Am I Supposed to Return the Money?

The biggest problem with a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) is that you have to use up your pre-tax contributions by the end of the year (or some other date determined by your employer), or you lose it. I generally squirrel my FSA contributions through June and then try to exhaust it over the remainder of the year.

This year, due to chronic neck pain and headaches, I started visiting a chiropractor who is outside of my health insurance network. Because he is outside of the network, my insurance only pays 70% of the chiropractor's fees and I am responsible for the remaining 30%. Fortunately, I've convinced my chiropractor to waive my 30% portion of his fees.



My insurance company (and FSA administrator) is unaware of this side deal I made with my chiropractor and has paid me all of my FSA contributions for the year to apply towards the 30% chiropractor fee.

Am I supposed to return this money to my FSA administrator? Or in the alternative, am I supposed to tell my FSA administrator that my chiropractor has waived my portion of his fees?

Part of me says, "Yes," since the FSA money was being paid to me to apply specifically to the chiropractic fees. On the other hand, the money is mine and I've actually been using it to pay other health care costs like cold/flu medication, inhaler, lozenges, cold sore ointment, etc. It's not like I'm using my FSA money to buy jewelry and clothes. If I'm called on it, I can always produce receipts to prove this. I do feel guilty that I'm earning interest on the money, though. (Ooooh. A whopping 1.7% on $255!!)

What would you do?

TMI Monday - - Thank Goodness I Have Health Insurance

** Warning: Adult TMI content below, not suitable for children. **

If I ever had doubts about whether I should remain single for the rest of my life, a recent date removed all reservations. I swear, my love life resembles a Farrelly Brothers movie.

What does this have to do with health insurance? Let's just say a recent out-of-town date ended with a visit to the ER. And don't worry -- it had nothing to do with domestic violence, injury or illness. It was just a tragicomic, embarrassing debacle.

I previously wrote about how I may consider dating younger men. (One matter of note: I previously referred to myself as a "cougar" but apparently, I am actually a "puma"). I was kidding when I wrote that post, but I recently hooked up with a nice, handsome young man 6 years my junior. (Score!)

Unfortunately, my romantic out-of-town date with the cub ended with a "disappearing" ... ummm.... "protection." (This apparently happens more often than one would imagine.)



We turned over the sheets, looked under the bed and looked all over. There was only one place it could be and I couldn't retrieve it myself. *Cr&p!* And as Murphy's Law would dictate, (1) it was the weekend, (2) we're out of town, and (3) it was after-hours, so I couldn't go to my regular doctor. I had no choice but to go to the ER to get it removed.

After 5 hours of waiting in the ER and numerous embarrassing explanations to the intake nurse, the intern, and the attending, I was free. (And in more ways than one, since I'm no longer speaking with the cub.)

How much did this procedure cost? According to my health insurance records:
Hospital Charge: $587.50. Insurance Paid: $537.50
Doctor Charge: $112.00. Insurance Paid: $47.17 (In-network, negotiated rate)
My total responsibility: $50.00

Thank goodness this out-of-town ER was inside my insurance network. I can't imagine what it would have cost if it wasn't.

Even with the in-network rates, I would've been out-of-pocket $699.50 for something so ridiculous if I was uninsured. I really don't know whether the contemplated health care overhaul is a good thing or not, but if it's going to reduce the number of uninsureds, I'm not so sure it's not a good thing. (Has my double negative confused you yet?)

On a side note, I also think this is a sign that I should stay away from dating... or, perhaps maybe I need to stay celibate.

Flu, Bronchitis and MLB Fever

**Cough, cough** My dang bronchitis won't go away. At least it gives me a good excuse to stay in bed and watch MLB playoffs all weekend long.

Okay, so I'm totally a fair-weather, bandwagon fan. Sue me.

Now that the Dodgers won their NL division series against the Cards, I'm totally rooting for the Angels.

I'm also happy that someone posted the old Goo Goo Dolls' version of "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" on YouTube. I'm suffering from the MLB flu...

I Am Now Officially Credit Card Debt Free

I’ve carried a balance on my credit cards since 1995, while attending law school. I didn’t have an income at the time and I was living off my student loans, but I still had a certain lifestyle I wanted to maintain. It started with $20 here for dinner, $100 there for a trip to Vegas with my buddies, $10 for movies, etc. I wasn’t too worried – I’d be okay so long as I can make the minimum payment every month.

After I graduated, I had new “needs” like snazzy power suits, shoes and purses to wear to court. The increase in my lifestyle costs dramatically outpaced my income during this period. I needed to dine at Spagos -- after all, I was now an attorney. I also couldn’t possibly be seen driving a hand-me down 1986 Toyota Corolla. I “needed” to lease a more respectable car.

Even when I stopped practicing law in 2001, I wanted to maintain “the lifestyle.” Again, for no logical explanation, my lifestyle costs skyrocketed upwards with no regards to affordability. I didn’t pay attention to my balances since I always seemed to have a balance transfer offer readily available to “bail me out.”

But some time in 2005, I had one of my many “aha” moments - - my consumer debts snowballed to levels that I could no longer make the minimum payments. To add insult to injury, American Express rejected my credit card application for a 0% balance transfer.

I created a handwritten list of my debts in 2005 in a Steno Notebook that I still keep as a reminder of those dark days. My debt balances at the time were:

Private Student Loans: $57,950.98

Fed’l Student Loans: $61,364.22

Chase CC: $16,572.72

Discover CC: $10,538.94

Citi CC: $ 9,602.12

Car Lease (remainder): $1,562.16

TOTAL: $157,591.14

Oh, and let’s not forget that in December 2005, after I turned in my leased car, I took out a $25,000 car loan to buy a new car. So setting aside my student loans, my total consumer debt (credit card, car loan) as of December 2005 was approximately $61,713.78!!

