The 8 Qualities of a Wealthy Woman

Today, I am going to write about the 8 qualities of a wealthy woman which I happen to read from the book - Women and Money:Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny authored by well famed American financial advisor & TV personality Suze Orman.

Harmony         Balance         Courage         Generosity
Happiness       Wisdom          Cleanliness     Beauty

Qualities 1 & 2:
Harmony & Balance

Harmony is an agreement in feeling, approach, and sympathy.
It is the pleasing interaction between what you think, feel,
say, and do.

Balance is a state of emotional and rational stability in which
you are calm and able to make sound decisions and judgments.

Harmony and balance are perhaps the most important qualities of all, for they serve as the foundation for the remaining qualities. When you possess true inner harmony, what you think, say, feel, and do is one. When your thoughts, feelings, words, and actions are not in harmony, it shows up as an imbalance—you feel agitated, uncomfortable, you sense something is off, so you find it difficult to make rational, calm decisions.This is why these two qualities are a pair. To make sure these two qualities are present in your life, you need to pay attention to your feelings. Observe and listen to the words you use—the actions that you take should be perfect reflections of the thoughts you think. If you maintain this awareness, you will notice when you are out of harmony/balance.

Quality 3: Courage

Courage is the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty,
or pain without being overcome by fear or being deflected
from a chosen course of action.

Courage gives harmony expression.When your thoughts and feelings are one, courage helps you manifest them in the form of words and actions.When you are afraid to speak or act, courage helps you overcome your fear. Courage gives you the ability to speak your truth, even when it is not what others may want to hear. Women can be deflected from a course of action if they think that it might hurt someone else. It’s so much easier to hurt yourself than to hurt someone else, isn’t it? Women also lose their courage when they subscribe to a belief that someone or something is the key to their happiness—rather than recognizing that power lies within.Fear is usually what stands between us and our courage. The only way to conquer fear, finally, is through action. You can meditate on your fear and think about it rationally and try to will it away, but in the end, if fear is preventing you from acting, you must find your courage and act to overcome your fear.You find the courage to silence your fear and you say what’s on your mind, you do what you believe must be done, you express your feelings.

Quality 4: Generosity

Generosity is when you give the right thing to the right person
at the right time—and it benefits both of you.

Generosity is a quality that most women can tap into very easily— maybe too easily, if you ask me. As women, we tend to be overly generous with our time, support, love, and money—but giving simply for the sake of giving does not match the definition of true generosity as stated above. It is very important that you understand that true generosity is as much about the one who gives as it is about the one who receives. If an act of generosity benefits the receiver but saps the giver, then it is not true generosity.

Quality 5: Happiness

Happiness is a state of well-being and contentment.

When you find the courage to live your life in harmony and balance, when you understand and practice generosity in the truest sense, happiness spontaneously appears. When you are happy, you are open and accessible.When you are happy, you tend to be more optimistic.You approach new challenges with a clear mind that seeks positive solutions.You see possibilities rather than problems. Happiness is not a luxury. It is a necessity for true wealth. When you are happy, you find pure joy in your life.You are not in a state of wanting but a state of contentment.You have the satisfaction of knowing that your actions come from a place of purity and balance, that they are correct and generous and kind. There are no regrets in this state of happiness—and that’s a goal worth striving for in all areas of your life.

Quality 6: Wisdom

Wisdom is the knowledge and experience needed to make
sensible decisions and judgments, or the good sense shown
by the decisions and judgments made from an accumulated
knowledge of life that has been gained through experience.

The quality of wisdom is more than intellectual, and it is in no way related to how much schooling you have.Exercising wisdom requires cutting through the noise of life and tapping into your core beliefs to make thoughtful decisions.Wisdom results from inhabiting all the qualities that came before it. A wise woman recognizes when her life is out of balance and summons the courage to act to correct it. A wise woman knows the meaning of true generosity.A wise woman knows happiness is the reward for a life lived in harmony, with courage and grace.A wise woman knows how to summon her courage and do what is right, rather than what is easy.

Quality 7: Cleanliness

Cleanliness is a state of purity, clarity, and precision.

Cleanliness is about respecting the importance of order and organization.When you don’t know where your money is, when you have no filing system for your important documents, when you dive into your pocketbook to pull out crumpled bills,when your car looks like a garbage can, when your closets are filled with junk and clutter. You need to clean up your act—quite literally—to bring true wealth into your life. In India, women sweep the front entrance to their home each morning as a way of welcoming Lakshmi, the goddess of material and spiritual abundance, into their home, for there is a belief that she resides at the threshold of every house. In order for her to enter, she must have a clear path. Respect the power of this quality of cleanliness. Make it your way of honoring the goddess Lakshmi, if only symbolically. Tell the universe that you have cleared the path for wealth and abundance to enter.

