Financial Help for Everyday Money Worries

With so much troubling news coming out of Wall Street, financial anxiety is high. While you can’t control the stock market, you can tackle some of your smaller money issues—and put a bit of that anxiety to rest.

“I’m Enrolled in a Flexible-Spending Account, But I’m Feeling Overwhelmed by the Paperwork”

Sure, filling out these claims takes time, but doing so can net you hundreds of dollars each year by allowing you to pay for health-related expenses with pretax dollars, says Kelley Long, a Chicago-based personal-finance coach and certified public accountant. Even if you spend just $300 on copays a year, filing them through a flexible-spending program may save you up to $100 on taxes. To streamline the paperwork, print out a claim form from either your company’s website or the website of your program’s administrator. Then make 12 copies—one for each month—and place them in a folder where you will save all your health-care receipts. Once a month (mark your calendar), fill in the expenses you have accrued and fax it to the administrator.