Make a bad decision about a TV and the worst that happens is you’re out whatever you’ve spent on the TV. You don’t lose any more than you’ve already spent. Health insurance is different. Make a bad decision about a health plan and you might end up on the hook for thousands of dollars you aren’t able to pay. Read more ...

I’ll admit it – I am a worst-case scenario thinker. And aside from annoying my family with my Plan B thinking, there is a lot of truth to the idea of making sure you can handle the financial "worst case scenario", just in case. Your inner worrier will thank you. Read more ...

I am intrigued with the concept of "mental accounting" - probably because I do it more than I should, even though I'm supposed to know better (and, frankly, I really do know better). For example, my son's pre-school has a fund-raising program where I can pre-purchase "grocery dollars" - basically gift cards for the local grocery stores. For every $100 gift card I purchase, the school gets 5%. I buy several cards every few months, because I know I will spend at least that much in groceries, and purchasing grocery dollars helps the school. No-brainer, right? Read more ...

I had been here before, with the higher deductible plan making sense on paper, while my risk-averse self was convinced that next year might be the year we get hit with big expenses. What really changed my thinking this year was taking a longer planning horizon. Sure, this might be the year we have a significant health event and hit our (higher) deductible or even out-of-pocket maximum, but if I have four or five years that look like the last few, I will be saving at least $1,000 per year, which should help more than offset that one bad year...if it ever even comes to pass. Read more ...

This year as I compared my plan choices, I found – much to my chagrin – that I was leaning toward choosing the same plan we had the previous year. Despite my careful analysis and evaluation of our options, it was hard to think about making a change from a plan that was familiar and so far had worked out okay for us, even if it was more expensive than our other options. But I was determined to focus on the numbers. In the end, I made a big change. Read more ...

One of the most fascinating findings of behavioral economics and decision-making research is that we as consumers don't really know our preferences all that well – or at least, not as well as we think we do. Too many choices can make a decision difficult, especially when it's hard to compare all of the options. Read more ...