IEEE Dead to Me After 25 Years

OK, that sounds a bit extreme, but although the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a great organization, the main reason I have remained a member for lo these many years (first joined in college) is because their life insurance plan was way lower in cost than others. I also have been buying accidental death insurance from them. However, since this month (on August 18th) I will cross the 55-year-old Rubicon, the price will increase by 67%. To continue as last year my total cost for life insurance, accidental death, and IEEE membership would be $(1,000 + 190 + 185) = $1,375 per year, and none of it is tax deductible. Ouch! With outrageously high 'affordable' health care rates about to hit this coming January, combined with the 1% Social Security increase that went into affect this year, and my property tax bill just went up by $400 over last year, something has to give. Melanie and I have decided that since the kids are all grown and educated, our house ($135k purchase price) is paid off, and we are getting a whopping 0.7% on our life savings, the life insurance will have to go. Hopefully, maintaining a regimen of regular exercise and healthy eating (and copious amounts of coffee), I'll be providing income for a while longer. BTW, we have no stock market or other investments (paid off the house instead), don't take vacations, don't have a TV subscription, use a prepaid cellphone, have free Google Voice landline service, don't smoke or drink, shop at Walmart and Kohl's for clothes, have only one vehicle, rarely eat out, and minimize utility bills. Every time I read an article on how to save money, there's nothing new left to do. Life insurance logically seems the next elective expense to cut. It's not so much that the IEEE is dead to me, you see, it's that the IEEE is afraid I will be dead to them.

Posted August 2, 2013

Johanson Technology Hi-Q Porcelain Capacitors - RF Cafe Website

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...