Quality 8: Beauty

Beauty is the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person
that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the
mind or spirit.

Beauty is what you create when you incorporate the other seven qualities into your life. When you take the steps to have harmony, balance, courage, generosity, happiness, wisdom, cleanliness, and beauty in your life, you will exude confidence in who you are. And there is nothing more beautiful than a confident woman. Remember, when you are confident you feel secure, and when you feel secure you have no fear. And when you have no fear, you have the courage to say what you think and feel in a
calm and wise way.And when you are calm, you make wise decisions with your money, which then allows you to be truly generous to others as well as yourself, which, in turn, makes you a happy, powerful, and beautiful woman. Do you see how all of
these qualities work together to help you arrive at the goal of being a woman in control of her destiny?

Carry these qualities with you throughout your life. Write them on a notecard and keep them close at hand—in your wallet or in your pocket. Make it into a talisman to guide you every day as you make your way through life and all its impossible demands.These qualities will keep you focused and tranquil. Let them and they will offer you constant reassurance that you are acting powerfully and correctly, with love in your heart and the purest intentions, to realize your goals of security and comfort for yourself and all you love.

Leap Year - The Significance of Feb 29th!

A Leap Year which is also know as intercalary year or bissextile year is an year containing one or more extra days in order to keep calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year. The Earth's seasons repeat once every tropical year (the time it takes the Earth to complete an orbit around the Sun). This is about 365.2422 days long, so a consistent 365-day calendar year would over time cause the seasons to slowly drift. By occasionally inserting an additional day into the year, making it 366 days long instead of the usual 365, this can be corrected. In the Julian and Gregorian calendars, which is used by most of the world, this "intercalary" or "bissextile" day is added to February, making it 29 days long instead of the usual 28 days.

February 29 is a date that occurs only every four years, in years evenly divisible by 4, such as 1988, 1996, 2008 or 2016 (with the exception of century years not divisible by 400, such as 1900). This extra day of the year is also known as the Leap Day.The rule specified by the Gregorian calendar for leap years is as follows:

A year is a leap year if it is divisible by 4, unless it is divisible by 100 and not by 400.

Without leap years, the seasons would start one day earlier on the calendar every four years. After 360 years, the 21st of March (the usual start of spring) would come in winter, on what would otherwise be the 21st of December.

A number of countries use a lunar calendar (based on the moon). They have leap years when they add an extra lunar month. Different calendars add the extra month in different ways.

However, now you have an extra day in your year to add on to your New Year's Resolutions!, if any.

Responsibility - "The Power" "The Control"

Responsibility...Responsibility....Responsibility.....Hmmmm....Everyone has their own responsibility. The child has its own responsibility, the parents have their responsibility, the teacher has one, the student has one, the manager has one too, the developer too has responsibility. Its become more of a role-based. Somehow everyone on this planet has their own set of responsibilities defined within their boundary of limit.To feel confident to live and be worthy of happiness, you need to experience a sense of control over your life.

Well, then, what exactly is responsibility? Responsibility means "responding to our abilities". It also has other flavors like "I belong to you" and "Realization of self". Responsibility starts with giving 100% for everything in your life.

Responsibility is not given to you - Its taken by you. This leads to the self-realization. Whenever you tend to take responsibility you get more control and more power to execute what you want. Responsibility = Power = Control. Therefore there is a direct relationship between the amount of control you have and the amount of responsibility you accept.For example, in any industry, the CEO or the Chairperson has the more responsibility of their company's growth. With this responsibility, he has more power in his hands and gets the control to operate the company as per his decision. This implies, with responsibility you get more power to control.

Mother Theresa was not given any responsibility she choose to take her responsibility ministering the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries.and became immortal to the services she delivered. Though she didn't intend, she eventually became internationally famed as a humanitarian and most influential person in the whole world. This shows how powerful and how much control she had with her responsibility.

Final tidbits on Responsibility:

Sudarshan Kriya - Art Of Living

I have rejoined this Art Of Living - Part 1 course designed by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar guruji. Yesterday was my second day in the class and my teacher taught us the Sudarshan Kriya. This was a very phenomenal experience. The main key point in this course is to drink plenty of water - as plenty as possible since this Kriya does a complete deep inner cleansing and removes all the toxins. Another catch is to keep our eyes closed throughout the process and feel the eternity in self.

