I admit it. I goofed. Despite being a financial planner who often helps people with their benefits, I made a mistake with my own. As I was looking at my expenses and taxes for last year, I realized that I could have reduced my taxes by $230. That’s the amount I would have saved if I contributed the $817 I spent on eligible vision and dental expenses last year to my company’s limited-purpose FSA (flexible spending account). Continue reading “My $280 Mistake”
I have never been a big fan of shopping during the busy holiday season, where we are all encouraged to buy, buy, buy no matter where we turn. In fact, I personally prefer to do my shopping in the convenience of my home office and avoid the consumer-driven hustle and bustle as well as the traffic. Click, click, done! Continue reading “Last Minute Moves to Save on Taxes for 2014”
With New Year’s Eve celebrations right around the corner, it is important to know your limits.I don’t mean your limit on glasses of champagne and calorie intake, although those limits are also pretty important while you ring in the new year. Uncle Sam has some changes in store as we head into 2015. Continue reading “Know Your Limits”
According to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, Americans are living longer—o.1 years longer to be exact—as the national life expectancy has reached a new record high of 78.8 years. Women, with an average life expectancy of 81.2 years, live on average 4.8 years longer than men, at 76.4 years. While some may see this purely as a blessing, it does present a financial challenge for today’s women. Namely, women may need to save more for retirement than men in order to account for these additional years. Here are five things women can do to help address this added financial challenge: Continue reading “Living Longer May Not Be All Good News For Women”
We all know that the cost of medical care is going up, but my colleague’s recent trip to urgent care really opened my eyes to just how much. The good news is that she is okay, but what she learned about the current state of the healthcare industry should make us sit up straight and take notice. Here is a brief overview of what happened: Continue reading “Lessons From a Visit to Urgent Care”
If you’re like the average American, you’re getting a tax refund of about $3k this year. So what should you do with that nice windfall? Here are some things to consider before blowing it all on a random shopping spree. Continue reading “What Should You Do With Your Tax Refund?”
Although the Affordable Care Act may not have immediately impacted your healthcare expenses, the insurance landscape is still uncertain and providers may eventually increase rates for coverage. Even if your expenses are already low, it’s still a good idea to try and decrease what you pay for healthcare in order to offset any potential price hikes that may be around the corner. Here’s a look at five ways to keep your medical costs low this year. Continue reading “5 Ways to Impact Your Healthcare Expenses”
Is it just me or does it seem like people are trying to eat better and exercise more these days? I see more people jogging up and down my street. I’ve noticed more “healthy” snack options at the grocery store. Continue reading “The Benefits of Healthy Living”
One of my philosophies of life is that if you’re going to take the time to do something, you should take pride enough in yourself to go all out and give maximum effort. I took that to a new level recently by not only getting “The Flu” (It’s an actual thing, not just something that people talk about and it’s terrible! Get a flu shot!!!) and to go along with it, I went the extra mile and got pneumonia as well. I don’t get sick very often, but when I do it’s usually a complete wipe out for a few days. Fortunately for me, I was able to go to my doctor, be seen in a timely fashion, get the tests I needed (flu test and chest x-ray) and then hit the pharmacy for the meds I needed. The good news is that like all of my prior minor illnesses, I survived this one and am here to write about it… Continue reading “Lessons From Having the Flu and Pneumonia”
A new year often brings new changes. In fact, some research shows that we’re more likely to initiate changes in our behavior during the beginning of a time period like a year, month, or week. Here are 3 steps I plan to take this month to kick off the new year: Continue reading “How I Plan to Kick Off The New Year”
Are you doing enough these days to prepare for retirement? If not, you’re not alone. Nearly four out of five people feel they aren’t on track to meet their retirement income goals. Continue reading “Retirement Saving Strategies: Going Beyond Your 401(k)”
With tax rates where they are today, and potentially going higher in the future due to the ever-increasing national debt and Congressional spending habits, I get asked a lot of questions about how to minimize taxes. That’s always an interesting conversation because taxation comes in many forms (taxes on income, capital gains, and interest, not to mention all of the consumption taxes we pay) and across many timelines. Are we looking at ways to minimize this year’s tax bite or our lifetime tax bite? Sometimes there are tradeoffs. Continue reading “Let Open Enrollment Help You Minimize Taxes”
Fall has arrived, and that means open enrollment is just right around the corner. For many employees, this provides the window of opportunity to sign up for either an HSA or FSA in order to set aside pre-tax dollars for your out-of-pocket healthcare costs. Not quite sure what the difference is between these 2 types of accounts? Well, you are not alone. In a recent Fidelity survey, two-thirds of those surveyed said they simply do not understand how an HSA works and “a full 73 percent of respondents said an HSA is pretty much the same thing as a health FSA or were unsure, and the ‘use it or lose it’ provision of FSAs was one of the most commonly misunderstood differences between the account types.” Continue reading “Do You Know the Difference Between an HSA and an FSA?”
When it comes to saving for retirement, most people know to contribute to their employer’s retirement plan (at least enough to max out their employer’s match) but there are also other ways of saving for retirement with some unique benefits that are not quite as well known. Here are 5 that you want to take advantage of if possible: Continue reading “5 Ways to Save for Retirement With Some Surprising Benefits”
You can never get too much chocolate and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) can help feed your sweet tooth when you check out their ACA supply kit, available for next week’s National Employee Benefits Day. Not only does the kit include chocolate treats, but also a talking stress ball and worksheets and fact sheets to implement and celebrate the day. Continue reading “Chocolate Treats Aren’t Just for Easter!”
Imagine I told you about a special savings account that you could contribute to with money automatically deducted from your paycheck every pay period. Sounds like a great way to save, right? Now imagine that this account earns no interest and has no possibility of any growth or future earnings. Continue reading “The Worst Savings Account in America”
The focus for many around the holidays is family, food and fun not finances. This is as it should be because even though life requires a lot from us, it is meant to be enjoyed. Although we are striving to always save more, manage our money better, insure against losses, and get our necessary papers in order, it’s also important to stop and smell the roses (as they say). Continue reading “Some Important Things to Focus On This Week”
Bedtime in the Ward household can be a trick or a treat, depending on how the kids feel that night. What always kills me is the look I get when I remind them that they have to brush their teeth before they go to sleep. Do I really have to explain to them night after night why brushing their teeth is so important? I guess so because I do. Either it’s because my children suffer from short-term memory loss, or more likely it’s because they suffer from “behavioral inertia.” Continue reading “How to Make Inertia Work For You”
Now that we’re all back to work after celebrating Labor Day, don’t let the fun stop – continue the celebration by recognizing National Payroll Week(NPW) at work. This special week celebrates the economic, cultural, and social achievements of workers and the significance of “an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.” Started in 1996 by the American Payroll Association, NPW is a national campaign to help America’s workers understand more about their paychecks, the payroll withholding system and other payroll-driven benefits. Shining a spotlight on employees’ paychecks is a great way to transition to your upcoming open enrollment by getting your workforce already starting to think about their paycheck and current deductions. Continue reading “Are You Ready for National Payroll Week?”
When I was growing up, I was surrounded by numbers and I actually liked that. (Yes, I’m admitting that I’m a geek from way back.) My friends and I could tell you the batting average of almost any member of baseball’s Hall Of Fame and the stats of major NFL players, compute a pitcher’s ERA in our heads or talk about the winning percentage of various great teams throughout history. Numbers were fun! Numbers were cool! (To us, at least…) Numbers were all that was right with the world back then…Last week, I read an article about the cost of healthcare during retirement and those numbers scared me! Continue reading “What’s Scarier Than Monsters??? Numbers…!”
