and gear up to continue. This is a great technique to fight burnout.

8. Dedicate Time For Self-Care

Seriously dedicate. Make time and block it off in your schedule or calendar, whether it’s a walk, dinner out, or a veg night alone or with a friend. This is incredibly important for your mental health. Scheduling the time disallows you from using the excuse of “there really isn’t time”.

Tags work from home, work hacks

Financial Real Estate

Want to Sell Your Home? Best Tips and Steps

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 25, 2021

Whether you have decided you are ready to sell your home or you are still deciding if you really want to move or not, understanding the selling process can help you along your journey. Really, the process is pretty straightforward. Let’s take a closer look at what you will need to do to ensure your home sells.

Deciding to Sell Your Home

Before committing to putting your home on the market, you should ultimately ask yourself why you think selling is the right decision. Is your home too small? Outdated? Not in a good location?

After you decide to sell, it is completely normal to be nervous and have doubts about your choice. There are a few signs that show you are ready to take this step:

You are equity positive, which means you do not owe more than the value of your home.
You are in a position financially that will allow you to buy a home that is a better fit for you and your family.
You’ve done a gut check, ensuring your emotional state will allow you to treat the selling of your home like a business transaction without feelings getting in the way of critiques and negotiations.

After you determine that you are totally ready to sell, you should determine the value of your home and decide when you would like to start the selling process.

Best Method to Sell Your Home

When it comes to the actual selling of a home, most people do not have the first idea of what to do. This is where a real estate agent comes in. They are professional home sellers and they will be able to help you get your home on the market.

Real estate agents do a lot:

Analyze the housing market to help determine a fair price for your home
Help guide you through prepping the house for photos and showings, including decluttering, repairs, and staging
Recommend professional stagers and photographers to show the true beauty of the home
Using social media and real estate platforms to market your home
Find potential buyers to show your home to, highlighting all of the best parts
Handle negotiations so you get the best price
They do the bulk of the paperwork, and walk you through anything you need to handle

Getting Ready

It can be tempting to completely remodel your outdated kitchen or replace the flooring in the owner’s suite. The most important things to fix are things that matter to buyers. As long as everything is functional, the most important thing to do is keep your home clean, decluttered, and as neutral as possible.

Negotiations and Closing

Once your home is on the market, it’s a waiting game on your end. You essentially wait for people to show interest. When the offers start coming in, you’ll need to make counter offers and choose the best offer, put the offer into escrow, handle any problems related to your deed or title, have the home inspection, and close on the sale.

Tags sell home, selling your home, selling your house

Financial Insurance

Home Insurance and How to Buy

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 25, 2021

When you purchased your house, you did more than just make a huge financial investment. You purchased a place to call home—a place you could make memories with your family and feel safe. Not to mention, a lot of time and energy goes into finding the perfect house to buy. For all of those reasons, you need home insurance to protect the emotional and financial investment you just made.

We know that buying insurance of any kind is overwhelming, however. There are so many companies, policies, and benefits. It can be difficult to find the best house insurance policy for your budget. That’s why we’ve put together this guide to take you through the steps of finding the best homeowners insurance for you.

Choose What to Cover with Your Policy

A pretty standard home insurance policy covers repair or replacement costs for your home and its contents in the event of peril. The damage could be caused by fire, smoke, water, theft, and more. The coverage includes your main structure and any outbuildings, HVAC systems, and personal property. Your policy even covers medical and legal expenses if someone outside of your family gets injured while on your property.

Unfortunately, standard home insurance isn’t always enough coverage, especially if you have any particularly expensive items. Your insurance policy may even limit the amount of coverage for collectibles, jewelry, and artwork. If this is the case, you can often add extra coverage for a higher premium. You may also be required to get flood insurance, depending on where you live.

It is up to you to evaluate the value of your home and items while also taking into consideration other risk factors. All of these things will help you decide what kind of coverage you need.

Determine Your Home Insurance Coverage Amount

Once you have a better idea of what you need to cover, you’ll know how much coverage you need. We recommend that you start by calculating the replacement cost of your home and any other structures on your property. From there, you need to take an inventory of all of the items in your home and appraise their value. You’ll want to keep an ongoing inventory in case you ever need to file a claim.

If this all seems a bit too daunting, you can always enlist the help of a licensed insurance agent. He or she can walk you through the process and ensure that your inventory is detailed down to the salad fork or gym sock.

We recommend that you pay attention to the wording of your policy. Though your premium is lower for plans that cover the actual value of your items at the time of the disaster, you could end up paying a lot out of pocket to replace things. A replacement value policy ensures that you have all of the coverage you need to pay for a new item.