The Kriya starts with closing our eyes for the 3-stage yoga sitting in Vajrasana and doing in Ujjayai breath(the breath experienced in the throat & not in the nostrils) followed by Bhastrika in normal breath. After these paranayama(breathing excerises), we chanted OM thrice which invoked vibrations in abdomen, chest area and as well in the face-head area. As the OM chants finishes, will begin the Guruji's tape which has a recorded voice of Guruji himself chanting SoHam in a particular rhythm which again contains Long-Medium-Fast paced rhythms (It goes like this So--------Ham So--------Ham So--------Ham - So----Ham So----Ham So----Ham - SoHam SoHam SoHam) to breathe in-&-out in normal breaths. This cycle of Long-medium-fast SoHams are almost repeated for about 8 or 9 cycles followed by complete body relaxation in Shavasana. During this stage I had lots of vibrations throughout my body. Also, I had all sorts of mixed thoughts flowing - sad, happy, good, etc for which my emotions were just frozen to accept all the thoughts as they were. I felt my emotions were so controlled and eventually felt as light as a feather. The whole kriya lasted somewhere slightly less than a hour & a half.

As I opened my eyes I was so relaxed and energized at the same time so joyful, I felt complete and was fully charged up for yet another round of Kriya which in fact didn't happen. Since you are not supposed to do this kriya twice in a day. Also, the class was almost over, it was quarter to nine in the night and my buddy along with other classmates were hungry for their dinner. Actually, yesterday was the total lunar eclipse which I missed watching for which I don't regret though! At the end, we called it a day and signed off with yet another homework which I am working on it right now to discuss my opinions in the class. I should bring to your notice that these homeworks will not only wake-up your thinking level but also makes you re-discover yourself with the answers you hear from your inner voice.In total, it’s a bliss!

Books I read @ a glance in 2007

Though I had a different resolution for the year 2007, I was impressed with my husband's resolution - "Reading 20 books". I happen to take up on his resolution and reach the goal partly inspite of my 3 months vacation to India. This was a small effort from my side to start towards investing time in reading and avoid my procrastination as well. Here is the listing along with their author names and also containing my small personal notes outlining the book:

1.Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus - Author John Gray
-Talks about differences between men and women. Compares men to elastic and women to waves

2. The Monk who sold his Ferrari - Author Robin S Sharma
-10 Steps to radiant living -NEWSTART

3. Siddhartha - Author Hermann Hesse
-Never have your ego dominate you. Have thirst for learning new things continuously. Learn to think, wait and fast.

4. Aesop's Stories - Indian moral stories
5. Chandamama - Indian moral stories
6. Akbar and Birbal Stories - Indian moral stories

7. Deception Point - Author Dan Brown
-Suspense thriller. Its all about the NASA, president and the politics

8. Interpreter of Maladies - Author Jhumpa Lahiri
-The Indo-american life storeis

9. Freakonomics - Author Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner
-The hidden side of everything

10. The Four Hour Workweek - Author Timothy Ferriss
-Escape 9-5. Live anywhere and join the new rich

11. Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Author Richard Bach
-Self perfection and self sacrifice through continuous learning to achieve higher plane of existence.

12. One Minute Manager - Author Ph.D. Kenneth Blanchard, M. D. Spencer Johnson
-One minute goals, one minute praising and one minute reprimand are the basic secrets of one minute management

13. Memories of Midnight - Author Sidney Sheldon
-Suspense murder thriller

14. The Mystery of Lord Ganesh - Author (Translation of Satyajit Ray's Feluda collection)
-Suspense detective containing 3 stories in this book

To add to the above list, I already finished reading two books for this year -

1. Warren Buffett Speaks:Wit and Wisdom fromt he World's Greatest Investor - Author Janet Lowe
-This book is a library of notes and quotes collection revealing the many aspects of the World's Greatest Investor--his wit, personality, and wisdom.

2. From Midnight to Millennium - Author Shashi Tharoor
-The book describes about Gandhi, Nehru, Indira & about other successful Politicians along with other historical events about the Indian politics from the midnight of our Independence until to the millennium year, describing a full analysis of the accomplishments and failures of the past 50 years" that will be "useful to anyone interested in modern India.

I hope you would pick any of these books and enjoy reading!

