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HSA Contribution Limits 2020 and 2021

January 29, 2021June 12, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

A health savings account, or HSA, is a great way to save money for medical expenses. If you qualify for an HSA, you get to deduct every dollar in contributions up to the HSA contribution limit. If you pay your medical expenses with an HSA, it ends up that you can deduct every single dollar of medical expenses, instead of just the amount over 10% of your income. In addition, over time, your money grows tax-free inside of the account. HSA Contribution Limits 2020 The 2019 HSA Contribution limit is $3,550 for an individual, or up to $7,100 for a family. Remember to qualify for an HSA, you have to have a qualifying HDHP (High-Deductible High Health Plan). HSA Contribution Limits 2021 The IRS recently released the information regarding contributions to an HSA in 2021. Each year, the contribution limit for HSA accounts is adjusted for inflation. This year, inflation was slightly higher for the year, so there was a small increase in the contribution limits for HSA accounts. For 2021 HSA contributions, the limits will be $3,600 for an individual, or “self-only” high deductible health plan. For someone with family coverage, the limit rises to $7,200, up from $7,100 …

Step by Step Guide to Open 529 Plan Online

December 12, 2022June 9, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

Have you opened that 529 plan account yet? A while back, while discussing whether or not you need a financial advisor, I talked about how just knowing what to do isn’t always enough. As an example, I pointed out that just knowing you need a 529 plan for your college savings account, doesn’t mean that you are necessarily actually ready to just open a 529 account online or otherwise. There can be a lot of small decisions along the way that end up derailing the most determined person’s individual financial plan. Recently, I revisited this train of thought and figured, I could show step-by-step how to open 529 accounts online for the Colorado 529 plans as an example of exactly what it takes to actually implement those financial decisions you make after doing your online financial planning research. 529 Plan Colorado Example If you have ever looked for this kind of step by step directions financial planning guide, you know they can be hard to come by. There are several reasons, but one of the main ones is that going through every possible exception can be very time consuming. Even covering the basics can turn into a big project when …

Restart Finances with Restarting Economy

April 28, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

As parts of the country start moving into reopening after coronavirus lock downs, it’s time to start thinking about how to restart your own personal finances when the restrictions end. So, how do you restart finances while the country is restarting economy? Going Back To Work Despite all the news reports, protesters, and talking heads on television, the decision to go back to work or not is a deeply personal one rooted in your own personal circumstances. Review of Zelle Scam Legit or Safe? First, assess your own personal health risk situation. As many reports have noted, certain people seem to do worse than others when it comes to contracting the coronavirus. Although there are numerous reports of otherwise young, and healthy people ending up in the hospital, the odds still look the worst for those who are older, or that have preexisting conditions. If you can’t safely return to work, it is time to start looking into what your possible options are. Coronavirus Unemployment Be sure to check out unemployment programs. Even if you may not have qualified in the past, the rules have been changed, and benefits are more generous with a $600 boost for many unemployed people. …

Tracking Receipts Expenses

March 22, 2019 by Finance Gourmet

Despite knowing a lot about financial planning, and being a former financial advisor, I don’t always do the right thing for myself. Just like being a great dietitian doesn’t necessarily mean that you always eat the celery instead of the nachos. Receipt Apps Reviews However, nothing turns someone into a believer quite like a pain point. Over the last month or two, I’ve gone diving into my files and boxes of receipts to find things that I remember spending money on, just not the details. For example, my car’s brakes are messed up. Didn’t I just have the brakes done last fall? Nope, that was something to do with the differential, but according to this receipt, the dentist already charged me for that mouth guard thing. Oh, wait. No. That’s the wife’s retainer thing. It’s a good thing I’m polite on the phone or I would have started off some angry phone calls only to be shut down by providers I like, and want to not be upset with me. (Funny story: I once called the credit card company about a rather large charge that I didn’t make. The very nice customer service lady couldn’t find the charge I was …

2017 Finances and Money Issues

January 3, 2017 by Finance Gourmet

Welcome to 2017! Relax. Take a deep breath. There. Feel better? Good. Then let’s jump in. Finances Updated in 2017 With a new year, come some new numbers. There will be updates to the maximum 401k contributions, income limits for Roth IRAs, and others. Plus, there will be adjustments to the 2017 income tax brackets, the 2017 standard tax deduction, and more. And, of course, there is a new IRS mileage rate for 2017 as well. What about 529 plans? There aren’t a lot of updates to those numbers each year, primarily because most facets of 529 college savings plans are administered through the states, who aren’t always as keen on changing and updating everything. You’ll want to re-evaluate your financial plan for the new year, and you’ll want to review how your financial plan did in 2016. Plus, you’ll want to rebalance your portfolio, if you didn’t do it at the end of 2016. Retirement Plans 2017 A big part of most retirement plans are tax-advantaged savings accounts like your 401k plan, IRA accounts, and, for some of you, 457 plans, 403(b) plans, and various differed compensation plans. All of those need adjusted and reviewed for 2017 as well. …

