In day one I talked about what how I believe I would take the news that I only have 31 days left to live. Now it is on to making life decisions based on this news. If I were actually dying in what, now less than 30 days, it would seem like the obvious choice to quit working. But if I did so I could lose employer group life insurance coverage at just the wrong time. Personally, my employer provides $40,000 in group coverage. If I am dying because of a medical condition, I may be able to take all of that time off through the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and keep my coverage. The worst case would be if I am still able to work and cannot take FMLA time off. Well I still have two weeks of vacation and 22 works days left on the calender.
After taking the two weeks vacation, I am left with just 96 working hours. So my hourly rate, just for the life insurance, would be $416.67 an hour plus my normal pay. Argue what you want, but I trade my time for MUCH less than that now. The question is, would you leave your work and give up on a rate of over $400 an hour or would you sacrifice your time to better your family financially? If you say you would leave, that you value your time over $400 an hour, why are you working now?
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If I was dying in 30 days, I would quit my job no matter what! I can say that with certainty :). And I would make Mr. FW do the same (I don’t think it would be a tough sell).
So the followup question, why are you working now if you wouldn’t work for over $400 a hour? Another part that is important – your spouse may still be at work while you have time during the day. I guess I just feel like I wouldn’t want to be alone.
“If you say you would leave, that you value your time over $400 an hour, why are you working now?” Oh my goodness, that is deep! I’m going to have to study on that a spell. I love posts that really make you delve into your psyche. Thanks Kipp.
I am glad you found that insightful Kay. And that is personally a goal for myself this month, is to find insight into why I do things.
Oh I would quit my job for sure. $400, $500 or $1,000 a hour won’t matter at the end of the month since you won’t be able to use that money for anything. The only reason I work now if because I need money to keep on living, but if I didn’t need money after November 1st then I would quit right now.
Hi Aldo,
Of course it won’t be to you, you can’t take it with you, but what about your fiance? Are you not sacrificing your time right now at a much lesser rate to better the both of your lives?
I would want the time for sure, but it ma depend on how secure my family would be financially without me. If the $40K was really needed I would try to figure out a way to balance both.
The perfect balance would be if you could take it off on medical leave and keep the benefit. I am kinda going on the what if you can’t type scenario, where I take the remainder of my vacation and work the rest. Could my wife survive without the money? Yes. But she still has to work and probably can’t take the entire month off with me anyways.
I’d quit my job as well and do other things that’s more important. Even if I’m getting paid $400 or $1000 an hour I think I would have lined up the financial side of things good enough with Mrs. T when I’m gone. Furthermore, life insurance payout will kick in.
We do have a non-workplace life insurance plan and if something like this would occur it makes sense to have one, unless if you are financially independent then you don’t need life insurance. Or even if you have zero dependents, that would also make sense for going without it. Even though she would survive without the extra $40,000 it would still be a great help to her – and how could she take the entire month off with me anyways?
We couldn’t pay bills without my check. I used up FMLA for having a baby this year, so I might be terminated for taking off. I’ve actually asked HR how quickly life insurance would pay – pretty sure I freaked them out; been two days with no answer
I think I saw you mention that on twitter, but that it was if your husband passed. Maybe they wouldn’t have been as freak if it was you asked if you were to pass? I’m not sure on what everything is needed, I would think they would need a death certificate or something official.
Nope, I specifically told them I’m doing a challenge to live like I’m dying and I want to know how quickly my husband would be paid the life insurance. When my mom died, in pretty sure we got all the benefits paid within 3 months, so that means we need to plan on having 3 months worth of credit or savings to bridge the gap. Should be ok… As long as it’s not longer than that!