Seasonal Worker Money Talk Session 3

Welcome to the third session of looking at making strides towards achieving better financial control of our lives in our:

Seasonal Worker Money Talk Session 3

This week we have 2 very exciting topics:

• Health Insurance
• High Yield Savings Accounts

Burning Question #1:

Health Insurance

Health insurance is on almost everyone’s mind – especially seasonal workers!

The short answer is:

Look at the marketplace in the state you are registered to vote in.

Part of the reason we talked so much in the first two sessions about budgets and mindset is building a base for our habits is the way we are going to get results that are different than what we have now.

For a moment in time Chris and I feel subject to a fixed mindset when thinking about health insurance. We thought and assumed:

• Oh there will be no plan for us.
• It’s all about the politics.
• You need a medical degree to even understand the plan options and terms.
• They just want your money.
• This is all a scam.

Stop.

I had this mindset my developing years. This is narrow-minded thinking that in the end served me none.

I thought like this and assumed there could be nothing good out there and at one point didn’t even apply because it was, “too complicated, a waste of time and surely to yield no results.” Well, that’s what I manifested and that’s what I got.

When I took a step back from my assumptions, actually just applied step by step (hello, that’s why there is a save button – don’t have to do everything all at once!), wrote down term by term I didn’t understand, looked it up, called and asked questions, low and behold, I found plans for us.

Where they good?

Depends.

But did we at least have basic coverage?

Yes.

The result is we have plans that cover our preemptive medical.

ObamaCare did, for many, provide basic medical coverage at more affordable prices for many people.

(And if you don’t know I ended up getting a total hip replacement at age 38. Wild! Health is wealth. I could barely walk. I knew even if I had to pay the $8,000 it was worth the chance I could walk better again. It was because I had the mindset to check my mail and read what documents I was sent. I realized I was eligible to switch my health insurance mid-season. Before I would have just assumed this was a crock of shit or too good to be true.

But I have been practicing the art of believing I was worthy enough and that good things can happen to me.

When the documents came, I read them, digested them, and then took action. Because of that, I was able to switch plans part way to a way better plan. The result was my total health bills for the fiscal year I got my total hip replacement was about $2,200!!! Had I known the future opportunity coming to me I could have saved the $1,000 I paid for x-rays out of pocket. But I am still doing cartwheels (literally because I can!) over the opportunity presented to me. I didn’t know how any of this was going to work out at the time…I just knew I was worth investing in myself for the chance to be able to walk again. For anyone reading or looking to embark on a journey of self-awareness and improvement – you.are.worth.it.) 

Speaking for ourselves we have a plan from MVP. If we ever have a big emergency, we will each pay $8000.

Our basic preemptive needs are met.

We get:

• Annual wellness visit
• Blood work
• Women’s Health
• Men’s Health
• Procedures recommended by health provider such as mammogram, colonoscopy, and other procedures.
• I even had to have some blood work redone – and that was covered.

The big take away – assuming in life does you no good.

Break down complicated jargon. You are smart enough to navigate this and break it down piece by piece.

If you have nothing – apply.

If you end your seasonal employment – that should count as a life-changing event and you can try and apply then. Otherwise open enrollment is typically Nov 1 – Jan 15.

Other Options:

For a couple years Chris and I also lived more than 6 months of the year out of the USA. We had an excellent worldwide health insurance plan through IMG.

Most of the time we travel we use IMG insurance.

We had medical care in Australia, Singapore, and Thailand. With their plans, we have filed claims before and had a smooth and positive experience.

If you are looking to take advantage of any of the working holiday visas or study abroad or find ways to spend longer periods of time outside the USA – take a look at their global medical coverage.

We had great coverage for our worldwide travels and cost us less than living in the USA.

Topic #2:

Finding & Opening Bank Accounts (with High Yield Savings Accounts in mind)

Congratulations on looking to have the best accounts you can and/or look for higher interest on your savings accounts!

Watching our money grow and work for us is one of the fun parts of creating all these systems and habits!

