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Browsing posts in: Health

How to Prepare a Young Child for a Large Surgery

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A surgical procedure can be frightening for an adult. It’s most likely twice as scary for a child. However, you can help your son or daughter navigate this unique experience by incorporating some helpful practices. These are tips for preparing your child for an extensive surgery and ensuring it goes as smoothly as possible.

1. Choose a Reputable Hospital

Choosing an establishment or doctor with an excellent reputation is a surefire way to ease your anxieties about your child’s surgery. The less anxious you are, the more quickly you can prepare your child for the procedure.

Johns Hopkins reported that more than 251,000 deaths happened in 2013 because of medical errors. Thus, it will help if you choose a facility that has a low error count. You can research the number of malpractice cases a particular surgical establishment has and then choose a provider based on your research findings.

2. Give Your Child an Early Education

Early education opportunities make overall life better for children. You can boost your child’s social and emotional skills by enrolling him or her in a good preschool program. National University claims that getting a child into school between their first few months of life and 5 years old is a great way to kick-start the skills necessary to process potentially traumatic situations, such as surgery.

3. Discuss the Procedure With Your Child

One of the best things you can do is talk to your child to make this experience more comfortable. You’ll need to be able to speak to your son or daughter on their level, so they’ll understand they need the procedure to get better. Ensure your child that you will be there to hold their hand before and after the process. Also, ask them if they have any specific fears and address them before the procedure in the most tender way possible. Your child probably needs to know that he or she will be okay and that you love them unconditionally.

4. Buy a Comfort Item

You could also invest a little bit of your money and buy a comfort item for your son or daughter. That might be an extra blanket in case they get cold or a teddy bear they can hug until it’s time to have the surgery. Any little effort on your part will help ease their mind and relax them for the surgery that will soon come their way.

5. Have Them Meet the Surgeon

Another great way to ensure your child goes through the surgery is to have him or her meet the surgeon beforehand. A personable surgeon is what your little one needs to feel secure about the procedure that’s coming up. Please think of this experience as similar to when taking a child to his or her first dental appointment. Going in and meeting the provider beforehand usually gives the young person a sense of trust and security. Thus, you’ll want to consider doing that to improve the experience for the little one.

6. Take Them Out for Some Fun

Finally, you can help prepare your child for the surgical procedure by taking them out for fun. This activity will significantly depend on their health condition and restrictions. However, consider taking them out for ice cream or a meal at their favorite facility. You can also take them to a movie or a nice walk on the beach. Please do something to let your child know you’re proud of them for having the courage to go through the surgery.

It will help if you do the same when the procedure ends. Take the little one to do something fun after the recovery and medication-taking period. There are over 30,000 prescription dispensaries in the U.S., according to Envicare. Ensure you purchase and administer all medications and your youngster is well before doing the second activity. That will probably make him or her very happy.

Use the tips above to help your child get through a surgical procedure. They’ll get through the procedure well and your bond will be stronger than ever.

Car Paid Off and New Financial Goals

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Last Car Payment

Guess what, friends! I did a thing! In one fell swoop, I paid off my 2017 car loan. My balance is now $0!

This is my big win to report, as this was my only “consumer debt.” My only remaining debts are my student loans and our mortgage.

Student Loan Drama

I’ve mentioned before that I’m putting my student loans on the back burner. While I’ll be making monthly payments toward my loans as required, I’m not planning to put anything “extra” toward them right now. Instead, I’m officially enrolled in PSLF and plan to ride that out until my remaining loans are forgiven. That said, the government and loan service providers have made the process “clear as mud.” The last time I mentioned my student loans back in February, I reported that the online platform indicated I had 44 qualifying payments to go.

Somehow, today, I logged in and saw that 2 of my loans indicate only 15 payments remaining….while 2 of my loans show 0 eligible payments (thus, 120 payments to go). Like….what? Absolutely nothing has changed in the interim between February and now, so I don’t know why the online platform is telling me such disparate information. It cannot be accurate. I called my service provider, Mohela, to try to talk to a customer service rep and gave up after a full hour on hold because I had a meeting I had to jump into.