Select a House Insurance Company

Now that you know the exact specifications of your policy, you’ll be able to narrow down your search for a home insurance company. You should start by finding a list of companies that offer the coverage you need in your area. From there, we recommend that you take a look at the benefits that set each insurer apart from the others. Some examples of what to look for include:

Good Discounts
Good Financial Strength Ratings
High Reviews
24/7 Assistance
Exceptional Customer Service
Simple Claims Process
Other Insurance Products for Bundles

As you can see, it comes down to more than premium rates and deductibles. We recommend that you speak with family, friends, and even professionals to learn more about their personal experiences with insurance companies. An insurance provider who goes above and beyond in your time of need offers more value than simply choosing the lowest price.

Start Shopping by Requesting a Home Insurance Quote

With your shortlist of home insurance companies and policies, you can begin to request quotes. We suggest that you get a home insurance quote from each provider and compare it to all of the benefits they offer. Don’t forget to take the whole picture into account! The best home insurance company should protect the investment you made in your home.

Tags home insurance, homeowners insurance

Financial Savings

Basic Budgeting Tips Everyone Should Know

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 25, 2021

Whether you are a million-dollar earner or one of the tens of millions of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, the foundation of every successful financial strategy is budgeting. You need to know where every penny you earn is going if you are going to become the master of your own financial future.

Despite what you may think, budgeting does not rely on strict spending control and eliminating all fun and enjoyment from your life. The biggest benefit to having a budget is to understand your own spending habits and being familiar with your unique financial situation.

The best decisions come from a place of education, so it is essential that you understand how you are spending and allocating your money. Let’s take a look at some of the most vital budgeting tips that everyone should be utilizing.

1. Use A Worksheet

This isn’t the 1970s, so why create your budget as if it was? Use a spreadsheet that you can constantly keep updated, this will make it easy to stay current. There are also a number of resources for using premade budget templates that can be used with Excel or Google Sheets. These can have a number of categories, expense types, and more, to help you track your money with more detail than ever before.

2. Understand Overspending

One of the many reasons that you may want to create a budget is to identify areas or categories where you may be overspending. Overspending can throw off your budget since it takes allowances from other categories. Once you know where your overspending tends to happen, you can understand your overspending habits, and begin to put a stop to them.

3. Keep Your Goals In Sight

Budgeting can be hard without a goal to work on saving toward. This reward can be crucial to your success in budgeting and saving. Start with small goals, and work up from there. Maybe set a small reward for when you’ve managed to save your first $100, then another reward at $250, or even $500. Make sure you keep a mix of short-term and long-term goals so that you can budget for several things at once. Make sure you record your goals and maintain accountability.

4. Automate Your Savings

This is another way that you can leverage technology to help you reign in your finances. One of the more challenging things about budgeting is saving, but now there are apps that can make this an effortless step. There are ways to not only automate savings deposits from your paycheck but also to deposit smaller amounts automatically.

For example, you can have $20 automatically sent to savings when your check is direct deposited. There are also apps that will round up a debit card purchase to the next dollar and put the rounded change in a savings account for you. This may not seem significant, but if you round up a dollar a day, that’s roughly $30 per month that can be saved without effort.

Tags budgeting, save, save money, savings

Financial Savings

Saving Money: A Complete Beginner’s Guide

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 25, 2021

Volumes can be written about the psychology behind saving money, but if you’re just starting out trying to save you want real actionable steps to getting some savings built up. Each of these steps can be taken easily, quickly, and can also be expanded to larger scale savings.

1. Every Little Bit Helps

People often get discouraged when they cannot seem to save money rapidly enough. If it were a race, slow and steady wins. Save a dollar here and there, even a few cents, just don’t touch it unless you absolutely have to. There are even apps that can help you save by rounding up purchases automatically and either saving or investing the spare change. This can be incredibly powerful for people who use their debit cards constantly.

2. Know What You Should Be Saving

You know that you need to save, but do you know how much? Figuring out what you want to save for, and saving in small incremental goals, can boost your saving success. Save up for something small first, then add on to that, increasing until you have the savings and emergency funds you need for any rainy day.

3. Make Saving Easy

Saving money shouldn’t be hard. It shouldn’t require you to live like a pauper. One of the easiest ways to save is to gamify it. When you set goals and reach those goals, be sure to reward yourself.

If you like ordering pizza but spend way too much on it, keep track of the times you’d order, and instead of ordering save that money. Once you’ve saved through 4 pizza delivery cravings, treat yourself to a pizza on the 5th. That way you’ve got a nice pile of savings, and a small reward.

