prepaid

PREPAID
if i am riding around in my car in the afternoon
between 100 pm and 300 pm i turn my radio on to
the station that is airing the
dave ramsey show

i really wish that i discovered his show years and years ago
when i first went into private practice at the age of 40 years

now
gradually over the years i have done what he recommends
most of it i learned myself from trial and error
well most of it was error
yes we made all the mistakes
thats how you learn i guess

now into retirement where we have to watch our money
a little closer than when i was in practice
since we were making a good income
ok i was in the top 5% income
wouldnt have wanted to be in that top 1%
they get all the credit for whats wrong with us financially
us i mean usa

now in retirement i have dropped to a much lower %
now we dropped ourselves there several years before
retirement
in order to be ready financially for retirement
since i didnt start practicing having to finish a 3 year
federal committment first
when i was 40

most folks are around 26-28 when they start practicing
so i had a 14 year delay
i was behind 14 years
i had to play catch up

lucky for us
we did

so
now we live conservatively
we are totally debt free
we use a credit card only because its hard to buy things online
hard to make reservations without it
i use them whenever we buy large purchases
since we get consumer protection with the card
plus
we get 1% back on our purchases
but
i pay it electronically as soon as i use it
so
theres no end of the month surprise

now i never ever carry cash
i use a debit card
but whenever i use it i feel uncomfortable
knowing that just one purchase can lead to the hacking of
my checking account
wiping out all our money and more
at least until its discovered by me or the bank

so
i am selective where i use my card

now my wife she operates off cash only
she takes out money once a week to use
i tried that but have trouble with getting to the bank etc
so
i use my debit card
knowing that one day its gonna happen
ill find my account all cleared out


so
my plan is to use a new prepaid card
that loads a weeks worth of expenses on my card
ill use it wherever i used my debit card
i plan to use the american express card one
since american express has a good reputation for
customer service

eg
we recently bought a new electric stove
i paid for it with the american express card
got a defect stove
got a new one
got a replacement stove that was defective
contacted store and national office got the run around
contacted american express
they removed the charge
i called the store said you need to come get this bad stove
thanks american express

so
i plan to use the new prepaid card called american express serve
to do my cash purchases like groceries gas garden supplies etc
instead of my debit card
if it gets hacked they will only get whats in there
which should have a  max balance each week of $300

we will pay all our bills electronically
we will continue to use our credit card to make reservations and
do online purchases and to pay for restaurants

i wonder if dave ramsey would like my method

theres more on how i manage our finances
its a little complicated
my wife shes eyes get blurry eyed when i describe it to her
she sort of fades away into her facebook vortex

but it works for us
keeps us on budget
yes we have done all of what dave ramsey says do
we just added more
well not we but i did

my wife shes
she just along for the joy ride

so far its a good one

the organicgreen doctor