Welcome Back

Welcome Back!! I know its been a year and a month I started off with this blog. I happen to stop blogging for a while due to my procrastination along with my other time management issues. From now on, stay tuned for more blogs.

a NEWSTART for everyone's Life

Today, I want to disclose a very simple and yet powerful technique which is already been well established and is followed by majority of the people. This is for those who are interested in their vibrant health & wellness. These are the 8 laws for our radiant living. These are the principles which brings a NEWSTART in our life for dealing any of the health conditions successfully. Let me make it simple for you by expanding the acronym NEWSTART which makes it easier to remember.

NEWSTART stands for:
Nutrition
Exercise
Water
Sunshine
Temperance
Air
Rest
Trust In God.

Nutrition: A proper diet is very important part of our health. It provides the building blocks for growth and repair, and fuel for energy. We should have a balance diet which includes the proper mix of basic components such as Carbohydrates, Proteins, Vitamins, Fiber. etc. Basically, eat more vegetables, fresh fruits, pulses, legumes & grains by limiting fat, sugar & salt. Always remember to eat a good breakfast, a moderate lunch & a light dinner.

Exercise: Doing regular exercise enhances proper blood circulation, which in turn improves memory and mental ability and promotes better sleep and faster healing. It helps one to reach and maintain proper weight. It burns calories, builds muscle, and increases the metabolism. Always start with a warm up then include few stretching exercises along with abdomen crunches.

Water: Drink Drink plenty of water. Its used as a cleansing agent not only outside but also inside the body. A glass of water acts as a bath for the digestive system, cleansing and refreshing it.

Sunlight: You may be surprise to hear that Sunshine is also part of healthy life.The impression has been given that even small amounts of sun are harmful. But sunshine in moderate amounts has many benefits. Sunlight kills many germs and enhances the immune system. At least ten minutes of sunlight per day is necessary to maintain good health.

Temperance: The word temperance, when used in the context of health, has three very distinct meanings: moderation in the use of that which is good, total abstinence from that which is harmful, and self-restraint. Anything done in extreme is always harmful. Anything that harms the body is counterproductive to good health. Do not use tobacco, alcohol, drugs, or caffeinated drinks.

Air: Air is the vital element for the human life. One can stay without food or water for many days but anyone deprived of air will die within minutes.So, air out your house everyday. Keep proper ventilation in mind wherever you are. Also do Breathing exercises like pranayama or other techniques to clear the mind and increase the energy level. According to me Air is the king of one's life

Rest: Its important for a man to get the right quantity as well as quality sleep everyday. This is when the body grows, repairs damage, and restores energy, preparing itself for another day of activity. Because, when the body is deprived of sleep, it is unable to rebuild and recharge itself adequately.

Trust in God: Research has shown that spirituality helps to control stress, strengthen the immune system, and protect against heart disease and cancer. Beyond these scientifically verifiable benefits, God promises eternal life to those who trust Him—a life of perfect health and freedom from pain, fear, and death.

In conclusion, I would like to add few lines for a successful lifestyle. "You sow a thought, you reap an action. Sow an action, you reap a habit. Sow a habit, you reap a character. Sow a character, you reap your destiny". A life is meaningful only when its virtuous. Time is money but Health is wealth.

Mommy's quick & soft cookie

Ingredients:
1 cup Cashews
1 cup shredded coconut (preferably fresh)
1/2 spoon cardamom powder
4 to 5 spoons of honey
8 spoons grated desiccated coconut (Kobbari)

Preparation time:
5 to 8 minutes

Method:
1. Grind separately - cashews & fresh coconut in a blender.
2. Mix cashew powder, coconut powder, cardamom powder & honey in a bowl.
3. Make small cookies out of this mixture.
4. Now, roll them on the dry coconut & its ready to be savored.

modus operandi

Its been a long day! This is the phrase being used by me almost everyday in recent years. It makes me wonder where did all my hours of the day run by - is it hidden inside the clock or is it just that God stingily created 24hours a day so at least in this way to make the humankind work hard within a day? In any case, God didn't do any kind of fondness or partiality to any particular sect of life forms in the universe. Thankfully, he has afforded everyone to spend luxuriously 24hrs a day. It lies down with the individual how luxuriously to deplete them. I just ran down my simple maths to check how I consume my day.

