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Are High Deductible Health Insurance Plans a Good Idea?
When looking at different health insurance plans, one of the biggest decisions you’ll likely have to make is whether or not to enroll in a high-deductible plan. Regular health insurance plans offer more predictable medical costs and often more comprehensive coverage. Unfortunately, the monthly premiums for these plans can be out of budget for a lot of people.
That’s why some look to high-deductible health insurance plans in order to cut the costs of healthcare. Let’s take a look at exactly what a high-deductible health insurance plan is, as well as its benefits and drawbacks.
What Is a High-Deductible Health Insurance Plan?
A high-deductible health insurance plan is defined as a policy in which the amount an individual must pay out-of-pocket for medical expenses before the health insurance coverage kicks in is “high.”
How to Improve Your Gas Mileage (and How Not To)
With gas prices on the rise, I thought I’d highlight an article I found on Consumer Reports about ways to save on gas… and ways not to. Given the results of my latest experiment on improving gas mileage, I can vouch for pretty much all of these.
1. Drive at a moderate speed. Keeping a lid on your speed is the #1 thing you can do to improve mileage. In their test car (a Toyota Camry), CR estimated that mileage dropped from 40 mpg to 35 mpg when they increased cruising speed from 55 mph to 65 mph. Speeding up to 75 mph dropped mileage another 5 mpg. While the extent of the drop will vary across makes and models, keeping an eye on the speedometer — especially when driving on the highway — will save gas.
The Best Places to Invest for Retirement
A reader named KC recently wrote in with a question about investing for retirement:
I’m 28 years old with a wife and a six month old baby. We’ve always been money-conscious, but would really like to focus our efforts. We both have Roth IRAs, but are not satisfied with them. They are heavily loaded, and we weren’t that familiar with them when we were advised to set them up. My question is where you would recommend I go for a long-term investing vehicle? I always hear to go with no-load mutual funds but would like your opinion.
This is a great question. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… Friends don’t let friends pay mutual fund sales loads.
Review of the Discover it Card and Its Cash Back Bonus
Have you heard of the Discover it credit card yet? This highly-rated cash back credit card makes it easy for those with mid-to-high credit to jump on earning great rewards. Plus, it has an interesting matching bonus offer happening right now.
Discover it Card Basics
This card offers a great 5% cash back on bonus categories, which rotate quarterly. You have to activate the categories each quarter in order to earn your cash back, but Discover will send you emails to remind you to sign up.
The 5% Cashback calendar may change from year to year, but generally sticks to a common sense pattern. For instance, they typically offer bonuses from Amazon.com towards the end of the year (think holiday shopping!). Other bonus categories include restaurants, department stores, gas stations, and home improvement stores.
11 Great Books About Money That Everybody Should Read
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in 2007. However, we feel that the books listed here are timeless, and still provide a wealth (pun intended) of information. Each and every one of them on this list is still highly recommended, and many of them still hold the top spots for personal finance best sellers.
I’ve been on a bit of a reading kick lately, so late last week I decided to solicit book recommendations from a few of my fellow bloggers. I asked each of them to recommend one (and only one) financial book, and to also provide me with a sentence or two describing why they chose that particular book. Amazingly, there was very little overlap in their recommendations. The end result was the following list of 11 great books about money.
The Triple Tax Advantages of a Health Savings Account
With the rising cost of healthcare in the United States, many are looking for ways to save on medical expenses. Employers are continuing to push healthcare costs onto workers, making monthly premiums higher than ever.
In addition, high-deductible health insurance plans have become increasingly popular. For these reasons, people turn to health savings accounts for savings on medical expenses. Let’s discuss what a health savings account is and explain its triple tax advantage.
What Is a Health Savings Account?
A health savings account, or HSA, is a medical savings account with tax benefits. HSAs can be used for eligible health expenses including medical, dental, and vision. HSAs can’t be used for health insurance premiums, however.
8 Ways to Save for Retirement in your 40s and 50s
I told the story elsewhere of how my wife and I woke up in our late 40s to a harsh realization: our investment cupboard was bare. We were not alone, though. In fact, millions of Americans in their 40s or 50s don’t have nearly enough money saved to retire.
In a recent GAO survey, 29% of households age 55 or older had no retirement savings. Another 23% had a pension, but no additional 401k or IRA.
So what can you do if you find yourself in that position? After you shake off the scorn of the self-righteous around you and stop beating yourself up, it is time to get to work. The good news is that there is hope. We managed it, and you can do it, too.
The strategy
There are a few ways to get from where you are to where you want to be, but they all take a little bit of work.
1. Cut
How to Use Up Your FSA Dollars Before You Lose Them
Given that the year’s end is quickly approaching, a lot of you are likely making moves to get your finances in order before 2017. For those of you who have employer-sponsored health insurance plans, you may have contributed to a Flexible Spending Account (or FSA) in 2016. An FSA is a tax-advantaged account offered by employers in conjunction with certain health insurance plans. The idea is to help employees save, and pay, for eligible medical expenses.
If you contributed to an FSA in 2016, you may have unused funds that you’re looking to spend. FSA plans are typically “use it or lose it, ” meaning that money not spent on eligible medical expenses will be forfeited at the end of year.
What Are The Rules of an FSA?
We will discuss how to spend your FSA dollars before you lose them. But first, let’s take a look at the official rules of an FSA.
Credit Karma to Begin Offering Free Tax Filing for 2017
How do you plan to prepare and file your taxes this year? If you’re like 43% of Americans, you probably did your tax returns from the comfort of your home, maybe even using a service like TurboTax or TaxAct.
Well, get ready because in 2017, there will be a newcomer to the market of tax filing services. Credit Karma has recently announced that it’ll be offering a free tax filing service for the 2017 tax season. From the sounds of it, it’ll be a very strong competitor to the existing services available… not to mention, free.
20 Money Saving Tips for the Holidays (#3 is our secret weapon)
All of us, I’m sure, are busy shopping and planning for gifts for all the people we care about. In the process, though, we need to take some precautions. We don’t want to end up in a situation where we are happy for a month, but are left paying December’s credit card bill throughout the next year.
So, here is my list of money-saving tips for the holidays. A lot of us have smart phones and there is an app for pretty much everything. With a little planning, you can save money, reduce stress, and have a fun-filled holiday.
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