Austin Babies
Short term disability?
I feel like this has been asked before, but I don't remember te answer. My job offers STD, but it only pays 60% of your pay, so when you take out taxes and insurance, it's closer to 30%.
I was wondering if you could get another plan on your own to add to it. I thought about Aflac, but I think that has to be offered by your company. I don't think you can get it on your own. Anyone have any other ideas or things that worked for them?
I was wondering if you could get another plan on your own to add to it. I thought about Aflac, but I think that has to be offered by your company. I don't think you can get it on your own. Anyone have any other ideas or things that worked for them?
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Re: Short term disability?
I've read a lot of posts about STD, and it may not be worth it, depending on the terms of the policy. You definitely have to pay in for a certain amount of time before delivering the baby (usually at least a year, so if you were to get pregnant right away and then deliver a few weeks early, they might not pay out at all if you haven't had the policy long enough).
It's also possible the plan makes you use PTO/sick time first or that you get paid nothing for the first 10/20/etc days you are out. STD is also only going to cover the amount of time you need to medically recover, which is shorter than the amount of time FMLA will let you take. (Medically, you usually need 6 weeks for a vaginal delivery and 8 weeks for a C-section. FMLA protects your job/position for up to 12 weeks.)
I also hate to bring this up because I don't wish it on anyone, but it might take a while to get pregnant. From the time DH and I decided to start trying until the time DD #1 was born was 3 1/2 years. If I'd been paying STD premiums for that long, I probably would have had more money if I'd just saved the money in the bank.
I would do some number crunching and figure out how much you are likely to pay in premiums versus how much the plan will pay out. How long you have to be out from work before the plan starts paying will be a key piece of information.
If you save the amount you will pay for daycare/diapers/etc every month in a savings account, you will have a nice amount of money to replace your salary and you will figure out if you can make your budget work post-baby.
Talk to your HR at work. My previous company allowed employees to use sick and/or vacation time to bridge the gap to 100%.
I was not taxed on my STD reimbursements. The statement you receive will have it marked as non-taxable income, and although I had to include my form when I did taxes, there was not a spot to claim it on the 1040.
For me 60% was better than nothing, considering I had no maternity leave and only two vacation days and two sick days to use. I was on leave without pay status for the rest of the time once those leave days were gone.
We can use PTO to bridge the gap, but we get so little, it's hard to save much. We splurged on our trip this summer, but I probably won't take off any more until Thanksgiving and Christmas, then it will be short holidays.
PrincessBride, you have good points. We may have success TTC early, in which case we won't have paid in enough, or maybe it will be soon, in which case, Yikes! Putting aside money for daycare, diapers, etc. is what I'm aiming to do. I worry a lot about how we will afford daycare, diapers, etc, but we've just decided to go ahead and try. Everyone tells us that you just make it work somehow!
We both have good jobs and advanced degrees and I'm worried that the longer we wait the more likely we are to have problems (which would be more money for IF treatment.) But I digress...
Blondie6ft, I believe that where I work, they don't take out your insurance when you are out, but then you have to pay it all when you return to work. I hope that's not the case for you!
nachl2otaffy, I totally thought you had to pay taxes on STD! Good to know, thanks!