Here are my number of hours from Monday to Friday excluding the weekends. Weekends are meant only for shopping :)

Total Number of weekdays - 5 days
Number of hours for a day - 24hrs
Total number of hours = 5 * 24 = 120hrs
Number of hours spent for office work each day which includes bathing, commute & at office = 12hrs
Total number of hours for office related work = 5 * 12 = 60hrs
Number of hours consumed in sleep each day = 9hrs
Total number of hours spend just in sleeping = 5 * 9 = 45hrs
Number of hours spent in cooking & eating each day = 2hrs
Total number of hours spend in cooking = 5 * 2 = 10hrs
Total number of hours remaining in my work week = 120 - 60 - 45 - 10 = 5hrs

Holy cow!! its just 5hrs.....this means left with just an hour end of each day. Now, this puts me under lots of pressure, how to invest this so-to-be very precious hour - Do I need to relax & watch some favorite soap operas on TV or do I need to take this as a quality time to spend with the family or should I keep thinking how to spend this hour or should I use it up on my self-grooming.The list goes on. Hmmmm....I guess I ran out of this hour for today as I already used it up on this blog :)

The only solution is to cut down the hours from the other categories listed above & hence redistribute to what I wanted do which is the actual hardest part of my life. Finally, what I want to say is that I am caught in this rat race & this has become my conventional life style.

I am sure I want to change this routine and I believe in the saying that change is the only constant in world. Let me explore and experiment with either new or existing strategies to have a better and happy life. I will certainly share those tips after I am done with my research in my future blogs. Self-Control is the mastery achieved only through rigorous will power. This is inherently recursive!

Overeating - A devil in disguise

One of the main causes for Overeating is Emotional feeling towards food & most of the times its not the hunger. Its generally triggered by other deadly emotional feelings such as Anger, Depression, Loneliness, Stress, Anxiety, Boredom & lack of control. The other causes would be attending the great parties such as Wedding, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Saturday-night-potlucks or any other b'day parties where a wide range of mouth-watering food variety is at display. Hardly able to resist our temptation. Sometimes its caused by following unstructured aggressive diets which makes people to starve continuously for few days at stretch and in the end feels very delighted to just binge on anything thats available as a result of uncontrollable hunger strike. Whatever the reason be, this disease is life-threatening by leading to obesity & also give rise to other chronic illnesses on a very long run due to the intake of low quality food in large quantities such as multiple scoop of ice creams, fried food & other kind of unhealthy fast food.

Knowing the causes is not a great deal, here is the toughest part - how to avoid or remove this deadly devil from our daily life. Here are my few simple tips to follow:-
1. Never miss your breakfast even if it is merely a boiled egg, it works.
2. Drink Drink Drink plenty of water or even you might substitute few cups with other fresh fruit juices or butter milk. Be hell-bent on drinking lots of water.
3. Do regularly atleast 15 mins of Pranayama(yoga) or Art of Living - Breathing Exercise, generally recommended in early mornings. This actually gives lots of self control.
4. Take long time to complete your meal by chewing slowly with purpose & enjoy the ambiance & companionship. This gives an illusion that you are eating more.
5. Always eat in smaller plates so that you could manage to have multiple & healthy mini meals throughout the day rather than a few large ones.
6. Substitute your high carb food with fresh & healthy Salads, vegetables & fruits.
7. Walk Walk Walk every night so that it keeps you stay fit. If time permits, I recommend to go either to gym or do a minimum of 30 mins jogging.
8. Finally have a firm will power not to indulge in overeating by getting the mind of food & instead trying to elevate the mood into some other activities like reading a book or writing a blog, etc

My mom-in-law's recipe - Methi Onion Gojju

Ingredients:
3 cups chopped onions
2 spoon fenugreek methi
1 spoon garlic paste
8 red chilies
1/2 cup dalia split (kadale poppu)
1/2 cup grated coconut
5 tbsp Olive oil/Vegetable oil
mustard seeds, curry leaves, salt, tamarind paste, jaggery to taste

Preparation time:
20 to 30 minutes

Method:
1. Put the red chilies, dalia split & grated coconut with little water into a mixer or blender & make a paste of it.
2. Add methi into a bowl containing tamrind paste & microwave for 4 mins to soften.
3. Warm oil in a skillet, add mustard seeds & when it spatters then add the curry leaves, garlic paste & chopped onions.
4. Fry the above mixture till the onions become tender soft & turns slightly golden brown.
5. Add the softened methis along with the paste from the mixer into the pan & boil with little water for 6 to 8 mins in medium flame.
6. Add some salt & jaggery to the taste.
7. Let it simmer for 5 to 6 mins till gravy reaches its consistency .
8. Now, the curry is ready to go with chapathis/phulkas/dosas

Deed or Destiny

As a kid I always had a tough time deciding about whats leading my future - whether its been carved out of my hard work or is it my destiny which is been shaping my future. Unless, I came across this beautiful story from one of those story books which helped me to analyze my situation or with any others situation. To understand which is greater in life - Deeds or Destiny?? read through this story.

