Charity care and other strategies to reduce medical bills, and organizing paperwork for bills you do have to pay Hi Friendos, Last week I promised to discuss practical considerations for using FSAs and HSAs, and tracking medical expenses in general. Before I get to that, I want to talk about steps you can take to […]
For tax purposes, a “Qualified Medical Expense” is mostly what you think, plus a bit more Being an adult in the U.S. means sometimes dealing with things that are both dull and important, like taxes and medical insurance. Today I focus on the intersection of these: what constitutes a “qualified medical expense” for tax purposes. […]
Hi Friendos, Today is yet another newsletter about HSAs, this one focused on a scary topic suitable for this Halloween month: creeping investment admin fees and one way to mitigate them. I opened my HSA account at the end of 2019 when I first got on a high deductible health plan through my employer. My […]
Hi Friendos, Today’s topic is for people who are very dialed in on saving and wonder: How much can I put into retirement savings accounts each year if I have more than one type of account? Lots of people have an IRA and a 401k, or an IRA and a 403b. Some people have a […]
Hi Friendos, Today I would like to start a discussion about types of tax-advantaged investment accounts, like 401k’s, IRAs, and HSAs, and how to decide which type of account you should put your money in. I have always been a huge booster of such accounts, so it may surprise you to learn that I believe […]
Hi Friendos, Today is our fourth installment discussing tax-advantaged medical accounts (HSAs and FSAs) where we’ll look at how these fit into the overall selection of a health insurance plan. I am always grateful to have insurance (really grateful) but I *hate* that choosing a plan is so complicated. My approach is to consider the […]
Hi Friendos, With open enrollment for medical insurance coming up, I’ve been talking about FSAs and HSAs. Last week we looked at quantifying the tax benefit of using an FSA. This week we do it for HSAs. Next week we’ll put it together with choosing a medical plan. If you have questions about this or […]
Hi Friendos, Last week I wrote about how FSAs and HSAs save you money (lowering your taxes), and I promised to talk this week about how much they can save you, so you can decide if putting your $ in one is worth it to you. This week is a deep dive on FSAs. Next […]
Hi Friendos, Health insurance open enrollment is coming up in a few weeks so this month I’ll write about some related topics. This week is about explaining the financial benefit from FSAs and HSAs (“flexible spending account,” “health savings account”), specifically, how they save you money. Next week I’ll talk about how much. This helps […]
Anatomy of a 1040, Class 9 Hi Friendos, It’s the middle of August, the tomatoes are on point, you’re havin’ a summah, and it’s the perfect time to talk deductions. Student loan interest. Self-employed health insurance. Certain HSA contributions. And the biggie: Itemized vs standard. This one teaches you why mortgage debt and charitable donations […]
Frequently Taxed Questions 