Remember:

• Keep organized
• Ensure you have a way to remember your passwords

Things to look for before opening an account:

Monthly minimum – this is a big one! For some accounts you need $1500 min every month or they charge you a monthly service fee. For some accounts you only need $5. Big difference.

Overdraft policy – if you are opening a savings and checking account (sometimes this is done simultaneously and sometimes you opt for just one or the other) make sure you know which account your direct deposit is going into and which account say a credit card or ATM withdrawl is coming from. My credit union gives me free overdraft protection from savings to checking. So I keep all my money in savings (where it earns interest) and then when my automatic cc payments gets pulled from my checking (which has $0 in it) they will automatically pull it from my savings for no fee. Excellent!

Interest Rate – free money! Yeah. Be aware of the interest rate they give you. Sometimes I get a higher interest rate when I have direct deposit set up. Then when I’m not working it goes down to about 1%. I have been working on my practices and habits for years – so I will open accounts for bonuses. Last year we made $495 in bank bonus money. WoW!

Remember:

(Building blocks! Don’t go wild if you are at the start of this journey. Get the basics first. I feel like a broken record and I sense the energy gets antsy – master the basics and then you can master life!)

Account Closing Fees – be aware this is a thing. It’s not uncommon if you close an account within 90 days of opening they will charge you a fee. If you do ever want to close an account and want to check, super simple, just call the institution and ask, “Hello, I am going to be closing this account. Can you look at my account and let me know if there is any reason I will incur a fee? Thank you.” Easy peasy!

The Fun Stuff!

Open an Account and Earn Interest!

Here are the accounts I use, have used, or were recommended by a person I know:

Alliant Credit Union

• 3.10% apy on savings
• You can easily open supplemsental savings accounts (ie, name one emergency, gifts, travel, car, etc)
• Close acct within 90 days – $10 fee
• Paper statement – $1
• Debit card international fee – 1%
• Dormant fee/Inactivity fee – no activity within 3-5 years or no action within 12 months with an account balance less than $200 – $10 fee

SOFI

• No minimum in checking or savings
• No account maintenance fee
• If you have direct deposit, interest rate on savings is 4.6%
• No ATM fees at certain locations

M1

• I can’t recommend M1 as the best one to start out with. They really try to get to upgrade to the M1Plus account. There’s a lot of pushes to get you to use their other products.
• They encourage you to borrow on margin (DON’T) and have a lot of upsells.
• If you get to a point where you can open this for the bonus, go for it. I don’t recommend this if you are just starting out.
• Currently for savings it’s 5% interest rate.
• But if you might be tempted by the bells and whistles – don’t.
  Go with a regular bank or SOFI or Axos.

Paypal

• I have not quite used the savings account, but I have signed up for various Paypal bonuses. Others in the group have used them – so this might not be a bad option.
• 4.30% apy
• No min and no fees
• Through Synchrony Bank

Vanguard

• They have a cash plus account – 4.7%
• Vanguard is my primary investment choice. Unlike every other large investment firm, Jack Boogle set Vanguard up to be owned by it’s holders.
• If you just want to get an account with a higher savings percentage going and you are just getting started, I fear someone maybe get a bit overwhelmed and lost with all the other Vangaurd ‘things.’
• If you look at the page with the cash plus account and think, I can navigate this – go for it! The sooner you get yourself established with a broker like Vanguard the better!

Fidelity

• The option here is a bloom account which is an app version.
• This is great with a current interest rate of 4.98%
• Fidelity is a great brokerage with a fee-free international debit card. This is our other major investment firm. So if you think you might use Fidelity for your investments (which we recommend) – then go for it.
• I just don’t recommend specifically Bloom if it’s the very first thing you are doing. Or maybe only the second account you’ve ever opened in your life. I think it might get a bit overwhelming and confusing.
• But if you’ve got a good handle on things – Fidelity sent me an invite link with a bonus and I made $150 just for opening this app account!

