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Taking Advantage Of Employee Benefits – Part 2

October 12, 2022 Our post last week was about utilizing benefits from employers, specifically a wellness initiative offered by my employer. Continuing in that same vein there are a few more programs offered by our employers that we review each year during our benefits open enrollment period.I participate in a couple separate flexible spending accounts (FSA) through my employer. The first is a dependent day care account – which is a pre-tax account that can be used to pay for childcare expenses. Given we have two kids in childcare (our son attends full time, and our daughter attends before and after school) we contribute the maximum limit, $5,000 for this year. The second is a health care account – which is a pre-tax account that can be used to pay for medical, dental, prescription medications, etc. For this account, the amount we contribute tends to fluctuate year-by-year. The first thing we consider is what the carryover amount (maximum amount unspent that can be rolled over). Next, we consider what our deductible is, and then what our copay’s would be for our regular visits. Then it’s what our copay’s would be for any prescription medication (both my daughter and I have a prescription we take regularly). Then the last thing we attempt to account for are any other visits that “unscheduled” or involve more than a checkup – for instance this year our daughter had her tonsils out. What I typically start with is an average over what we had done over the last few years, and then adjust up or down based on if I know (or think) that this year will different.Both Robin and I have 401(k) plans through work. Robin’s employer offers a ROTH option – which allows for her contributions to be made with after-tax dollars, which means that distributions and earnings will not be taxed when she takes a distribution. Her employer also offers a company match, which we make sure to take advantage of. My employer offers a 457 program – which is similar to the 401(k) but for public service employees or tax-exempt organizations, and also offers a ROTH option. We’ve chosen the ROTH option because we still have a significant amount of time remaining prior to retirement, and our hopeful that our investments will continue to grow during that time – and with the ROTH that growth would be tax free. Both our employers also offer employee assistance programs, offering resources and services for a multitude of financial and wellness topics. We have utilized this resource to get a simple will drafted and utilized some of the legal form letter templates. I have found that this is a good resource to use as a springboard when initially getting started on a situation or decision.The final topic is one that we have not yet taken advantage of, but plan to discuss further at our upcoming meeting with our Summit Financial Advisor – a employee stock purchase plan offered through Robin’s employer. We look forward to investigating the opportunity and sharing what we learn. You might also be interested in As the year comes to a close, so does Season 14 of Project Money. In preparation for writing our final blog post we reflected over what has occurred over... In the last week we had to take Robin’s car, a 2019 VW Atlas, in for a couple of recall notices we had received. Nothing completely out of the ordinary... One of the topics we had mentioned in our posts from earlier this year was an employee stock purchase plan offered by Robin’s employer. We have never participated... Being part of Project Money has pushed our family to take a more active role in managing our finances, necessitating weekly conversations that have spurred... With Thanksgiving behind us, the countdown to Christmas has “officially” begin. This year, as part of our Project Money journey, we have been planning... I had been putting this off for a few weeks/months now, optimistic that Fall might stretch on a little bit longer – but this past week’s winter weather... Over the last few weeks, we have been working to refocus, and get back to some of the basics as we start to head into the end of year holiday season... Over the past few weeks and months, I had seen several news reports about I Bonds, usually with a corresponding endorsement of their attractiveness as... We have reached the point of the year where we have one foot firmly planted into heating season and thought we would reflect on what energy saving tips...
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