How would you handle a Health Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) in Quicken?

Hi, I've had a few people ask me about how they should handle an FSA account. There are two basic options. The first is to create a separate cash account for the FSA and the second is to just use a spending category.

I personally use a separate account. I made it a "Property & Debt: Asset" account rather than a cash account. This is primary to keep it out of the way for day to day spending. I call mine "Medical Reim" account. I have done this as a separate account for years. Honestly, for me, it I don't track the details of this account close enough for me to have a strong bias as to having it as a separate account vs. just using a spending category.

The benefits are keeping it an asset account are:
- Reminds you periodically that you have the money and that you should drain it
- Treats the transactions accurately (e.g., refunds are really transfers from and asset that you have)
- Contains a ledger that *if* you want, you could track the spending of this account.

I just periodically (maybe twice a year at most, usually in August and then in December), sync this balance up to ensure I am on-track to use all the funds. Since I don't track all the expenses that I use on my medical debit reimbursement account, I just put in an aggregate transaction to balance out my spending and balance. It is useful to have this account when make sure I net to zero at the end of the year.

Thanks for the questions and feel free to keep them coming!

-Fortress Architect

Get rid of your stuff! Stuff weighs down your soul!

Hi,

As part of my New Year's Resolution to reduce clutter in my life and to improve my financial situation, I had a family garage sale this weekend.

I was shocked at how many people came. I ran a small ad in the local newspaper (this is way too expensive but it worked) as well as posting on Craigslist. I also did the usual tape-up of signs.

The good thing about paying for the newspaper ad is that it brought serious buyers (people willing to drive to a garage sale).

Here is the kicker, I got rid of a ton of stuff, and I made good money. You really have to ask yourself, "have I used or even touched this in the last 18 months?". If the answer is, "No" then you should really consider selling it. I know this is easy to say. I had a really hard time gettting rid of a few things. Once you get in the mood you can get rid of a lot of stuff that you probably will never use anyway.

Here was my cycle:
1) Sell everything at the garage sale. start dropping your prices fast as the morning goes on (you want to get rid of junk too!)
2) Anything that doesn't sell, seperate into two piles:
a) stuff you should take to donate to charity (Goodwill) THAT DAY. Remember, the tax write-off is worth something too!
b) stuff you want to sell still (try eBay).
3) Stuff to throw away in the garbage, THAT DAY

I did the above and we made over $200!!! It was sweet. I also feel great about reducing clutter.