Here's a site you can get prices of insurance. For a single person, you can geet some pretty good insurance for around 400 a month. Just about every place I have worked, it has cost about 100+ a month out of my pocket, even after what the company pays.

As far as 401/IRA. With 401, you have to put in 4% of your salary to get the 4% the company matches. With this IRA deal, it sounds lik he is giving 3% and putting it to an IRA without you matching it. Just remember, there is a max you can put into an IRA, whicjh is a lot lower than the max you can put to a 401k.

Here's the insurance site.

http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/ehi/index.html

 

I believe that an employers contribution to a 401K isn't legally dependent on an employees matching contribution. The last 401K I paid into didn't not require a match of the employers contribution (Northwesern)

As for insurance, a single person can get a pretty basic 80/20 $500 deductible with prescription coverage for as little as $125 a month. But again, if you're in relatively good health and don't run to the doctor for every little sniffle, you should look into an MSA, it's a good way to provide basic health covergae and tuck a little extra back that you'd otherwise be paying taxes on.

Flex plans are getting popular around here, but I see a basic flaw in that it encourages people to spend the money at the end of the year regardless of whether or not it's really neeeded.

 

NEGOTIATE! NEGOTIATE! NEGOTIATE!

Sell yourself to your new employer. I just read an article today saying that 30% of employers feel less of an employee if they don't ask for more and something like 70% expect and have more money or benefits to offer than what they first present you. This is your time to shine. Even if its like 2 weeks of vacation instead of one. Asking for more money is either a yes or no question that never hurts. Tell them why you are worth the extra money, did you do more than you were supposed to at your last job, were you a loyal employee, did you have good attendance record?

I don't know how old you are so that is the biggest issue in insurance. I am 29 and insure myself and my daughter (wife has hers through work). I have a great plan through Anthem BlueCross/BlueShield. It costs me 220 a month. That is a 1k deductable and prescription benefits and $25 dollar office visits. I usually pay 15-20 bucks for prescriptions. No dental or eyeglass care. Dental care can be expensive. If he will give you 4000 a year, buy a standard health policy and indemnity policy. The indemnity policy is like a savings account only for medical or dental procedures. It usually draws a little interest (some is better than none) and the money is there to cover deductable costs and anyother un-reimbursable costs you would have.

Congratulations and good luck!

 

Hey, I may have some more questions for you later. Don't have much time right now... I was on the Blue Cross website with the fiance when I got home from work. It looked pretty good at first, but then got a little confusing, and looked like it didn't cover simple things. I can't remember the plan for sure. It was something like Blue PPO plus or something...

I plan on checking out the insurance, if it goes well, and I can get decent insurance for $4000 I will still ask for more money. I checked my W2 and without overtime I would actually be taking a pay cut, yet still probably working the same hours.

I may actually ask for $1000 over my last years total earnings, and if he'll do that, and insurance pans out I think I'll take the job. The job itself sounds wonderful... I would be THE mechanical design guy, and that would be my sole duty.

Thanks again everyone, and if anyone has anything else to say, please do so...

BTW, I'm 28... will be 29 in september and also getting married in September. She's supposed to be finding out on Monday what her insurance would do for me...

 

The problem with insurance is that you're giving money to someone and it won't be returned, that's fine if your paid costs exceed the total of your premium, but if that's the case you'll find your premiums going up fast. Remember you don't enjoy the "protection" of an employer paid group plan in this case.

But if at the end of the year you find your premiums exceeded your actual paid expenses, you just gave your hard earned money to some fat cat shirt and tie. Maybe he'll send you a nice thank you note

With an MSA, you're covered by a high deductible policy and offset the deductible with tax free dollars. If you don't exhaust the cash reserve, it's yours, if you do, the policy kicks in so you're still covered.

Say medical expenses last year totaled less than $1000, and you have a high deductable plan with a $2700.00 deductible (the maximum for single coverage). If you contributed the entire $2700 to the account (which is tax free) you'd have a balance of $1700. This year you can contribute another $2700.00, rolling over the balance from the previous year (see how quickly it adds up?).

There are few other benefits as well. You can write all or part of the insurance premiums in a lot of cases, and that $2700.00 tax write off can reduce your gross to your advantage in some cases (like getting your gross below a certain level for tax benefits). Plus you usually see a bit more freedom of choice in care providers with the high deductible policies.

Granted it may not be for everyone, but if you're in average health, it can be a good way to save money on health care and save money period.

 

Insurance is a BIG thing nowaday's. And very expensive. That is my number 1 consideration when I look for a new job. Unless this new job will help you advance your career , I'd would keep looking. Just MO.

Also, why would this new company opt to give you 4,000 to buy your own insurance and not have a group plan of their own?