4. Clear Your Debt

Debt is frequently one of the more challenging things to overcome before you can begin saving. It can wipe out any progress that your savings and interest give you. If you have high-interest debt like credit cards, focus on paying that down quickly. While you do this, try to save a small amount, even $20-$30 per month, to help you break the cycle of credit card use.

5. Pay Yourself First

This is one of the older methods for saving, but it’s one of the easier ones to implement and it helps change your saving behavior. It’s simple, establish a percentage of your pay that you will save and not touch. Many people set this at 10%. So for every hundred dollars you earn, stick ten in savings, and watch that pile up quickly.

6. Generate Cash

Generating cash might sound crazy, but it’s a legitimate technique for saving. At the simplest, this can look like a credit card with a cash back bonus, where the cashback is dropped into a savings account and left there. More aggressive generation methods are running side hustles, getting a part-time job, or even selling extra stuff to make a few bucks that you don’t need for bills.

Tags budgeting, saving money, savings

Health & Home Wellness

Self-Care Routine Upgraded in 10 Ways

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 25, 2021

2021 is finally here! Throughout the challenges of 2020, we anxiously waited for its successor to arrive. While each of us is cautiously optimistic and hopeful for better circumstances, we also need to prioritize our self-care routines.

If the past year taught us anything, we must make ourselves as strong as possible – both internally and externally. With this thought in mind, here are our top ten ways to upgrade your self-care routine in 2021:

1. Do Not Put Off Your Medical Exam any Longer

With COVID-19 restrictions, you can choose between in-person visits if you’re comfortable or else have an online check-up. However, the priority is to schedule an appointment with your doctor, an optometrist, and a dentist. It is best to ensure you are in top shape, and have strong immunity.

2. Prioritize Sleep

It’s time to set your sleeping pattern in order. Depriving yourself of sufficient sleep damages your cognitive abilities, your mood, and attention span. With time, you lose appetite, productivity, and good health.

3. Analyze Your Mental Health

After the shocking turnover of the entire world and our lives in general, checking your mental health is more important than ever. Take stock of yourself and see how well you manage stress, anxiety, and grief (if any).

Create a self-care routine that helps you cope with your challenges without crumbling internally. Make sure you have peace inside.

4. Learn More

It is time to give your brain more fuel and more horizons to explore. Limiting your pathways will burn you out mentally, and that is not going to improve life. Hence, make it a point to learn something new from now on.

Have you always fancied playing the guitar? Playing basketball? Or becoming a graphic designer? Now is the time to step out and inspire yourself professionally and personally.

5. Analyze Your Relationships

Analyze your relationships and see which ones are just making life better and which are completing you. Then devote time and energy to strengthening those relations that matter in life.

6. Go Offline

The dreadful notifications and the uncontrollable screen time is destroying the quality of your life. Create a routine that helps break this habit, reduces smartphone and laptop usage, and fills your time with more rewarding activities.

7. Exercise

Never could make time for it before? 2021 is the year to make it a permanent habit. You will reap the rewards of it till the last day of your life.

8. Set Boundaries

You need to set firm boundaries around yourself and others if you are to accomplish good self-care. Practice good intentions but do not overwork or be mindless for that.

9. Make Meals Colorful

It is time to eat consciously. Give up on all the carbs and trade them for more greens, vegetables and drink plenty of water. Try new recipes but make sure they fill you up with nutrients.

10. Revamp Your Surroundings

Now that 2021 will see more of us at home, why not make the environment more fun, colorful and refreshing? Fill your home with plants, art, and bursts of color everywhere.

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Tags morning routine, personal routine, self-care, self-care routine

Financial Insurance

Need Auto Insurance? Ask These 8 Questions

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 25, 2021

Many factors go into auto insurance decision making. Not only do you have to consider your premium, but you also need to decide what kind of coverage you need and how much to purchase. All of these things make it difficult to buy a car insurance policy.

Fortunately, you can better prepare yourself for car insurance shopping when you evaluate your personal priorities. In addition to calculating your budget, you should ask yourself eight questions to which policy options are best for you and your needs.

1. How Many Miles Do I Drive?

If you’re a stay at home mom or telecommuter, you might not put more than 100 miles a month on your car. However, you could easily put more than 1,000 miles on your car every month if you have a long commute to work. It’s important that you find an insurance policy that reflects the miles that you drive. For example, a mileage-based insurance would be a great option for low-mileage drivers.

2. What Do I Use My Car For?

You need to consider how your car will be used in order to find the proper coverage. If you are simply driving to work or using your car for personal reasons, a standard car insurance policy should be fine. However, you may need to get commercial insurance if you use your vehicle for rideshare, delivery, or any other tasks that you get paid to complete.

