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Welcome back to episode 78 and the 2019 journey to financial freedom.\\xa0\\xa0By this phase of our journey you should have checked with you bank to make sure you have the highest interest pay accounts for your money, implemented the savings formula for your age group, checked with your HR department to make sure you are maximizing your benefits and put in place a way to get free money thru your 401k plan.\\xa0\\xa0If you missed any of these lessons they start in\\xa0episode 75 and are under the courses tab on my website\\xa0www.cindybbrown.com\\xa0

This will be our last week of discussing benefits \\u2013 but this is a big one Health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts

Healthcare can be costly\\xa0even for the healthiest among us. Even if you have insurance through your employer, you might consider taking advantage of one of the\\xa0federal government programs that encourage saving for medical expenses not covered by insurance. The tax benefits can be substantial.

The two types of accounts most often offered to employees are the Health Savings Account (HSA) and the Flexible Spending Account (FSA). Self-employed people can open an HSA but not an FSA.\\xa0Trying to choose between a health savings account (HSA) and a flexible spending arrangement (FSA) can be enough to make your eyes cross. In some ways, they\\u2019re very similar: they\\u2019re both accounts you can contribute to tax-free to save for medical costs. In other ways, they\\u2019re very different, and with several key differences between HSAs and FSAs, it literally pays to get this decision right.