Found Money

I was thinking this morning about some money that we have coming in over the next few weeks.  It's not exactly a breathtaking sum, but it is enough that I'm surprised we've left it this long.  And it made me think about money I've left sitting on the table, so to speak, in the past - all the surveys I haven't sent in for a coupon, all the times I didn't bother to return something.

Part of our slow march towards financial independence, which is at minimum, ten years away, is being more financially honorable towards ourselves.  And that means picking up the money that belongs to us.

This time the money was related to our health insurance.  I had called to ask about something, and the customer service person on the phone reminded me of some benefits we had that we had not been taking advantage of.  The first was the $150 per person health club reimbursement.    Three minutes out of my life to fill out a form, and we're expecting a check for $300.00.  If you think about that in terms of hourly worth, you'd have to make $6k an hour to net $300 in three minutes.  And since we use our gym regularly, this is just making a good thing better.

The other reminder was that our copays are eligible for reimbursement from our health care FSA.  So we've got another $85 coming back to us as soon as I drop the form in the mail on Tuesday.  

So in total, I think I spent about 10 minutes on the phone with my insurer, plus another 10 minutes in filling out paperwork, and netted us $385. 

 

That's the last time I forget to send in a form, or just not return something.  I've probably left thousands on the table over the years.  It is worth my time.