3. What Kind of Car Do I Own?

The type of car that you own can have a huge impact on your insurance rates. Not to mention, it impacts the type of coverage you require. Any modified or classic cars require special insurance. If you have a sportscar, you might not need a particular policy, but you should expect higher rates since your car is more likely to be stolen or damaged. On the other hand, customers with “safe” cars can usually enjoy discounts for safety features.

4. Where Do I Live?

Your location can also affect your insurance rates tremendously. People in urban areas are more likely to be victims of theft and vandalism, so they spend more money on car insurance. Customers in rural or suburban areas typically have lower insurance rates. While you might not be able to control where you live, you should keep in mind how your location can impact your insurance policy.

5. Where Do I Park My Car?

Do you often park your car in the street? Do you keep it in a garage? Where you park your car can also be a risk. If you live in area where you park on the street, you also have to worry about other drivers hitting your car along with the risk of theft. If you don’t have a garage, your car is also susceptible to damage from hail, fallen branches, and more, so we recommend upping your comprehensive coverage.

5. Will Anyone Else Drive My Car?

Most car insurance policies cover occasional drivers, but you should make sure that frequent drivers are all listed on your policy. A frequent driver could be anyone who lives with you and borrows your car often. They could include a spouse, teenage children, roommates, and more.

6. How Much Do I Love My Car?

If you drive an old car and don’t care about its appearance, then you could buy the bare minimum insurance policy. Full coverage insurance would be better suited for anyone who loves their car and take pride in caring for it.

7. Do I Own My Car?

Leases and financing are great options for acquiring cars, but they can impact your auto insurance policy. You may be required to insure the car for its full value or the gap between what you owe and its current market value. This insurance is called supplemental gap insurance since it goes along with your collision and comprehensive coverage.

8. What Are the State Requirements?

Every state has its own rules and regulations for car insurance. It is up to you to research and find the minimum liability coverage for your vehicle.

Request a Auto Insurance Quote

Now that you know more about your car insurance needs, you should be able to find a great policy. We suggest that you start out by getting a car insurance quote from several companies with similar coverage levels. By doing so, you can get a fair comparison and find the right option for you!

Tags Auto Insurance, best car insurance, car insurance, insurance

Health & Home Wellness

Vitamin C, Am I Getting Enough?

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 25, 2021

Vitamin C is among the essential micronutrients that are necessary for optimal function. With the ongoing spread of COVID-19 and rampant flu season, it is gaining more popularity.

Vitamin C deficiency is not very common in the more developed countries, perhaps because of the abundance of fresh produce. Furthermore, supplements and certain foods additionally incorporate vitamin C to provide people sufficient quantities. Hence, you will see only 7% of people lacking in it.

Currently, the RDA recommends ninety milligrams of vitamin C in a day for men and women from age nineteen and above. How do you figure if you are getting enough of it in a day or lacking somewhere?

While most symptoms of this deficiency develop in months, you can watch out for some other signs.

1. Body Hair

One subtle sign of vit C lacking in your body is corkscrew-shaped body hair. If you notice your hair growing in coiled or bent shapes, know that your protein structure is suffering defeats.

2. Bumpy, Rough Skin

Vit C is essential for your collagen production: the abundant protein in your connective tissues. These consist of your blood vessels, bones, joints, hair, and skin. When you run low on vit C, you will likely develop skin conditions, including keratosis pilaris, with bumpy chicken skin on your buttocks, thighs, and upper arms.

3. Damaged, Dry Skin

Sufficient amounts of vit C in your body will keep your skin healthy and supple. The outer layer or epidermis will glow and be smooth. The essential function of vit C is to protect your skin against the sun’s oxidative damage.

Additionally, collagen production combines to plump up and revitalize your skin. When all that lacks in your body from a deficiency, your skin will turn dry and rough.

4. Fingernails with Lines, Red Spots, and Spoon Shape

If you note thin, brittle, and concave-shaped nails, they are likely a sign of vit C deficiency. Even your nail beds may develop vertical lines and red spots when the blood cells weaken and rupture.

Some Other Signs You’re Not Getting Enough Vitamin C

Some other signs could also be indicators of a deficiency. These include:

Joint and muscle aches
Weight loss
Irritability
Weakness
Fatigue
Loose teeth
Brittle and dry hair
Bruising and bleeding
Your gums may change color or turn purple. You may even note bleeding or swelling frequently.
Poor wound healing
Anemia
Scurvy

Best Sources of Vitamin C

If you’re looking for the best vit C sources to increase your intake, consume more of the following foods.

