I left free money on the table...

A couple years back, my work "amended" our benefits package and I was going to get more money to help cover medical premiums. I think it was around $150 or so dollars. At the same time, they also offered to do $150 matching program to 457 accounts.

The day it was announced, I went over to our HR department, got the form and started putting money into my 457 account to ensure I got the match, because "you never leave free money on the table." 

I instantly saw that if I were patient and didn't "take" the raise in an increase on my check, I could double my gain in the long run by opening a 457 and putting $150 into the account to get an additional $150 match from my company.  Essentially I took a $150 "compensation raise" and made it $300 by deciding those dollars would go to retirement.

I still remember my HR rep looking at me as a 20-something and telling me I was one of the smarter employees in the building. She had spent the entire morning trying to explain to some of my older peers how if they could delay gratification and "save" their raise, they could double their gain.

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I start off with that story, because earlier in the week, I realized I left "free" money on the table during open enrollment. 

*****face palm ******

It's been a few years since I have had "left over" benefit money since little dudes arrival (I've been paying out of pocket for some time now), but before our open enrollment window we voted to pay an additional 1.5% into our pensions in exchange for an increase in benefit compensation that would cover the increase and make it so I wouldn't be paying out of pocket for insurance this year (if we didn't vote in the raise to our pensions, we didn't get the benefit money and then everyone would have been paying much more than they were before)... 

I thought I had researched all of our available options to make the most of our decisions during open enrollment... because if we have any leftover funds, we only get 50% of the cash value added to our paychecks... but I missed an option. 

Yesterday I got an email from payroll showing me how they would display the cafe cash on my check and when chatting with a fellow co-worker I found out that I could have opened an HSA account and used the additional funds for daycare expenses... which would have allowed me to keep the full amount and still break even for the most part.

Essentially i'm loosing $8.48 a paycheck to the 50% cash out deduction...  or just over $200 a year... 

So i'll be researching opening an HSA for next year's open enrollment... and hope I have extra benefit money to drop into it next year. Lesson learned.