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Excellent, thank you both, that’s better than I thought.
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Nov 4, 2023 18:38
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If you do end up switching plans, you might want to look into moving your HSA to Fidelity. They have zero fees, and if you choose to treat it as an extra IRA, they have the whole world of investment options. This may not be a big deal if you're staying with the same employer and don't have to pay any HSA maintenance fees, and you're planning on using it for medical spending in the not too distant future, but just something to consider since we're in this thread.
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Nov 4, 2023 18:55
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Already there 😃
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Nov 4, 2023 19:13
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Yeah, the more I read about HSAs the more convinced I was that they're stealthily the single best tax-advantaged account type. The triple tax benefit (tax deductible going on, no taxes on growth or qualified withdrawals), the unique avoidance of payroll/FICA taxes if taken out of paychecks, the lifetime flexibility in withdrawal expense matching. Still not sure I like the theory of HDHPs and how they seem to incentivize not seeking out potentially preventative healthcare. But even so, HSAs are so powerful in tax advantages that HDHPs seem worth enrolling in just to get HSA contribution access.
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Nov 4, 2023 19:40
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CubicalSucrose posted:" i moved my emergency fund into VFMXX and included an extra 7k" I mean, if you want. I would just take the easy yield for 2 months. I disagree with your last statement. We can check again on 1/1 I suppose.
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Nov 4, 2023 23:41
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Subvisual Haze posted:Still not sure I like the theory of HDHPs and how they seem to incentivize not seeking out potentially preventative healthcare. But even so, HSAs are so powerful in tax advantages that HDHPs seem worth enrolling in just to get HSA contribution access. I picked the best HDHP that my employer offers and it's not much worse than the non-HDHP.
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Nov 5, 2023 00:12
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This is a completely lazy post, but I bought an i bond when the interest rate was high. When’s a good time to pull out? I’m currently using it as a rainy day/home improvement approval fund when my proposal is finally approved
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Nov 5, 2023 00:48
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https://tipswatch.com/2023/08/06/the-i-bond-exit-ramp-is-now-open-proceed-with-caution/ Timing your exit depends on when you bought, but this is a good starting point.
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Nov 5, 2023 01:16
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Salami Surgeon posted:I picked the best HDHP that my employer offers and it's not much worse than the non-HDHP. yeah people get scared by the wording of "high deductible" but IME it's really not that much higher than a traditional plan, and sometimes once you factor in the out of pocket max and the co-insurance cost structure, the end result can be a really marginal difference and in some cases the HDHP can even come out ahead
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Nov 5, 2023 05:45
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Absolutely. On my plans when you factor in the fixed costs of lower premiums and employer HSA match along with lower OOP max, there is no spending case where my HDHP is more expensive than my PPO. The HSA itself is a cherry on top.
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Nov 5, 2023 13:51
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Guinness posted:I'm disheartened about Mint shutting down because it's still the best automatic transaction aggregator I've found especially for being free. I really don't care too much about building out budgets or anything like that, I just want something that pulls all my transactions for all my accounts and lets me look at category trends and makes sure my bills are paid. I've been using Personal Capital/Empower. It's free, and I think it has transaction aggregating in some way. I mostly use it for total portfolio tracking
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Nov 6, 2023 16:45
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Did Inuit give a timeline on the Mint features being carried over to Credit Karma? I'm bummed out about Mint shutting down, because my sister and I were planning to use it to monitor my senile dad's investment accounts and spending. I wonder if there's a better platform for that.
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Nov 7, 2023 15:37
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In my experience the HDHP+HSA combo is a nice complement to a maxed out 401k but with a few caveats: Your medical situation shouldn't be something with complicated chronic conditions or ongoing expensive issues. If you know you're going to blow through the deductible and out of pocket max on the first few months it's usually not worth the extra hassle even if you maybe technically come out a few bucks ahead after the HSA tax benefit. You have to be somewhat comfortable with the convoluted process of how medical billing works in the USA and also be prepared to do slightly more paperwork for normal routine issues, and significantly more paperwork for major issues. Whenever I've been on the HDHP+HSA combo my employer has kicked in some cash to the HSA as an incentive, and had very low to zero premiums. A typical scenario is the premium savings plus HSA deposit equal about the deductible amount or better. You could come out ahead even if the employer doesn't offer a cash incentive but it really isn't that huge because HSA contribution caps are pretty small. Have enough cash on hand to cover the out of pocket max if there is a major medical issue, especially if your HSA isn't fully seeded yet.
