Life Insurance - Be sure to maximize this. Most people don't take advantage and it's a shame. It's one of the cheapest things you can do to benefit your family financially if something happens to you. The group rate from your company is better than any rate from private insurance.
PPO & FSA or HSA - This was an interesting thing we learned. If you're fortunate enough to have both spouses working for a company that provides health insurance, this will apply to you.
- My company hits me with a surcharge for covering a spouse that has access to insurance ($75 a month), so we are forced to have 2 separate policies. When she was pregnant, I paid the fee to cover her in case some complications arose. Luckily nothing happened and we paid practically nothing for the hospital visit itself. In the new year, we each have our separate plans, but cover the children under both our policies.
- When you have dual coverage for the children, they go by the oldest spouse, not what you select as the primary insurance. So we kinda got screwed because I had the HSA plan and she was the PPO. So we couldn't just pay the co-pay. Be sure to have the older spouse select the PPO and the younger spouse with the HSA.
- When you select the HSA, be sure to max out the benefit because there is a tax savings. In 2019 you can put $7,000 for the family. Under my PPO I maxed out my FSA at $2,700. Now remember that you need to spend the FSA money, NOT the HSA, by the end of the year. As a family, you can put away $9,700 pre-tax.
Also, a reminder, it's close to the new year so get ready to make that annual folder to see where you are financially and have a record of all accounts.
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