All The Basics

November 20, 2016 by Finance Gourmet

Coming this week on the Finance Gourmet, all of the basics in one week of posts. That’s right, all the things you need for a successful basic financial plan, retirement plan, and college savings plan all in one place in a series of easy to read posts. Consider this the intro to personal finance that you always wanted to read, but never really found. We’ll continue next week with some interesting reviews of financial apps, like our Acorns review, and Digit review, as well as reviews of various online financial services such as Credit Karma and Credit Sesame. I’ll probably bail on Thanksgiving, but I’m willing to bet that most of you won’t be looking to brush up on your personal finance knowledge on that day either. So, no harm, no foul. Going into the new year, we’ll get back to what started it all here on Finance Gourmet, a series of financial recipes. These are recipe style financial solutions and personal finance plans that you can implement without an in-depth understanding. Instead, just gather the necessary “ingredients” and then follow the recipe. We’ll cover everything from a 401k plan to more complicated topics. We are also going to start …

Real Work From Home Jobs Amazon

September 21, 2016 by Finance Gourmet

A surprising number of people come to this website looking for information on real, non-scam, work from home jobs. Unfortunately, many of them leave discouraged, because there are so many work from home scams out there. That does not mean that there are no work from home jobs, there are actually tons of real work at home jobs, they are frequently referred to as telecommuting. What are almost always scams, are jobs that only require a few hours, no skills, not much work, and have high pay. Honest Work From Home Job Opportunity I happened to come across a news story about Amazon hiring work from home customer service employees for the holiday season. These are seasonal jobs, so they may just be temporary, but they are real telecommuting jobs from a real company. If you look at the job’s posting, you can see how to spot the difference between a real job offer, and a fake work from home job. First up, note the pay. This is no “Make Six-Figures Working From Home!” job posting. The pay is $10 per hour. Whether that is enough or not, is a personal decision, but it is realistic. An entry-level customer service position …

Real Estate Investor Seeks Trainee Signs

June 20, 2016 by Finance Gourmet

Lately, around here, there are a lot of those really cheap signs like you use for garage sales saying, “Real Estate Investor Seeks Trainee.” Sometimes, there is a dollar figure mentioned like $125K per year, or something like that. As you can probably imagine, this is a scam. Making Money in Real Estate Signs Let’s start with the obvious. Do you really think it is hard to find people to work in training programs that pay $125,000 per year? I mean, so hard that you would have to resort to placing out dozens, or even hundreds, of cheapo signs by busy intersections. It’s true that the economy is recovering a little bit, but it isn’t like there aren’t people willing to work for six-figures. Anytime you see signs like this advertising anything other than a yard sale, estate sale, or maybe a car for sale, you can be pretty sure it isn’t a legitimate business opportunity of any kind. There are literally hundreds of job websites, message boards, and real estate forums, not to mention Craigslist, and local electronic bulletin boards where someone who really did need some form of real estate business trainee could find one. There is never …

What Is Middle Class?

January 20, 2016 by Finance Gourmet

Who is middle class in America, and why does it matter? Middle Class Politics One favorite political maneuver is to come out in favor of the middle class. There are a lot of reasons for this. First, and foremost is that numerous studies have shown that no matter how much money they actually make, most Americans think that they are middle class. Thus, when a politician says they care about the middle class, most people make the assumption that the politician is talking about them. On a secondary level, the value in favoring the middle class, is that there is a deeply American assumption that the middle class is where you will find the normal, hard-working American people. Those who are wealthy, can be assumed to be either exceptionally lucky, exceptionally hard working, or exceptionally smart, depending on who you ask. Realistically, it is all three. One need only look at the number of seemingly less than intelligent, or motivated, celebutaunt children who just luckily have wealthy parents, compared to the rags to riches stories of various immigrants or sons and daughters who were born into poverty. Whereas, the poor are the exceptionally unlucky, unhard working, or unintelligent. The fact that …

Personal Finance Index Card Advice

January 11, 2016 by Finance Gourmet

Back in 2013 on a show, a professor named Harold Pollack made the suggestion that everything the average person actually needed to know about personal finance could fit on an index card. He “proved” his theory by handwriting a list of personal financial advice on an index card, which then made the internet rounds. Now, he’s back with a co-author, and a $25, 256-page book called The Index Card. Wow. Could this be the most cynical book ever written? Free Financial Advice and Reality It always seems that when finance experts are talking about OTHER finance experts, that THOSE guys are over-priced crooks who you don’t need. THEY are just out to take your hard earned money. THEY don’t want you to know that finance is actually super easy and that you don’t need THEM. Funny, how that always changes dramatically when the opportunity for money or notary for their own self comes up. Back when I was a professional financial advisor, Susie Orman would stand up in front of as many people as she possibly could and say that all financial planners and advisors were crooks and you knew it because we took money from companies that offer financial products …