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Nov 7, 2023 15:41
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What more paperwork? It all gets processed the exact same way and my insurance sends me the final bill. The providers don’t even know or care it’s an HDHP it’s all the same to them. I’ve been on both types of plans and they function identically except the billing amounts before hitting the deductible/OOP max.
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Nov 7, 2023 16:28
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My past employer had a HDHP, but then they paid for the first half of the deductible. Seemed to be a win/win for everyone.
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Nov 7, 2023 18:04
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I have to do way more paperwork to manage my FSA, especially since their website doesn't accept my PDF uploads half the time. I'd much rather be on a HDHP+HSA, alas I'm in that category of people who hit their out of pocket max on their PPO plan each year thanks for my parents passing on some bad genes. But that does make it really easy to calculate how much I should fund the FSA each year. Joementum fucked around with this message at 18:15 on Nov 7, 2023 |
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Nov 7, 2023 18:13
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Guinness posted:What more paperwork? It all gets processed the exact same way and my insurance sends me the final bill. The providers don’t even know or care it’s an HDHP it’s all the same to them. I’ve been on both types of plans and they function identically except the billing amounts before hitting the deductible/OOP max. You go to the doctor for $REASON. Some weeks later you get a EOB that's largely just informational. Some weeks after that the doctor or hospital bills you for some amount between 100% and 0% of the allowable charge. Each doctor and hospital has its own stupid lovely rear end billing system you have to figure out. There's a 50/50 chance they'll require to make a loving account with 2FA just to pay a bill. The 2FA provider doesn't work with your phone carrier. You have to save and upload a receipt after paying the bill to your HSA just in case you get audited. Also don't forget to fill out the reimbursement form for the HSA if the doctor's lovely rear end billing system doesn't accept credit cards or demands an extra 5% fee. Some weeks later a medical lab you've never heard of in a different state sends you a bill for $5.22 for sticking your poo sample in the Poopmaster 5000. Repeat the above step with this labs poo poo rear end bill payment system. 6 weeks after that the first doctors hospital conglomerate billing department discovers they hosed up 1 or 5 billing codes, get bounced by your insurance, and demands you pay them $823. Spend several hours reading the bills and googling and decide that no, you do not in fact owe them $823. Call the conglomerate billing department and wait on hold for 45 minutes. They are only open from the hours of 1-4pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Pray that you get someone who understands what billing fuckups are and how to fix them and not someone who's default mode is to threaten you with bill collectors. Wait 4 more weeks and receive a letter from the billing department informing you they fixed the problem and you now owe between $0 and $50. Maybe pay that $50. Granted this isn't that different if you're already in a coinsurance style plan but if you're used to a 25/50/200 co-pay plan, it's a lot more hassle than just dropping the copay at reception on your way out.
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Nov 7, 2023 19:21
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This has been said before but you really do need to do the math for the health plans. For me the lower premium of the HDHP, plus the lower out of pocket cap, makes it cheaper than the HMO alternative plan, regardless of how much healthcare I use for the year.
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Nov 7, 2023 19:33
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Any good Mint alternatives for syncing up transactions & balances to see total net worth? Simplifi is one I keep seeing pop up.
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Nov 7, 2023 19:36
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withak posted:I switched to Tiller earlier this year due to ongoing enshittification of Mint. It is $79/year (first month free) and required a bit of DIY effort to make it do the stuff I was using Mint for (as well as the stuff I always wished Mint could do), but I'm a spreadsheet nerd so that was fine. withak posted:Best part is the auto categorization feature is just a plain list of "if transaction matches X then category Y" rules that doesn't make any attempt at learning or guessing what categories you want. For some reason Mint would always ignore rules or try to outsmart me at the wrong time. Pretty much the only thing I have to categorize by hand now is random farmers market booths and amazon.