Long ago, there was a great sage in a hermitage who had many disciples on a quest for knowledge. Two among them were Ajay & Vijay.One day these two had a great deal of argument on certain point. According to Ajay, one's fate was above everything & one couldn't get anything unless he is destined to. However, Vijay had a contradictory view that there was nothing like fate or destiny and its because of one's efforts & one's deeds that one could shape himself. Both continued arguing & they failed to reach on consensus so they approached their teacher and explained their point of views.

Sage, after analyzing the situation he said that he will be able to give his reply the next day but until then they were remained shut in a room for 24 hrs and they weren't provided with anything to eat during that period. The day just passed by and it began getting dark in the room and both were feeling terribly hungry. Since Vijay was very hungry he set out on a search in that dark room to find something to eat as Vijay believed in hard work and making efforts. However, Ajay was still adamant with his view that no one will get more than what he is destined to & was seated in his place without putting any effort. Finally, with great effort, Vijay was successful to get hold of a mug kept in a corner and he was happy to find roasted grams in it. He began munching on them & in order to tease his friend he was justifying himself saying that his hard work paid off. In spite of this, Ajay insisted that fate is above everything. This irritated Vijay & gave him small pieces of stones which were mixed with the roasted grams & explained him thats what he is been destined to receive for hunger. Vijay happily accepted his share without any hesitation thinking thats what he is been destined to.

The next day, early in the morning they both got out of the room & met their sage and explained their experiences. First Vijay spoke about how he went in search of something to fill his hunger and decided to make efforts for which he managed to get a mug containing roasted grams, which also contained small piece of stones & how he decided to give those stones to his fatalist. For this Ajay accepted insisting again on fate saying its above everything and was destined to receive those small pieces of stones only.

The sage asked to look into those small pieces of stones for which Ajay took them out of his pocket and gave them to the sage. The sage explained that they were not pieces of stones but they were small pieces of diamonds. The sage explained to the disciples that the mug contained roasted grams and small pieces of diamonds. However, Vijay made efforts to get both but assumed that those diamond pieces to be pieces of stones & gave them to Ajay. And Ajay kept them as he was destined to get diamonds. This put the disciples in to the confusion again - which is greater? Deeds or Destiny?

For which Sage said that both have equal status. Because deeds & destiny move together both are complementary to one another. Hearing this both the disciples were satisfied with the reply from the sage and they never argued on that point again.

I guess, I was destined to bring this story here as I consider it as my deed!!

Life is all about Medical insurance

This morning I woke up to discover what kind of complex Medical benefit package I have enrolled. This is something new for me & was never used to these kind of insurances in India. Yeah, of course while electing this package last december I didn't research much on those terminologies used by the benefits provider. I blindly boldly decided to go with this United Healthcare Enhanced PPO Plan without investing much time into it thinking that I am a very healthy person & would never visit a doctor and assumed that these insurances are real waste in my case. This theory proved me wrong. Health is one thing though appears to be in our hands, in reality its out of our control. Today I had a doctor's appointment and went to her clinic to get my annual check up done. When I placed my insurance card to the receptionist she was not sure how much co-pay she should charge me as there were no details on the card regarding the co-pay. Hence, she called the United Healthcare and explained me the plan which I hold from my company. She explained me that there is one time $200 deductible along with this there is 15% total cost per visit that will be charged to me and 85% is covered by the benefit plan. Alas, I was dumbstruck. Last 2 years, I used the benefit package of my husband's. I was paying just 15 to 20 dollars as co pay per visit and the rest 100% doctors fee was covered by the plan. Now, in the doctor's clinic I was standing confused whether to go with my annual check up or not :-/ which costs me $200 + 15% of the total expenses.

In fact, I came back home thinking my health is not so bad to spend $200 but it was just a routine check up. However, I learned a very good lesson from this. Just to save few dollars in co pay, I am ending up paying $200 towards deductible. Time will say whether I took a right decision in choosing my Benefit package. Also, I have made my mind to research more on the terminologies and be clear with whatever I am choosing in future. When it comes to money, its time to come out of procrastination and keep our eyes opened for all kind of smallest things.

My First Blog

Today is the day, I decided to enter into this world of Bloggers life. Hope you all enjoy reading my blogs. I will not be restricting the boundary of my thoughts which I will be sharing with you all using this blog as a means to communicate myself to the world. Currently, I am really excited to view my first posting on the web!