According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia’s largest health insurer (Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia) sent an estimated 202,000 benefits letters containing personal and health information to the wrong addresses last week, in a privacy breach that also raised concerns about potential identity theft.

Please click the link above to read the entire article, but it appears that the letters contained not only medical information but some also contained social security numbers.

Georgia’s Office of Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner John W. Oxendine posted this web alert with more information - including contact numbers - for those who have questions about this situation.

For those worried about identity theft, you might want to consider submitting a fraud alert (security freeze) to each of the credit bureaus:

Click here to submit one to Equifax or here to submit one to Experian.  TransUnion does not have an online form for submitting a fraud alert, but you can click here to find their contact information.

(Back in October, I lost my wallet and submitted a fraud alert to Experian.  According to their site, they notified the other bureaus for me.  I’m not sure if they still do this.  So, if you file an alert at their site, and they tell you that they’ll notify the other bureus, leave a comment and let me know!)

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We’ve just returned from our attorney’s office and we are the proud owners of two, shiny new wills! 

I thought I’d share a little about how my will is structured -

If I were to die, my wife becomes the executor of my will and all of my assets would go to her.

If both of us die, at the same time, all assets go into a family trust.  We named an executor and a trustee.  (In our case, the executor and the trustee are the same person.  But, we could have named an executor - the person who carries out the details of the will, and a trustee - the person who manages our assets.)  The executor carries out our wishes, as detailed in the will.  The trustee, in our case, manages our assets for our children, until such time as they are able to manage those assets for themselves.  In our case, we asked the trustee to divide our assets into three portions, one for each child, and distribute those assets to our children once each child reaches a certain age.

We also made provision for the care of our minor children, should we both die at the same time.

I have to tell you, it felt very weird to be signing my will.  (Note:  I actually already had a will, and so did my wife.  But, I had written them myself and I was always worried that they wouldn’t stand up in probate.  That’s why we decided to go to an attorney.  We wanted more peace of mind.)

I should receive the bill for the wills in a few days.  Once it arrives, I’ll let you know how much they cost.

As soon as we left the attorney’s office, I went to an office supply store and purchased a fire-proof, water-proof, storage chest.  Now, our wills and our other important documents are safe and secure.

I’m only 33 and I hope to live for a long, long time.  But, I don’t want to die and leave my kids with an uncertain future.  Now, I know that they’ll be taken care of and I know that my wishes will be known.

Side note:  As I’ve stated many times before, I am NOT a financial professional.  I’m just writing about what I have done.  I strongly suggest that you seek professional advice before making any financial decision - especially one as important as the structure of your will.

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I’m on a roll.  Here’s what I’ve done today.  (No more procrastinating…)

Term Life Insurance - I went online (to insure.com and zanderins.com) and got quotes for two term life insurance policies, one for me and one for wife.  I chose 20 year level term policies that equal 12 times our annual incomes.  (We already have two term life policies, and we may or may not choose to keep them, once the new policies are approved.)

Disability Insurance - Again, I requested quotes and applications from zanderins.com.  The applications should arrive in the next few days.

Wills - I spoke with my attorney.  Tomorrow, at 11:00 AM, my wife and I will sign our new wills.  Tomorrow night, I’ll sleep soundly.

Renter’s, Automobile, and Umbrella Policies -  Right now, I have sufficient Renter’s and Automobile coverage.  But, I have my policies with two separate companies.  I’m looking into moving those policies to a single agent - and then obtaining an Umbrella policy.  Tomorrow, I’ll contact both of my agents and see what each offers.  (I might end up canceling both policies and going with an entirely new agent, if need be.)

Organizational Steps -

I spent some time today organizing several of our important documents.  I put our marriage certificate, the kids’ birth certificates, and our income tax returns in a safe, secure place.  I also made copies of all of our insurance policies.  Tomorrow, I’ll put a copy of our new wills in the same place.  And, I updated our list of accounts.  (I update this list two or three times a year, so that my wife will have easy access to our current financial situation.)

