Ahhhhrrr the bills keep comin

Just today after receiving yet another bill in the mail I started thinking about the regularity of all my bills, and started to feel as though they were never ending, forever being stashed in my letter box on a weekly basis. Then I thought where are all these bills coming from and from who...? after looking over my list I soon realised that most of them were merely insurance premiums..Interesting I thought how crazy it is that we work hard and struggle to make ends meet only to pay for a service that merely comforts our fear of the unknown...
I look back and think surely half of the types of insurance today would not have existed back in the day so why is it now that we insure absolutely everything..even our mobile phones..
What are peoples thoughts..........interested to know...
My letter box now reads -NO BILL MAIL-
 
LoL

My mother has a dog stored in my back yard, her dog her job to take care of the thing.

She comes over on daily basis (1.2 hr drive) to feed it. When she is here, she brings my mail in etc... She is gobsmacked, she owned a business and some houses in the past and had regular mail along with other siblings living at home with their own bills. But she is amazed that every day she pulls out a big pile of envelopes with red eleastic band on them with all mails directed to me.

It gets overwhelming yes, but jus the name of the game.

Will be interesting when I move in 6 weeks what happens with all my bills etc.

Need to accomodate the expenses. Nothing worse then getting a $30k OSR bill, or 20 lots of councial rates in one day. Just business I guess and need to keep eye on cashflow in and out.
 
My mother has a dog stored in my back yard, her dog her job to take care of the thing.

She comes over on daily basis (1.2 hr drive) to feed it. When she is here, she brings my mail in etc...

I am shocked that you let your mum drive 1.2 hours a day to feed her dog. Couldn't you do it for her, even a few days a week?
 
i think it seems more overwhelming because we don't see the "money" physically coming in ... it just appears in the bank account, and just as silently slips out again. whereas the bills arrive as physical pieces of paper that one has to put aside and make some sort of effort to pay (even if it's just an internet payment).
 
Invoices for blessings

Yep, it is the cost of doing business for our IP's and businesses and maintaining a life with some peace of mind and SANF for some of the insurances that appear on the surface as excessive.

On the other hand, I like to look at "bills and accounts" as "blessings". A change of perspective to viewing them as merely invoices for the blessings that we have and are receiving indicates that we are actually in a fortunate position to have the prosperity and abundance to be able to pay them, and afford things like gas, power, cars, etc ;)

It sweetens the tase of those sour old "bills." :)
 
I look back and think surely half of the types of insurance today would not have existed back in the day so why is it now that we insure absolutely everything..even our mobile phones..
What are peoples thoughts..........interested to know...
I think there a few insurances that have been made up just to prey on peoples insecurities.. Particularly mobile phone ins :confused: Just my opinion, but I think income protection ins is a waste as well.
May be a case of you sitting down and weighing up the risks/likelihood of each policy being needed?
 
I am shocked that you let your mum drive 1.2 hours a day to feed her dog. Couldn't you do it for her, even a few days a week?

sorry should read 1/2 hr. I forget to do it, so busy + not always home etc. sometimes i feed it. she does other things to when she comes over aswell sometimes. + it gives her something to do throughout the day. (shes 70 and retired).
 
Will be interesting when I move in 6 weeks what happens with all my bills etc.

LOL!

When we moved, I got a re-direction from the Post Office. We also know the tenants of our old home and they have been re-directing the "stuff" that falls through the cracks. They sent me a message the other day asking me if I thought it was time to finalise my change of address, because they were getting sick of all the mail. Remember, they only get the "stuff" that the Post Office misses.:eek:
 
I'm glad it is not as it sounded at first Nathan :).

Regarding moving and mail, the last two times we moved, I paid for a redirection for a full twelve months to catch those letters and bills that only arrive once a year. It only cost something like $70 (from memory) for the year. Anyway, it was not a lot of money for the peace of mind that we wouldn't miss anything important.

Tenants who have just moved from one of our IPs have redirected all their mail, but they are still getting mail from the companies they have already advised of their new address. Maybe their change of address instructions are still sitting in somebody's in box but it is really slack.