I pretty much loathe these loans and allllll the interest I’ve already paid. And the servicers do not make it easy to get information. Long wait times, rampant misinformation, etc. Ick. Unfortunately, this is something I’ll have to tackle another day. Moving on…..

New Financial Goals

When we had our coffee date, I mentioned being unsure how to proceed after my car is paid in full. This is a “blogging away debt” blog. But I’m now feeling my priorities shift more toward saving and investing. My husband and I do pay extra on our mortgage, but not with the steadfast determination with which I paid off my car.

Instead, I’m thinking about shifting to more savings/investment options. My open enrollment period opens very soon. I’d like to increase my savings/investments in several categories. Here are my thoughts:

CURRENT in 2023NEW for 2024
HSA: $5500/yearHSA: $7750/year
FSA: $700/yearFSA: $1000/year
403B: $125/check403B: $175/check
529: $50/child/month529: $60/child/month

If I’m doing my math right, the total amount of investments annually from this table would amount to $14,740 (FYI: I’m paid biweekly. I have 2 kids, and each has their own 529).

That also does not include my normal retirement investments. By default, I invest 7% of my salary toward retirement, which is matched by my employer dollar-for-dollar for the full 7%. In other words, I have 14% of my salary automatically invested into retirement (my husband has a similar situation with his salary, too). Then I’m proposing an additional $15,000/year in investments and savings spread among HSA, FSA, 529, and 403B.

This change is approx. $4,000/year higher than my contributions for 2023. A difference of $153/paycheck. But is that enough? Or should I be aiming to increase this even more?

Pulled in a million directions

I have lots of other shorter-term savings currently stored in CapitalOne360 savings accounts. By nature, I’m a “splitter” versus a “lumper” when it comes to savings. This is why I have different savings accounts for so many different things. Currently, I have savings accounts for:

  • student loan savings. My original plan was to save a little each month until I had enough to pay off one of the 4 student loans in full. But I just dipped into these savings to help cover the overage from my car payment. Also, I’m not sure if I even want to pay “extra” for my student loans….
  • car repairs or new car
  • emergency fund
  • travel/Christmas/fun. I save a little each month so I can always pay cash for anything “big” or “extra” we might do as a family. This is mostly used for travel but could be used to help fund Christmas gifts and experiences, or anything that would be over and above to where it would blow the monthly budget… I have savings just for that! 😉
  • annual fees. Examples: life insurance, car insurance (paid bi-annually), HOA (paid quarterly), etc.

After all my recent home repairs, folks have also suggested budgeting and saving specifically for home repairs, so that might be an account to add (or maybe change my student loan savings to “home repair” savings…..)

Another idea I’m considering is to open a money market account – something that’s not necessarily long-term savings, but something that will yield a higher interest rate than my current savings. While this might be impractical for the annual fees I regularly use and restock, it might work great for things like the Emergency Fund and New Car savings. Yes, I know I literally just paid off my vehicle. And I plan to keep it for quite a while. But I’d LOVE to be able to buy my next car in 5-ish years with cash fully debt-free! That seems better kept in a money market vs a savings account.

This said, I honestly don’t know where to start! I’ve never had a money market account before. Only retirement accounts, the investment vehicles listed above (e.g., HSA, FSA, etc.), and normal old savings accounts. I’d want one with low-to-no fees, but a decent rate of return. Any recommendations? I have longer-term (retirement) investments with Fidelity and Vanguard already. Should I see about opening up a Money Market account?

What are your thoughts? What should be my next big goal or focus for savings and short- and long-term investments?

P.s. Editors note: If you are reading this and having some trouble paying off debt, consider checking out The Money Principle’s article on a ten point framework for getting out of debt, its worth a read.