Trying to maintain health insurance while trying to be a full time REI

[Jeff Cooley]

I am just curious as to how some of you seasoned investors maintain health insurance for yourself and your families? Are most of you "risking it", have spouses with insurance, paying outrageous deductibles ? I am still in the initial stages of building up a passive cash flow, but I can see this being a big obstacle in the future when I decide to go full time REI. Any thoughts or solutions would be appreciated !

Jeff Cooley

[Jean Bolger]

I have been self employed all my life and have bought individual health care plans for over thirty years. It's expensive. In fact it has usually been the single highest expense in my personal budget, up until the advent of Obamacare (thanks, Obama! said in all seriousness in this case...) I think you have to just accept that one of the responsibilities of working for yourself is taking care of your own needs re insurance and figure out how to budget for it. The drag is that as you get older it costs so much more! But if you don't have it, it's not just you at risk- it's all your friends and family who would feel compelled to help if you got in a jam... 

On the positive side, you should be able to qualify for a subsidized plan through the state healthcare marketplace while you get your investment income up and running. Talking with a  real estate savvy tax advisor would be a good step. How your income is classified & distributed for tax purposes can make a difference.