I wanted to take a moment and reflect on where I am in life. I have started receiving so many phone calls about mortgage foreclosure and bankruptcy, an area that I have spent the past few months learning about.
All in all, I believe I am ready to get started accepting clients, but my only question is... How the hell do I file a lawsuit, how do I know what kind of cause of action I should use, how do I file for an injunction, and what kind of pleadings do I use?
You would think that an attorney would know how to do such things, but believe it or not, we were never taught actual practice of law in law school.
I spoke to a bankruptcy attorney [also on the document review project]; he called doing the work we do "contract work," and he referred to it as a disease. He has his own practice (just as I am starting my own), but he said that when he doesn't have clients, to bankroll his practice, he does contract work to pay the bills and keep the lights on.
I have a slightly different idea. My wife and I are looking for some loan source so that I can start working full time right away. Hitting the ground running at full speed is more likely in my opinion to yield results than dipping my toe in here and there. The problem is that I don't see contract work as a disease; I see it as bitter-sweet shackles which stops me from getting started or succeeding in starting a firm. It does pay the bills (most of the time, except these past few weeks where we almost couldn't pay the rent, and we even fought over this during an overly insensitive moment I had a few days back), but it absolutely KILLS all my time.
On another note, my COBRA health insurance runs out next month, and my wife and I do not have any alternative. Paying for a plan seems so expensive and Obamacare is at least a few years out (and it will probably be legislated out of existence come November anyway). We applied for the State's health welfare program, but we make too much money and were denied. My wife and I have joked about how to get on medicare (think child #4), but the kids and me would still not be covered. We will reapply for the State's health insurance program as soon as I lose my COBRA. The reason we were denied was because they were all covered under my current plan which is still in effect until the end of November.
-Zoe
5 comments:
Zoe, I think you either need to resign yourself to paying for an expensive plan out of pocket or staying with a job that provides health care rather than striking it out on your own.
Your wife and children *must* have health care.
I think taking out a loan so that you can start your business is a VERY high risk proposition.
I'm answering your comment out of order. I agree that taking out a loan to get started is TOO HIGH RISK. I wish my wife would get a job so that at least there would be SOME cushion so I can at least have the opportunity to go for it full time. She refuses.
As for healthcare, my wife won't get anything that doesn't have maternity and the minimum she could find is $1000/month. She tells me the cheaper plans don't have maternity care. My current "job" (aka doc review) does not offer health insurance.
Well, if you can't qualify for state assistance, then you're going to have to cut somewhere. Going without health care is not an option. How close would cutting out daycare get you to that $1,000/month? You can always give her the choice between daycare and health insurance.
She has to face reality sometime... and having two children in daycare when you make <$50k/year is NOT reality.
Wow, imagine that... Cutting out daycare. We've spoken about it before but every time we do, the conversation goes this way... --> "...um... we'll find a way... Hashem will somehow provide."
Hashem did provide... by giving you a job. It's up to you two to make that money pay for what it has to pay for.
I would suggest making a list of where you can cut so that you can afford health care. Another place to cut might be the food budget... or giving up a car... or moving into a smaller apartment (I once spent a really horrible summer as a teenager living with my parents and sister in a 1-bedroom apartment. It's doable, just not pleasant.)
Or maybe her parents will start sending you monthly support to pay for health care.
This post is, of course, assuming that you've already cut out all the extras that normally go first.
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