In fits and starts, I ventured onto the rocky road of debt repayment I’m currently on now. It took me over 4 years, but I’ve finally rid myself of the soul-crushing consumer debt-hole I dug for myself 14 years ago. My student loan balance is still mortifyingly high (approximately $98k), but I feel the end of my debt voyage is nearing.

I’d like to say that I’ll immediately snowball my $1,053/month credit card payments into my student loan payments. But, alas, I think I’m going to give myself a “breather” until the end of the year. I’m five months ahead of schedule vs. my Snowball Repayment Plan I created in August 2008, so I think I deserve a break.

I’m planning to spend some of the money, but I’m hoping to replenish some of my earmark funds for vacation and other miscellaneous spending. I finally feel like I’m on my way towards financial freedom.

September '09 Progress Report

Holy guacamole. My last Progress Report update was in June '09??? Egads! I have been away for a long time now. Truth be told, I've been on the same ol' debt pay-down grind for the past 3 months that there really wasn't much to report. So I won't be reporting my progress for July or August. If you're really curious, you can see my July and August numbers here

Anyhoo, here's my financial state as of 9/30/09.

MY DEBT

	Starting Debt (6/31/08)	Last Month	This Month	DIFFERENCE
Private SL	$49,528.99	$44,675.23	$44,306.73	$(368.50)
Fed'l SL	$55,852.68	$54,085.92	$53,961.10	$(124.82)
Credit Card	$13,610.75	$11,208.08	$11,086.08	$(122.00)
TOTAL	$128,771.75	$109,969.23	$109,353.91	$(615.32)

I'm snowballing my debt and I'm arbitraging my 0% credit card debt. Not much to report here. Just the same ol', same ol'.


MY SAVINGS

LAST MONTH	THIS MONTH	DIFFERENCE
$8,011.91	$8,112.28	+$100.37

The savings that is reflected here is my "emergency fund" that I am not supposed to touch unless there is an absolute true emergency.

Although my EF is going up, my "other savings" that I've earmarked for expenses (and that is not reported in my net worth or progress report) have gone down significantly.

As reported previously, my company made me travel back-and-forth to the east coast every other week for the past 7 weeks. During that time, I had to hire a pet sitter for my cat, which wasn't cheap (approx. $20 - $30/day, not including tips). My company refused to reimburse me for my pet care expenses. I estimate that I had to pay about $650+ for my cat's care.

Since I was pretty bitter about having to travel back-and-forth for something that I think is completely ridiculous, degrading and/or a waste of time, I decided to stay an extra day or two (at my expense) in couple of United Airline's layover cities. Wanna guess where I took my side trips?





These side trips probably cost me about $700 or so, including food, hotel, entertainment and ground transportation costs. I thought these side trips would make my lousy business trips worthwhile, but I unfortunately got sick and I couldn't sightsee as much as I would've liked. But I don't regret taking these trips. DC and Chi-town are fabulous cities and they were worth every penny I spent.

By the way, I also got to see the Hope Diamond before they took it out of its setting. (In case you didn't know, the Hope Diamond is currently displayed au naturel while some jeweler is making its new, more modern looking setting called Embracing Hope.)



MY NET WORTH

LAST MONTH	THIS MONTH	DIFFERENCE
$30,205.89	$39,503.13	+$9,297.24

In June '09, I reported my net worth as $10,007.87. Three months later, my net worth is 4 times higher? All I can tell you is that I certainly didn't deposit $30k into my investment accounts. I swear, the stock market volatility is giving me whiplash.

I'm not going to get too happy or cozy with these figures since it appears that the market has started to correct downwards during the first week of October. I'm praying that the stock market won't repeat the debacle of October 2008. *Fingers crossed*

The breakdown of my net worth can be seen here.

I'm Back... Sort Of...

My death march travel is over for now. One thing I discovered is that I'm a total pansy. During the past 7 weeks of traveling to the east coast every other week, I suffered one physical ailment after another. The ailments ranged from the run-of-the-mill cold, zit outbreaks, cold sore flare-ups and finally the flu. I'm glad I don't have to get another coast-to-coast flight anytime soon.

I've gotten over the flu, but my chest congestion is lingering and I'm completely fatigued. I have some good news to report soon so hopefully I'll be 100% recovered by the time I report about it.

Thanks again everyone for following up. I'll be back real soon!

Thank You For Your Kind Words! I'm Officially Stuck In The Fifth Ring of Hell

Sorry all for the long absence! I've been going through physical therapy and undergoing chiropractic care, which has helped quite a bit with the headaches and neck pains.

Just as I thought things were going well... Well... I'm now stuck in the fifth ring of hell, so to speak.

My company underwent a management overhaul this past year, and let's just say the new regime is trying to make an imprint. And by imprint, they're forcing us peons to undergo Gawd-awful team building exercises. You know the ones I'm talkin' about. In case you're fortunate enough never to have experienced this excruciatingly mind-numbing time-sink, watch this American Airlines commercial and you'll understand.



The worst part about this is that I'm forced to fly cross-country almost every other week this month to participate. I feel like I've joined a cult that deprives me of sleep to make me vulnerable and confused, so that I'll voluntarily drink the Kool-Aid. Please don't ask me what the logic to this is, since I don't see any.

I'm also not going to say much more about this since, God forbid, someone at my company reads this blog. But more than that, when so many people are currently unemployed, it just seems very petty and shallow of me to whine about it.

Anyhow, the constant travels has put me seriously behind the eight-ball at work and I've been a bit overwhelmed. The brainwashin.... errrr... the team building exercises should be over by end of September. Thank you all again for your kind thoughts and words. Rest assured, I'm better now. Well... atleast physically, so I will be back soon! (I hope...)