Comments on: Angry About Taxes? Here’s Help …

By: Carnival of Personal Finance #179 - Smile Edition | Credit Card Information

Carnival of Personal Finance #179 - Smile Edition | Credit Card Information — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:31:52 +0000

[...] and Sages presents Angry About Taxes? Here’s Help … believing that frugality and taxes go hand in [...]

By: Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:16:45 +0000

We do use an FSA – it’s buried up in there, but you covered it better, Marcus. You’re right, though, about planning ahead. Because of some oddities this past year with companies getting bought and me starting a different job, we actually had to scramble to spend all of the money we had in our account. It worked out to be an interesting journey into some alternative medical fields that I probably wouldn’t have tried otherwise, but we’re going to try to tighten it up this year.

The HSA is definitely something that has to be individually calculated out. It’s not a good option for our family right now but I believe my parents use one.

By: CD Rates - ChrisCD

CD Rates - ChrisCD — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:08:29 +0000

An HSA (Health Savings Account) may be better depending on the plans and your expected costs. It is like an IRA for medical expenses. It isn't a use it or lose it plan. However, the amount you can contribute is limited to the deductible or $5000 I think, which ever is less. It has cut our medical bills by about 50% and because the premiums are paid pre-tax and the contributions are pre-tax all of it is tax deductible. cd :O) CD Rates - ChrisCD’s last blog post..Who Can Make the Better Decision

By: Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:45:08 +0000

If your employer offers it – you should consider taking advantage of a Medical/Flexible Spending Account (MSA/FSA). It’s a way to use pre-tax dollars for medical expenses, even if you don’t accumulate the 2% necessary for the itemized deduction.

Unfortunately, the plan seems to have been designed by traders – it requires you to make a gamble on how much you’ll spend on medical next year. Underfund it, and you miss out on tax breaks; overfund it and you lose the amount you don’t spend. Pretty annoying.

But if you’re in a high enough tax bracket, and your kids are coming up for braces soon, or you have a steady set of expenditures (scheduled checkups, dental, glasses/contacts, Rx, etc) then it’s another way to keep your hard earned tax dollars out of Iraq or Goldman Sachs.

By: CD Rates - ChrisCD

CD Rates - ChrisCD — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:14:17 +0000

You are just trying to get me going aren't, you. :O) I'll be pack with another post, I mean comment on this one. Have a great evening. cd :O) CD Rates - ChrisCD’s last blog post..Who Can Make the Better Decision