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Nov 7, 2023 19:38
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smoobles posted:Any good Mint alternatives for syncing up transactions & balances to see total net worth? I’ve been using personal capital for this. Has worked well, but apparently some issues with Amex checking lately?
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Nov 7, 2023 19:41
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i like using personal capital for an all in one view of my finances, but it has enough weird little tracking errors that i don't use it as my main budgeting tool
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Nov 7, 2023 19:44
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Residency Evil posted:I’ve been using personal capital for this. Has worked well, but apparently some issues with Amex checking lately? Apparently Mint has always had a problem with Amex, so this is no big deal. Thanks!
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Nov 7, 2023 19:50
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mrmcd posted:You go to the doctor for $REASON. This sounds uncannily similar to my wife's struggle to pay a therapist, except the fuckups were entirely in the therapist's office billing department. They kept threatening to put her into collections on a bill that they literally admitted they couldn't explain or even give a balance for. She's on a regular non-HDHP+HSA healthcare plan and is herself a health insurance specialist and it was impossible for her to untangle it even after confirming with her health insurer that they submitted and received payment for the proper amount. She went several rounds pleading with them to just tell her what they wanted so she could cut them a check but eventually she just told them that she isn't going to pay a bill with an unknown balance for an unknown service and if she received a single collections call she would sue, and then cut ties with the place. I think the problem here is US healthcare/insurance broadly, than any particular kind of plan.
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Nov 7, 2023 20:10
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mrmcd posted:You go to the doctor for $REASON. All of this is a small price to pay for an extra $7,750 in tax advantaged space each year.
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Nov 7, 2023 20:16
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Sock The Great posted:All of this is a small price to pay for an extra $7,750 in tax advantaged space each year. It stresses the hell out of my wife when we switched to that plan - routine doctor's appointments went from $50 copay to $200+ because some routine blood work is suddenly not covered for healthy adults, video call followups are billed as a separate appointment, etc etc, nickel and dime where you have to deal with the healthcare system personally every step of the way. I'm honestly not sure if it's worth it.
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Nov 7, 2023 20:28
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Serious_Cyclone posted:I think the problem here is US healthcare/insurance broadly, than any particular kind of plan.
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Nov 7, 2023 20:41
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Serious_Cyclone posted:I think the problem here is US healthcare/insurance broadly, than any particular kind of plan. Agree but with a HDHP you get to do more of it, especially for routine stuff. Like most of the time it's fine and really just shuffling paper so it's probably worth it for the tax benefits if you're comfortable with how things work conceptually. I'm just pointing out it is something to consider if you're choosing between a HDHP vs Copay only plan, because some people are very much not comfortable with interacting with the horror show of American healthcare bureaucracy.
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Nov 7, 2023 20:42
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SouthShoreSamurai posted:My past employer had a HDHP, but then they paid for the first half of the deductible. Seemed to be a win/win for everyone. Except for the insurer, who might very well have specific policies that sort of arrangement violates. My mom's workplace tried to do that several years ago and when the insurer found out was told they had to stop or they'd get fired as a customer. Sock The Great posted:All of this is a small price to pay for an extra $7,750 in tax advantaged space each year. Nothing in that account is unique to HDHPs.
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Nov 7, 2023 20:42
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raminasi posted:Nothing in that account is unique to HDHPs. edit: pretty sure by account you meant anecdote, not like, a HSA oops
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Nov 7, 2023 21:01
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:edit: pretty sure by account you meant anecdote, not like, a HSA oops Yeah I had the same read you did at first lol Man I really miss my HSA at my last job. If I had known then what I do now I'd have put a lot more money in before leaving
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Nov 7, 2023 21:17
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mrmcd posted:Agree but with a HDHP you get to do more of it, especially for routine stuff. Like most of the time it's fine and really just shuffling paper so it's probably worth it for the tax benefits if you're comfortable with how things work conceptually. I'm just pointing out it is something to consider if you're choosing between a HDHP vs Copay only plan, because some people are very much not comfortable with interacting with the horror show of American healthcare bureaucracy. Are HDHP and coinsurance linked? Also, is it possible to not interact with the horror show?
