One of the financial products gaining a little more popularity in recent years is the Health Savings Account (HSA). This type of account allows you to save up for health care expenses via favorable tax treatment.
In order to qualify for the HSA, you need to participate in a high deductible health plan (HDHP). This means that you pay more out of pocket for your health care, since the insurance doesn’t kick in until later. However, it also means lower insurance premiums — up to half off in some cases.
The great benefit of a HSA is that contributions to the account is tax-deductible at the federal levels (state rules vary), and withdrawals are also tax-free as long as you use it for medical costs.
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Money makes you sweat. You’re tired of losing hours of sleep over something as simple as your checking account balance, yet you feel like every time you surrender your guard disaster strikes, and you inevitably lose even more.
There is a better way.
Follow these 7 simple steps and you will reduce the unnecessary stress that too many people bring into their relationship with money. Organize your finances to eliminate stress, and eliminate stress to live the healthier, happier life you deserve.
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For years, I followed my family’s philosophy of car buying: after a great deal of research, we would find and buy the best new car for the available money and then drive it for at least a decade or longer. For my family, the idea of purchasing a used car left too many variables to chance.
But of course, the always-buy-new philosophy doesn’t work if your car is totaled — like mine was — when you have no new car fund already built up. Having my paid-for car totaled was my first introduction to used-car buying, and it helped me realize that the variables my family was concerned about are not nearly as overwhelming as I thought.
If you’ve never bought a used car for fear of getting suckered into buying a lemon, here is what you need to know for your first used car purchase:
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Finding the funds to invest in a family vacation can be difficult, especially in a sour economy. There always seems to be something more important for your funds than a vacation – new shoes for the daredevil child, a deposit to the bookworm daughter’s college fund, or even upgrades to the house that can be enjoyed every day – rather than a short-lived family vacation. But family vacations can be vital to revitalization and bonding. When you get away from home, the distractions of the leaky faucet, flowerbeds that need weeding, and calls from your boss all slip away and allow you to focus on what matters most- your family. Traveling also enriches your lives and creates family memories that last a lifetime. Here are a few tips to help you travel with the family for less money.
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My fiance and I are ‘moving’ to Florida in January, but the move may only last through March. This presents a unique opportunity, because we can look for vacation rentals in the area. Apartments can only be rented for a minimum of 7 months in Florida and furnishing would be too expensive for the short time period. So where do we look? And when do we start?
Length of Stay
Our length of stay is more in line with vacationers than people who are moving for work purposes, as it is common for vacationers to take vacations anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Along this spectrum there are different options for places to stay, of course:
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It can be difficult to find the motivation to save more money. My husband, who has a Ph.D. in Psychology, says that most humans have a hard time accurately gauging the long-term impacts of their actions. When it comes to socking money away, this is an issue because the rewards are a long way off. In the case of retirement, the rewards can be 30 or 40 years down the road, and it’s hard to be motivated by something that is decades into the future.
The dream of a secure retirement, or of having a big down payment for a home in five years, is enough for many people. Many of us, though, need a little more motivation to save up. If you are looking to motivate yourself to save more money, you need to consider adding an element of short-term rewards in order to increase the chances of success.
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