Parsley
Broccoli
Papaya
Strawberry
Orange
Lemon
Lychee
Kiwifruit
Sweet red pepper
Black currents
Guava
Acerola cherry

You must also note that vit C does not take heat very well and breaks down if you expose it to heat. Hence, you’ll be much better off consuming raw vegetable fruits for vit C intake than cooking the sources.

You must also remember that your body cannot store large amounts of vit C at a time. Hence, the best practice is to eat lots of fresh produce daily.

Final Thoughts on Vitamin C

You can find plentiful amounts of vit C in fresh vegetables and fruits. While a deficiency of it is not very common, it is possible if you don’t consume the right foods. Some signs can help you catch the deficit at the earliest.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-c-deficiency-symptoms#TOC_TITLE_HDR_18

https://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/am-i-getting-enough-vitamin-c/

Tags health, healthy, vitamin c, wellness

Financial Insurance

A Guide to Medicare Insurance

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 25, 2021

Whether you or a loved one are nearing retirement, there are a lot of plans to make. One of them is choosing new health insurance. Though you can certainly purchase your own private health insurance, millions of people rely on Medicare insurance.

If this is something that you need to consider, you might feel overwhelmed by all of the new information. That’s where this guide comes in to help! We have created a basic explanation of Medicare insurance so that you can learn more about your options.

What is Medicare, and Who is it for?

The federal government offers Medicare as a health insurance program for seniors. You must be 65 or older to enroll in the program. Medicare insurance programs exist to help people cover medical costs associated with health emergencies or chronic illnesses. However, the insurance can also help pay for maintenance of good health.

It is important to understand that Medicare insurance is not a free benefit. All beneficiaries are required to pay premiums based on their income and coverage. You must also pay any out-of-pocket costs, so it is important that you learn about your coverage options and choose the best Medicare Insurance for you.

Types of Medicare Insurance Coverage

As with other health insurance policies, you can choose from several different coverage options. Rather than referring to them by metal tiers, they are divided into four main categories.

Part A

Medicare Part A only covers hospital care and hospice. It can also help pay for any short-term nursing home stays if you were in the hospital for at least three days. While most seniors do not have to pay a premium for this coverage, there is a $1,408 deductible as of 2020. You could also expect out-of-pocket expenses for long hospital stays.

Part B

This coverage option is more of your standard health insurance. It covers any of your doctor’s visits and outpatient care as long as the doctor accepts Medicare. You can also enjoy many free preventative services to maintain your good health. The flu shot, select screenings, and wellness visits are just a few of the free benefits.

Your income determines your premium for Part B insurance, but everyone has a $198 deductible. After the deductible is met, most retirees will have to pay 20% of doctor services.

Part C

If you want an alternative to traditional Medicare, Part C or Medicare Advantage Plans are your best bet. Part C coverage has fewer restrictions and different prices because it isn’t completely controlled by the government. Instead, a private insurance company pays for any Medicare-approved healthcare. Like an HMO plan, your Part C plans can sometimes require you to use in-network providers. It may even require you to get a referral to see a specialist.

Part D

You need Medicare Part D if you require prescription drug coverage. Like Part C, Part D is also a private policy that follows Medicare’s requirements. Your premium depends on the amount of coverage you require, but you can generally expect to pay up to $435 for your deductible.

What Medicare Doesn’t Cover

In a dream world, the best Medicare insurance would cover all of your health care needs, but unfortunately, it doesn’t. Corrective lenses and their required eye exams typically aren’t covered. You should also expect to pay out-of-pocket for hearing aids and dental care. Medicare doesn’t cover long-term nursing home stays either. Medicare Part A only covers short-term nursing home stays under certain circumstances.

The Right Time to Enroll in Medicare Insurance

Timing your enrollments right is just as important as selecting your coverage because you get a seven-month window. The window begins three months before you turn 65. You should sign up right when the window opens if you would like your coverage to start the month you turn 65.

If you missyour enrollment opportunity, you will be charged a penalty that could be long-term. Not to mention, you could be without coverage for a significant amount of time. The only other time you can enroll outside of your window is between January 1 and March 31, but the coverage doesn’t start until July 1. Therefore, it is crucial that you sign up on time.

Request a Medicare Insurance Today

If you’ve enrolled in Social Security benefits, a Medicare card will come to you in the mail three months before you turn 65. This is your opportunity to start looking at your options. If you haven’t signed up for Social Security, you’ll need to enroll yourself. We suggest that you start by gathering a Medicare insurance quote for your coverage options.

Tags insurance, medicare, medicare insurance