 

Until a person has a SOLID bank account an MSA is a big role of the dice. Take for instance me, great health, physically fit, slipped on ice getting out of my last rig and have had four knee operations later totalling more that 100k for the them all. I have been out two years of 1000 deductables plus some other expenses. Probably have 3g's wrapped up in a bum knee.

At our age premiums don't increase as much as a lot of people think. I have had this plan Individual Blue Access PPO for 6 years and it started at 175 bucks and has went to 220. I don't consider that too bad.

This all is very state by state though so you may find some huge differences. My PPO network is unbeleivable. I have yet to find a doctor not in the plan. And my knee doctor is supposed to be the best in Indy working on Colts and Pacers players.

 

I only scanned thru.
Just want to say congratulations.
What ever you negotiate, get it in writing Black and White. Have them spell out what company policy considers resonable time reimbursment. If they are uncomfortable oe hesitant with this ethical business practice. That is a Red flag for you, shake hands and walk away ASAP.

 

Dude that sucks. I shredded my knee a few years ago (ACL) while backpacking, two surgeries to get it working right so I know how that feels.

MSAs aren't for everyone, I was able to fund mine up front. If you figure in the tax benefits etc though, you might consider taking out a short term loan to fund it, you'll have to pay the interest on the loan but the principle is a write off as your contribution. Depending on your credit, the tax write off may even result in an offset to the interest.

Even if something bad happens, I'm still ahead of the game because I still save over regular insurance,

 

When you interview (again?) ask about what your growth potential is with this new company. Are there chances for advancement or will you be stuck forever doing nothing but CAD drawings? Do you want to grow within the company? If you do, ask if they'll pay for you to go to night or even daytime classes. The more you know, the more valuable you are to your employer and the greater your earning potential. Are you after a career or just a job?

MR

 

I wish you good luck with what ever decision you make. I'm a Designer also and have kinda been thru the same ordeal(long story). It wasn't that I didn't like my job, it was the pay. After 4 interviews over the last 2-3 years, all of which I was offered a job, the company I had and still work for finally decided that if they were to keep me they were gonna have to pay. Engineering has been thru three bosses since I hired in a little over 9 year ago. The previous engineer introduced 3D modeling to the company and proved of it's worthiness. I alone worked with him on a project (Autodesk Inventor) until he was fired (another long story). He left me with about 3/4 of a project in Inventor, which I was still not comfortable with at the time since I had only been using it for about 6 months. Luckily I'd been using other programs at home (Solidworks, Solid Edge) that are very similar to Inventor so I picked up on it very easily. Since then, I've taught the other 3 guys at work the functions and we are 2 years running successfully. Guess you might say I'm happy where I'm at.

 

had my wife read through your initial post.

she pointed out quickly to check into blue cross blue shield, or maybe kaiser permanente for insurance (they are huge in california, but not to sure about az).

as said before 401 money is pre-taxed, the ira is after so you loose there.

it sounds like that 4000 dollar side for insurance will be taxed at your salary rate also, so you would have to subtract that out.

you can also barter for many things when you are interviewing. for more vacation time, bonus days, or whatever is important to you. my wife has seen this all the time.

financially, that does not look like a step forward (especially figuring in the salary position vs hourly). it almost sounds like its not the new job you really want, but that you hate your current one and just want out.

what ever you reasons are is fine, but from looking at the original post, financially the new job does not look like the better of the two.

p.s. in november i had an accident at home and shattered my heel bone. i had surgery, missed almost 3 months of work and had medical bills in excess of 40,000. we would have owed tons without our insurance.

 

Employer contributions to HSAs are not considered income, so the $4000.00 could be offset if you use it to fund the HSA.

 

kretinus,

its my understanding that a HSA is a plan setup by an employer in conjunction with a high deductible health plan.

this employer is not offering a health plan, so i did not think this was a HSA situation.

do you know otherwise?

 

Well, I just called him. The fiance and I have been looking in to insurance, and it doesn't look as bad as I had first thought, plus he says he'll conitnue the same compensation if I get insurance through her employer, as long as I'm still paying out of my pocket...

At the moment Blue Cross seems to have my vote, however he is supposed to be emailing me info on another company that at least one of his employees uses, and he said he may be switching to them himself...

And I mentioned that the salary was a little low, and asked if it was negotiable. He said yes, we talked, and he seemed willing to go higher, said he'd get back to me on how much higher...

I'm really leaning towards taking this. I think I would enjoy the job, and have a great opportunity to learn with them. Still be able to enjoy the benifits of a small company. Plus things around here just seem to be getting worse everyday, and despite what you big city boys can find, jobs for designers in this area are not easy to come by...

Thanks everyone for your help... I'll let you know my final decision as soon as I do...