Before the holiday hustle and bustle goes into high gear, families across the country will sit down together for a Thanksgiving meal and reflect on what makes them grateful. Family, friends and good health may be the first things that come to mind when counting your blessings, but there are other things to be thankful for as well.
For instance, the following financial accounts offer the chance to minimize taxes, build wealth or otherwise be rewarded for making smart use of your money.
401(k) accounts. “When you think about a 401(k), there is a lot to be thankful for,” says Neil Smith, executive vice president for Ascensus, a retirement and college savings services provider. Offered by employers, 401(k) plans are among the simplest ways to save for retirement. Money can be automatically deducted from your paychecks, and many companies provide target-date funds that make it easy to invest based on your expected retirement year. Plus, employers may match contributions to the account. “We jokingly call it ‘free money,'” Smith says, adding that the matching amount should be considered part of a person’s total compensation.
Roth 401(k)s are funded with after-tax dollars, but gains and withdrawals in retirement are tax-free. Contributions to traditional 401(k)s are tax deductible, but money taken from the account in retirement will be taxed. For many retirees, Roth 401(k)s may offer the most tax savings. However, “if they are moving to a state like Florida or Texas where there is no state income tax, they may want to contribute to a traditional [account],” says Leif Novie, principal in the tax and accounting department at Morrison, Brown, Argiz and Farra.
Health savings accounts. “Health savings accounts are where it’s at,” says Brandon Wood, president for benefit account solutions at Maestro Health. “There’s no other vehicle like it.” That’s because up to $3,350 for individuals and $6,750 for families can be deposited into the account and deducted from federal income taxes. Then, that money can roll over year to year and grow tax-free. Some HSA providers even offer the option to invest the balance in the market to maximize gains. As a final perk, money used to pay qualified health expenses can be withdrawn tax-free. However, you need to have a qualified high-deductible health insurance plan to be eligible to open the account. For 2016, a qualified family plan is one that has at least a $2,600 deductible and a cap of $13,100 in out-of-pocket costs.
Flexible spending accounts. Those who aren’t eligible for a health savings account may find they can thank their employer for allowing them to open a similar flexible spending account. These accounts allow people to use tax-free money to pay for health care or dependent care, including certain costs associated with elder care. While money doesn’t roll over year after year as with an HSA, some employers allow up to $500 to carry over to the next year or provide a 90 day grace period for workers to use up their balance. As a bonus, employees can use the full balance of their annual FSA election on the first day of the year if needed and then repay that amount over the next 12 months.
Despite their benefits, Wood says FSAs are often underutilized, something he attributes to their placement at the end of open enrollment forms. “We haven’t seen an uptick in adoption because these are the end of the food chain in the enrollment experience,” he says. By the time workers reach them, they often have so many deductions being made that they are reluctant to add any more.
Cash back credit cards. Although not for everyone, cash back credit cards allow consumers to earn money in exchange for making everyday purchases. “Some of these are more lucrative than what you could earn in a savings account,” says Leslie Roberts, an investment advisor at Stillwater Financial Group with offices in Boca Raton, Florida, and Plymouth, Pennsylvania. The catch is these cards may have annual fees or charge a higher interest rate than those without rewards. Make sure the rewards will outweigh the fee and never carry a balance. Paying interest will quickly negate any cash back received.
529 plans. For those with college costs in their future, a 529 plan is something to be thankful for. Withdrawals from these accounts are tax-free if used for qualified higher education expenses. While there is no federal tax deduction for contributions, some states will allow taxpayers to write off deposits on their state tax form.
Providers are also working to make it easy for parents to encourage others, such as grandparents, to contribute to a child’s 529 plan. For instance, Ascensus has set up UGift529.com as a way for others to contribute to an account, and Smith says it may be only a matter of time before 529 plan contributions replace savings bonds as the default gift for college funds.
Life insurance. “Ten out of 10 people die,” Roberts says, and life insurance leaves a tax-free death benefit to heirs that can be used to pay off family debts, cover final expenses or for any other purpose beneficiaries want. Those with significant savings may find it makes sense to buy life insurance as an inexpensive way to leave a large legacy for their family. “I’ve done a lot of work lately in leveraging [clients’] accounts to buy life insurance,” Roberts says.
Permanent life insurance products also have a cash value that can be borrowed against for any reason. What’s more, some policies provide other perks such as living benefits or the opportunity to use a portion of the death benefit for long-term care costs. While death likely doesn’t top most people’s Thanksgiving gratitude lists, folks can at least be thankful their loved ones don’t have to be financially stressed after their passing.
Tax-managed funds. Tax-managed funds are a final, often overlooked product worthy of thanks. These funds are focused on minimizing investors’ taxes until they sell their shares. They may employ strategies such as selling off declining securities to realize a loss or avoiding dividend-producing stocks that could result in annual tax payments.
Novie says the tax-managed funds offer smaller investors an opportunity to use strategies that are otherwise reserved for those with accounts worth six or seven digits. “To have a tax-managed account, people need to be high-worth individuals,” Novie says. “But people can probably enter [a tax-managed fund] with as little as a few thousand dollars.”
On Thanksgiving, people most often express gratitude for things such as family, jobs and general good living. However, there is nothing wrong with also taking a moment to pause and consider how lucky we are to have these financial accounts available as well.
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