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Nov 7, 2023 21:30
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Epitope posted:Are HDHP and coinsurance linked? Also, is it possible to not interact with the horror show? Most HDHP plans go to coinsurance (where you pay say 10% of the negotiated price) once you complete the deductible until you hit the OOP max, then you pay nothing. The only way to completely isolate yourself from the horror show is to be really rich (pay someone to do it for you) or not live in the US. Copay only plans have less horror show (usually,) but these days I believe they tend to have super narrow networks.
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Nov 7, 2023 21:35
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raminasi posted:Except for the insurer, who might very well have specific policies that sort of arrangement violates. My mom's workplace tried to do that several years ago and when the insurer found out was told they had to stop or they'd get fired as a customer. I think it was an HRA through the insurer themselves. It's been a little while so I don't remember the exact details. I do know that anything that was normally billed to the deductible was automatically paid by the HRA until it had reached the halfway point.
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Nov 7, 2023 21:39
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smoobles posted:Apparently Mint has always had a problem with Amex, so this is no big deal. Thanks! I moved stuff from mint to “empower personal capital” over the weekend and it’s fine, probably better than mint in its current form which has been getting worse for a while now. The app for personal capital is fine, website is fine, for tracking net worth it works well enough. It’s hard to say how it will hold up over time.
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Nov 7, 2023 22:11
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smoobles posted:Did Inuit give a timeline on the Mint features being carried over to Credit Karma? No exact timeline so far that I’ve seen, but I received an email from Mint today that said “In the coming weeks, we’ll let you know, within Mint and email, when it’s time to make the move to Credit Karma.” So I guess we’ll see.
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Nov 7, 2023 23:34
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Credit Karma currently has a lot of the features Mint was used for. Maybe all of them.
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Nov 8, 2023 02:02
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smoobles posted:Any good Mint alternatives for syncing up transactions & balances to see total net worth? Residency Evil posted:I’ve been using personal capital for this. Has worked well, but apparently some issues with Amex checking lately? Sweeper posted:I moved stuff from mint to “empower personal capital” over the weekend and it’s fine, probably better than mint in its current form which has been getting worse for a while now. The app for personal capital is fine, website is fine, for tracking net worth it works well enough. It’s hard to say how it will hold up over time. Ya'll ever have any concerns about inputting every login into a third party like these? I've used Mint for a while but I've recently stopped. It's such a hassle to keep up with adding accounts, re-syncing the logins when certain ones continue to fail so I have to login to the provider anyway. Seems more straight-forward, more efficient, and less frustrating to maintain my own net worth calculation in Excel. :2cents:
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Nov 8, 2023 02:17
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zaurg posted:Ya'll ever have any concerns about inputting every login into a third party like these? I've used Mint for a while but I've recently stopped. It's such a hassle to keep up with adding accounts, re-syncing the logins when certain ones continue to fail so I have to login to the provider anyway. Seems more straight-forward, more efficient, and less frustrating to maintain my own net worth calculation in Excel. :2cents: A couple things. 1) 2FA. 2) In (some? most? all?) cases, the access is read-only. Supposedly, at least. 3) I think I went like a year or so checking my Personal Capital dash like every single day. This eventually dropped to monthly, and I've been at quarterly updates for a long time now. 4) Tase your balls. 5) The graphs showing things over time is kinda neat. And the transaction aggregation is nice when I do my expense categorization exercise. But yeah, Google Sheets is fine.
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Nov 8, 2023 02:25
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:With the GI Bill as a backstop, I wouldn't go crazy on contributions if you have other priorities (which it sounds like you do). But the 529 is pretty cool these days in that it grows tax free and you can move 35k in to each kids future Roth IRA without tax penalties if they don't end up using the money for education. So there isn't much of a downside as long as you keep the balance low enough. They're child specific so open one for each kid. I didn’t know about the option to move from 529 to a kids RothIRA. That’s sweet and makes me feel less anxious about the $5k/yr I put into each of my infant kids 529’s (I’m in NY so I get to deduct up to $10k)
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Nov 8, 2023 02:45
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