Luckily the new tenants live near our house and they are renting our IP while their house is renovated, so they are happy to drop the mail in our letterbox which I then re-address.

If we moved again, I would redirect for twelve months again.

Maybe if you don't change your address, the people who move in might pay your bills for you? What are the chances? :)
 
Insurance is relatively cheap risk management.

I pay a hefty total figure for all sorts of insurance cover each year. To me it's just another cost of doing business (or life). It's tax deductible and I'd much rather pay the premiums each year than risk being without the cover.

You can plow some money into insurance co. shares and benefit from it all if it makes you feel better. ;)
 
I have "outsourced" the bills to my agents.

The only ones I now pay are my own bills, the occaisional insurance, and the land / emergency services bills (SA).

Nathan....did I hear correctly...$30K in land tax????

That would equate to about $2.2 m in land value alone...which is conservative to market value.

Isn't that taking from profits?

I pay about $1000 in land tax ($700 in SA and $300 in VIC)...and that makes me cry already!:eek:

Need to accomodate the expenses. Nothing worse then getting a $30k OSR bill, or 20 lots of councial rates in one day. Just business I guess and need to keep eye on cashflow in and out.
 
Yep, it is the cost of doing business for our IP's and businesses and maintaining a life with some peace of mind and SANF for some of the insurances that appear on the surface as excessive.

On the other hand, I like to look at "bills and accounts" as "blessings". A change of perspective to viewing them as merely invoices for the blessings that we have and are receiving indicates that we are actually in a fortunate position to have the prosperity and abundance to be able to pay them, and afford things like gas, power, cars, etc ;)

It sweetens the tase of those sour old "bills." :)
Fantastic way of looking at it.
I love the feeling of satisfaction being able to click away on BPay knowing that I have been trusted by all these companies to have these services provided to me, and more importantly that with some bugeting I have the funds to pay them. :)

In regards to insurance - ask anyone that has been burnt and lost things/assests/health without insurance and they will all tell you how important it is to be covered.
Sure things have changed from back in the day and we have many more insurance options- it's called evolving. ;)
 
I have a friend who is an insurance broker. He told me the majority of people are way over insured (considering the premium to risk ratio or however they work it out) and the insurance industry knows this. And loves it.
 
I have a friend who is an insurance broker. He told me the majority of people are way over insured (considering the premium to risk ratio or however they work it out) and the insurance industry knows this. And loves it.

i over insure my house.

i perfectly (+/- 5% ) insure my contents.

i insure my car.

i have LL insurance when i have property.

no IPI.

that's it.
 
I have a friend who is an insurance broker. He told me the majority of people are way over insured (considering the premium to risk ratio or however they work it out) and the insurance industry knows this. And loves it.

Hope he points out to them the error they're making? What sort of insurance are you talking about?

People tend to overestimate things like building replacement a lot. Or worse yet, purposely exagerate in the mistaken belief they will receive a larger payout if the house burns down. ie. the replacement cost of the building would be $300k, and they knowingly instruct the insurance person to have the building insured for $1M. They think if it burns down they'll get the full $1M. :rolleyes:

Insurance professional should let them know this before finalizing the policy, but many especially at the dodgier co's don't.
 
I pay as much as possible by direct debit automatically.

It's the reason I've managed to pay not one, not two, but THREE quarterly electricity bills - all 'duplicated' from last winter's bill, for a house that has been vacant for over a quarter now. I'm waiting for the results of my 'proper' final reading. Interesting negotiating exercise that, intercepting a meter reader from 100km away at our house 40km away to give him the key and directions to the house :rolleyes:
 
I tend to over-insure, but knowingly. To insure a house for $1M that would cost $300K to rebuild is silly, and if anyone thinks they will get a payout of $1M then they are sillier still.

However, say I think my house will cost $300K to rebuild, then I need to allow for clearing of the site (which I think many people forget to allow for) and to allow for increased building costs over and above what I have estimated. So I always tend to over-insure rather than risk being under-insured, which I believe is pretty common.
 
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