When I got laid off (six years ago this week) I sat down with some trusted advisors and went over my expenses to see what we could cut.  When they saw my insurance costs (with a company I had been with for probably two decades) they said “oh!  That seems really high!  Shop around and get something lower.”

I wasn’t really interested in shopping around, but one day I was with a guy who happened to be an insurance salesman, and before you knew it we switched.

And then we switched again, when we found a “better” deal.

I really liked who we went with the first time (trusted friend).  The second time we moved to cheaper insurance because we could get better coverage at a lower monthly cost.

Then, we had to USE our insurance.  There was a little oopsie here, and a little oopsie there.  We were told they’d be happy to replace our windshield, and that was one of the benefits.  Not to worry, they said.

Then, they keys got locked in the car in our driveway, and they came and took care of it.  Not to worry, they said.  It happened about two weeks later.  No problem, with a smile.  That was INCLUDED.

Then, my wife had a significant accident (thank goodness everyone is okay).  Our van was totalled. We were told they paid about $30,000 in damages.

And then we got The Letter.  The breakup letter.  It said as of July 1, 2011, we were going to be discontinued.

There must be some mistake, we thought.  One accident and they discontinue us?  We didn’t understand.

Our salesman, who was awesome at selling us policies, said he’d go to bat for us.  He said he made a bunch of phone calls, but ultimately someone at the corporate office said that no, we were high risk, and we had “6 incidents.”

Let me list them (in no order):

1. The big accident. $30,000 out of their pocket, apparently.
2. A minor accident I had in a rental car.  SO MUCH FOR NOT GETTING THE RENTAL CAR INSURANCE.  Isn’t that what everyone says?  Don’t buy it, because your insurance company will take care of it?  HOGWASH.  $700 out of their pocket, supposedly.
3. Windshield replacement.
4. Locksmith.
5. Locksmith.
6. Insurance fraud.  My wife had a super minor “fender bender.”  The other lady said “oh, there’s no damage.”  They exchanged info anyway, and our insurance company paid out around, IIRC, $3k.  We even have pictures of the no damage, and submitted them, but we’re being pinned as responsible for the “accident.”  This is what I call FRAUD, and it’s a shame that person claimed it, and it’s a shame the insurance company (a) paid it, and (b) penalized us for it.

That’s it.  6 incidents of completely different values.  But they said “6.”  So, we were too expensive, and high risk.

What I learned is that you don’t switch insurance just to save $100 or $200 per 6 months.  You don’t switch just because someone says they have better this, or better that.

I also learned that you NEVER claim simple things, like locksmith, windshield, etc.  Even though they tout it as a part of their services, they keep track of the times you use it and then you are penalized for using it.

Since then, we’ve moved back to the original insurance company we had been with forever (and our parents had been with forever).

Since then, there have been no claims, no charges, no expense.

Since then, I have heard my old insurance company’s commercials on radio, online, TV, etc. and it makes me want to puke.  They say they are awesome, but they put their money into marketing… as soon as you use them they DUMP YOU.  I’ve found this documented online from other people.

My wife described them as the paper plate insurance company.  Once you use them once you can’t use them again.  They are garbage.

What a shame.

Makes me made to just write this post.  So much for cheap auto insurance.

Scarcity is what keeps us from giving, sharing, risking, being, achieving, doing, thinking.

How we think about “things,” like time or money or _____, affects how we act, and what we get.

I’ve been intrigued by the concept of the scarcity mentality for a while… here’s an amazing snippet of something I was reading on James’ personal website (scroll down to “HOW TO BREAK FREE FROM THE SECURE JOB“… It’s in the paragraph that starts with “Third answer:”

“I like security too. I’ve had a lot of insecurity in my past which built up a lot of fear, which has built up a scarcity complex inside of me.”

Wow.

Security makes you fear insecurity.  Insecurity = fear. Fear leads to scarircity complex.

Can security really give you the scarcity complex? The seem to be at odds with one another.  If you are secure you should have peace… and not fear…

I’ve seen it, though.  People who are “secure” are scared to death of losing their security, even if it isn’t worth much.

Amazing.

Today on JibberJobber I wrote about the idea of a learning management system, and my new product for the clients of university career centers. PLEASE go read that post, and if you can introduce me to your career center, I’d sure appreciate it!

I also wrote a post for Friday, which might become a new series. I talk about a phrase I had never heard of, but changed what I was looking for in my job search.  If this becomes a series, I will introduce words/phrases that will help you in your job search.  Friday I’m talking about “managed services… like JD Edwards consulting from Syntax (a managed services company).  If you have ideas for words/phrases in your job search, let me know (here, or in the comments on Friday’s JibberJobber post).

Happy turkey day!!

I spent a lot of time in my undergrad and MBA program in team projects… because the real world really valued teamwork and wanted us students to learn how to work in a team.  Check this out:

I’m not as skeptical as “trust no one” might imply, but I am reminded of a team project in my senior year were two of the team threw everyone under the bus with lies and almost made me and one other person fail the class, which would have meant we would not have graduated.  Stressful, and a big lesson in ethics…

I can watch this 5 minute video all day long.  Awesome. Inspiring.

Wow.

Kid1: “hey, respect your elders, yo!”

Kid 2: “But I’m older than you…!

Kid 1: “Yeah, but I’m your UNCLE!”

… good point, I guess :p

Here’s a new thing I’ve seen in spam recently:

1. This is the first email I’ve noticed where they CUSTOMIZE the dormant account holder. Normally it is a deceased general or president or something like that, and I’ll get millions of dollars.  This time, though, it’s a supposed relative!  I’m guessing this is just enough to get the unsuspecting to start the scam process

2. and 3. Why is someone from an “international bank” using a Yahoo account?  It doesn’t match up… red flag.

There are a few other red flags in this email – but I hate listing them all for fear the spammers will only use them to make their messages better.

Today I was in a mastermind meeting for a few hours and set up my work station… didn’t even think twice about it until my colleague (Mitch Seehusen), from across the table, started cracking up and said he had to take a picture… of this:

iPad 2, a very expensive mousepad!

I realize this has a hint of sacrelige… but it was the only option I had :p

Last week I was doing the dishes thinking about hanging out, doing nothing.

I wasn’t wishing I was doing nothing, I was just thinking about what it means to do nothing.

Hang out.

Chill.

Read, or watch a movie, or watch mindless television.  Sit on the couch and just do nothing.

I’m not a busy-body, but I’m not a do nothing person, either.  My wife and I cut our honey moon short because we were so anxious to move into our first new (to us) apartment and start to doing stuff in our new (to me) town.

We have a hard time being, because we are driven to do.

Is this good or bad?

I think there needs to be a healthy balance, and I’m not convinced I’ve figured that out yet.

I was listening to the news a few nights ago and was disgusted at a story about return fraud. I had never heard of it but was shocked at how easy it is to do.

More shocking was the amount of money retailers say is lost because of return fraud: $14billion.

That is a LOT of money.

In this post it says it is between $9.6 billion and $16 billion.

Of course, we are paying for that in higher prices on what we buy, the cost of more security, audits, consultants, etc.

But how sad is it that there is this underground industry to steal from stores (and from people who shop there)?

Sad… of course, and not uncommon.

But $14B?

That is about 700,000 $20 shirts.  Or 350,000 $40 pairs of jeans.

What a disgusting story that tells.  This type of thinking is exactly what will lead to the demise of any society.