I’ve done all that I can do for today.  Tomorrow, we’ll sign our new wills and I’ll call both of my insurance agents.  It feels good to get the ball rolling and it will feel even better, once all of my bases have been sufficiently covered.

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Alright, I have procrastinated long enough.

A few months ago, I went to a lawyer and had him draw up new wills, one for me and one for my wife.  But, even though I have them sitting in a folder in a filing cabinet, we haven’t signed them.  So, tomorrow, I’m going to call his office and my wife and I are going to make them official.  Why have I waited so long?  Shear laziness?  How does that sound?  Sadly, it’s the truth.

I also need to revamp my current insurance situation.  Tomorrow, after meeting with the lawyer, I’m going to visit my insurance agent.  I need to increase our term life coverage, rework my automobile insurance coverage, purchase long term disability, renew my renter’s policy, and talk to the agent about an umbrella policy.

I’ve put these changes and upgrades off for far too long.  Right now, we have minimal coverage.  By the end of the week, we should have substantially more coverage and I’ll feel much better.  I should have taken care of this a long time ago.  But, there’s no need in beating myself up about it.

Do you procrastinate?  If so, why?  If not, how do you avoid it?  Like a kid putting off a term paper, I find that I procrastinate - mainly when I’m unsure of the next step to take.  So, foolishly, I just do nothing, until, in a panic, I have to deal with the consequences of my procrastination.  Silly me.

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Each month, our health insurance premium is deducted from my wife’s paycheck.  Every year, I pay our annual renter’s insurance premium.  And, once every six months, I pay our automobile insurance premium.  The premium is the amount charged, by and insurance company, for actual coverage.  But, not only do we pay insurance premiums, we are also, in the event that we actually need to use the insurance, must pay a portion of the expense, not covered by the insurance company, called the deductible.

Renter’s Insurance -

We live in a house provided by my employer, as part of my compensation.  My employer carries coverage for any damage to the house itself, be we carry coverage for the contents of the house - our stuff.  We have had our current policy for more than ten years.  Our annual premium is less than $150.  Our deductible, for most events, is $1000.  I must say, for the price, our renter’s policy is a great deal.  I would strongly suggest to anyone who is renting an apartment or living in a house that they do not own, that you get a renter’s insurance policy.  Coverage will vary from policy to policy and company to company, so shop around and compare prices.  In most cases, the higher the deductible, the lower the premium.  One note - always keep enough money in your emergency fund to cover your deductible costs.

Health Insurance -

We have health insurance through my wife’s employer.  Our annual family deductible is $2000, with a per person deductible of $1000.  After we meet our deductible, our insurance company then pays 90% of our expenses.  Again, it is important to us to keep enough money in our emergency fund to cover and deductibles.  My wife just had our baby, so we’ve now met our annual family deductible.  By the way, when we arrived at the hospital to have the baby, we had to pay our portion, up front.  It was fun to see the look on the cashier’s face when I handed her a stack of hundreds.

Automobile Insurance -

Our automobile insurance covers our three, paid for automobiles.  We choose to pay for ‘full coverage’.  Our semi-annual premium is about $600.  For less than $100 a month, we are able to fully insure our automobiles.  I’ve been with my current insurance agent for more than 18 years.  I have no doubt that I could ’shop around’ and find a lower premium, but I know my agent by name and he answers the phone when I call.  My wife was in an accident several years ago, and within 15 minutes, our agent was taking care of our claim.  We raised our deductible to $1000 three years ago, and this reduced our premiums more than 15%.

How our deductibles affect the amount of money we keep in our emergency fund -

If you total our renter’s insurance, health insurance, and automobile insurance deductibles - $1000 + $2000 + $1000 - you get $4000.  For us, that’s our ‘rock bottom’ emergency fund amount.  If we maintain a minimum of $4000 in our emergency fund, at all times, then we can be confident that we can pay all of our deductibles.

By the way, as I type this post, I’m holding baby number three!  How cool is that?  New babies STILL rock!

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