Axos

• 3.30% apy
• No fees, no mait fee, no overdraft fee, no min balance
• ATM reimbursement in USA
• We both have used this bank – easy to transfer money around. Good.

Capital One

• 4.35% apy
• No monthly fees or min
• I have not personally used this account (yet) but I have heard good things from others I know

Ally

• You can easily set up bucket saving (like we talked about in Session 2!)
• No monthly maintenance fees or min balance
• There is a limit to withdrawls per month
• 4.35% apy
• I haven’t personally used Ally (yet – although I plan to in the future). I have heard from many positive reviews.

My Top Recommendations for higher yields at this point:

ALWAYS CHECK FOR UPDATES AND CHANGES. THESE RATES AND TERMS CAN CHANGE AT ANY TIME!!!

• SOFI (if you have direct deposit)
• Axos
• Alliant Credit Union (not bad rate and it’s a credit union)
• Captial One
• Ally (although I have not personally used Ally (yet) – I have heard plenty of good things
• A credit union local to you

In short:

Almost no reason you should pay any monthly banking fee. If you are, switch.

If you are paying any sort of fees on debit cards, switch. (We’ll get into debit card options soon too.)

The fun stuff!

Last year we made $495 by opening up accounts for the bonuses!

We can do that most years.

Which again, is why I keep reiterating to get the basics down first. If you can stay organized, stay on top of all your accounts, keep track of your passwords, you can have a lot of fun and rewards for money hacking like this!

This is another example to not let the mentality of, ‘Oh it’s just a $10 reward’ or ‘Oh well $300 isn’t going to pay off my loans any time soon!’

Well.

Let’s say you have $500 a year.

You invest that and do nothing else, in 10 years that will be about $900.

Next year you get “just” another $500 of bonus money.

You invest that each year.

In 10 years that will probably be about $7500.

<Or>

I just got $495 for being organized.

And that was just my bank bonuses.

I’m not even talking about credit card bonuses or other ways I get cash back by using things like Rakuten, GetUpside, or Fetch rewards.

When you do lots of seemingly small things in various areas over and over again, all of a sudden they really add up!

So it looks like:

• You ensure you have most of your cash on hand in a higher apy savings account. Check.
• You sign up for a bank bonus about once per year. Check.
• You might look for a cash back app like Rauken for literally purchases you were going to make anyway. Check.
• You get rewards on your credit card. Check.
• You never pay ATM fees. Check.

I could keep going on.

All of a sudden “just” $10 here and there, when looked at throughout an annual budget can add up to hundreds of dollars which over time can add up to thousands.

These habits are the building blocks that have allowed Chris and I to accelerate our savings rate and you can to!

Also – you can google for other banks and look for sign-up bonuses.

This is what I google:

• Best Banks 2024
• Best Bank Sign Up Bonuses 2024
• Credit Unions near me
• Best Credit Unions
• Best Credit Unions 2024

So onwards to a path where we can each create a life that excites us. Keep telling yourself you can do it. In our group of people, there are a lot of varied interests. Remember you are doing this for yourself and your future self, and whoever continues to be involved in your life.

If you fall into the temptation to compare yourself, compare yourself to where you were 1 year ago, 6 months ago or even at the start of these classes. These changes take time so if you even started thinking about money differently than before and with a more positive self-esteem to yourself – that is a big win!

You are worthy and you are worthy of good things happening to you and sharing that joy with others. Onwards to 1% better day by day. 

Thank you for joining this Seasonal Worker Money Talk Session 3.

*Please note, some of these links are referral links and we always disclose that for transparency! 

Action steps of this week:

1. If needed, research the marketplace health coverage in the state you are registered to vote it. Even if you work in a different state, you may very well qualify for a plan that might cost pennies and at least cover you to some degree for an emergency.
2. If you are paying any bank fees – switch banks.
3. If you are not getting an interest rate of around 3% or higher on your savings account at the time of this writing – switch. Right now there are so many options that are very easy to get 3% or higher.

Just for funsies – this post breaks down exactly what it cost us to go and see polar bears if you are interested: