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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Clearskies on September 25, 2018, at 0:06:34
I dont remember your age.
I just turned 56. Twice divorced, supported by my ex husband by court order, and disability income for my anxiety disorder. I bought a house in June and have had an extraordinary amount of expense and stress associated with it. Im kind of a wreck.
I have 8 sessions of TMS left. Ive been quite low. I did read in several accounts of a dip experienced by some before the conclusion of the treatment. I dont know. Its had an amazing effect, a vitality I cant recall having allowed me to get a lot done task-wise. Emotionally though, therapy was suspended because I couldnt afford both, and my mood suffered. My body was acting well, but I have generally been feeling miserable with a few sunny moments which have almost been manic.
Posted by alexandra_k on September 25, 2018, at 4:00:06
In reply to Alexandra, posted by Clearskies on September 25, 2018, at 0:06:34
I don't remember my age, either. I feel sad to hear that you have been stressed financially and can't afford to continue the treatments that seemed to be helping you. I am surprised to hear they were helping you -- but I certainly don't deny it. I will be more open-minded about it. I hope you figure out a way to complete them, if you can, if you are nearly done. It isn't nice to feel that something that could / was helping you is out of your reach. Maybe you could make arrangements to pay them off?
Posted by Clearskies on September 25, 2018, at 14:56:39
In reply to partlycloudy » Clearskies, posted by alexandra_k on September 25, 2018, at 4:00:06
> I don't remember my age, either. I feel sad to hear that you have been stressed financially and can't afford to continue the treatments that seemed to be helping you. I am surprised to hear they were helping you -- but I certainly don't deny it. I will be more open-minded about it. I hope you figure out a way to complete them, if you can, if you are nearly done. It isn't nice to feel that something that could / was helping you is out of your reach. Maybe you could make arrangements to pay them off?
>An awesome old friend of mine paid for the full round of sessions - and then my insurance company stopped approving them, causing a lull in the treatment. They grudgingly let another 10 sessions happen and that is that. Although top ups and extra refresher sessions are considered normal, I consider them normally profit making.
I mean, its a treatment, not a cure, for me. Some like my friend achieve complete remission and never have to go back for more. I felt my mood slip in that week of no treatment so I already know this was a gift of being depression free that Ill only be able to get as insurance and my finance allow. They did have a payment plan, but with the expenses incurred in trying to keep my house insured (what a freaking racket, let me tell you!) Im screwed for another year at least in paying off my present debt.
Not coincidently, financial worries are a huge trigger for me, as I have been chased by the tax man in the past and sued for non payment of a shared debt. Traumatized me, then I divorced my first husband who fiddled while Rome burned and kept it a secret until Rome deported us, in a manner of speaking. Long story.
>
Posted by alexandra_k on September 25, 2018, at 20:02:59
In reply to Re: partlycloudy » alexandra_k, posted by Clearskies on September 25, 2018, at 14:56:39
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you reminiscing on finances.
I'll have to look into things more, in the very near future, I've realised. Make sure I get and keep things in order.
I need to start saving for college haha. If I get into Med I'll need to start saving for specialist training private college applications... And I'm not sure how fees go... I expect I'll need to establish a line of credit...
I haven't been allowed to establish a line of credit up until now. I know that as soon as you get credit then Work and Income here will not pay you (or whatever) and the security guards will block you for entering the building (or whatever) for 2 weeks or whatever... They will basically make you max out your line of credit and make sure you get into arrers on payments. It's a way of really entrenching the poverty on our 'most vulnerable', you see. Making sure they will be blocked from having a line of credit for the next 7 years...
I've seen the potential for that (and seen it happen for others) so I never took out a line of credit. Even the overdraft facility that my bank offered me where I pay no interest up to $1,000. Even overdraft facilities that charge no interest if you pay the monthly bill...
And I've come to see that you need to make good use of credit facility (actually use the overdraft and pay it off) to establish that you have the cognitive capacity to do that.
Only... You need a regular / reliable source of income to do that and that is what I didn't have.
So...
I think maybe it's safe for me to do that, now. So I can actually set up the savings account and not touch that in a way that is meaningful. Hell, when you've got enough in it you can transfer it to a longer term investment fund and actually physically not be able to access it (or not be able to access it without penalty or whatever).
Things to look into over the summer, I guess. Get finances more in order so if I get more money I'll know what to do with it.
I guess that was the main point of the scholarship thing that they offered. Best case they were inviting people to think about financial matters. Worst case they were data collecting the attitudes the applicants had towards money. Some applicants might have had good philanthropic ideas. Maybe I'd say that I wanted to put it in a college savings fund. They might have got a kick out of that. Perhaps...
Or perhaps they were mostly NZ GP people (where that is often considered the back-stop for when you are tired of being a junior doc but you haven't been accepted to any of the Australian specialist training colleges).
THey might not want to hear that. Who knows.
I suspect what they didn't want to hear was what I would have said (had I been eligable to apply). Spending it on... I can't remember what you call them. Consumables. I wanted a decent bicycle and a decent barbell and... But, of course, they wouldn't have understood any of that.
Once I've got my restricted I will need to see about upgrading my motorcycle. It's only 225cc and while it will do open road speeds it takes a bit of time to get there. It's not quite a scooter on the motorway... But it's a bit like an old mini-cooper and I'm not really able to pass those trucks going 80k or sometimes only 60k uphill even though I'm capable of going faster...
I expect I'll have to pay that off. Which means I'll need some kind of overdraft facility as a backstop incase something happens. And when I've got some kind of overdraft facility I'll figure how to move money from it into my savings - and then back again - to establish the line of credit.
All the things you're locked out of when you won't do rubbish work for people who think it is rubbish!
What a wonderful world. Sigh.
Posted by Clearskies on September 25, 2018, at 20:21:11
In reply to Re: partlycloudy, posted by alexandra_k on September 25, 2018, at 20:02:59
You could approach your local bank and speak with a financial advisor to start to hash it out and come up with a plan for a budget for yourself.
I did that when I determined my last marriage was kaput. I hadnt really a clue what to do. Eventually I got a dude who handles my investments such as they are, and my particular bank has loads of online tools to help with budgeting. Of course Ive no idea how uni and their requirements for funding figure into it.
I do know that over here there are enormous tax advantages for being both a student and a taxpayer. You can do things like claim expenses used for your education as tax credits, which save you loads (like computers and transportation).
Posted by alexandra_k on September 26, 2018, at 18:22:58
In reply to Re: partlycloudy » alexandra_k, posted by Clearskies on September 25, 2018, at 20:21:11
Thanks. I will look into what I can claim tax credits on.
I filled out my tax returns since forever. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's hard to get into the spirit of filling out a tax return when you don't get the government benefit payment you were supposed to (becuase, hey, let's just not pay them and what are they going to do about it?) Anyway... I filled them out. And (since I did a bunch a few years late) I needed to pay them, like $7 or something. And so I did.
And this year they gave me a couple hundred rebate.
Which was nice. And incentivises me for filing taxes :)
I will look into tax credits. I never thought that I could claim tax credits, but I expect you are right. I could have claimed a bunch of tax credits over the years. For all my student stuff. Books and computers and so on. Yeah.
I don't think I will speak with a bank person -- yet. But I will do a different sort of budget for myself, now, and one that involves setting a certain amount aside for those things I said. I don't need to spend the philanthrophy fund. Not until I see something of merit. The point is more to approach life with the attitude of looking to see things of merit.
This is the end of the thread.
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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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