There's always a lot of spending around the holidays, but depending on your work benefits, you might have some cash that you MUST spend before the end of the year.
If your health benefits allow for it, you can open a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) that will allow you to contribute pre-tax funds from your paychecks to spend as needed on health care.
You can do something simliar with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), but the difference is, with an FSA, you should have access to your entire year of planned contributions on day one. HSA money also rolls over from year-to-year, but most FSA money does not.
In other words — you have to use it, or lose it, by year's end.
If you have some of that cash sitting in an account, here are some examples of what you can use it on before the end of the year:
- Doctor fees: FSA money should cover everything from a co-pay to a portion of a large medical bill. It also covers dental and vision-related care.
- Medicine: Whether you're visiting a pharmacist or buying over-the-counter pain meds and cough medicine, you can use your FSA money.
- Acne medication: If you're having breakouts and need medicated lotions and creams, your FSA cash should cover it.
- Tampons and pads
- Sunscreen
And those are only a handful of a long list of items and products covered by FSA. Some, like toothpaste, you would think are eligible, but they're not, so it's important to know what's covered before your purchase.
FSAstore.com is an online shopping website that has a full list of products.
In some cases, depending on your employer benefits, you may be able to roll over some FSA money from a previous year. According to the IRS, the rollover limit from 2023 to 2024 is $610, but will increase to $640 from 2024 to 2025.
The overall contribution limit is also increasing in 2024 — from $3,050 to $3,200.
