Is Your Money Working Against You? 8 Questions Worth Asking Before the Year Ends

You know that feeling when you have a money question but don't know who to ask?

Maybe it's something that sounds too basic.

Maybe everyone around you seems to understand money better than you do.

Or maybe you make a decent living, pay your bills, and still have that nagging feeling that you're missing something.

You're not alone.

That's exactly why I spent today's episode of Becoming Financially Confident answering eight everyday money questions, including one that saved me hundreds of dollars on routine lab work.

Start with this: Why did my $900 lab bill become $26?

I need a set of labs every six months.

When I used insurance, LabCorp billed about $900. After my insurer negotiated the amount, I still owed a $100 copay.

Then my direct primary care doctor set up a cash arrangement with the lab.

Now I take her order to LabCorp, have them bill her office directly, and I pay $26.

That's a big difference.

I've been a member of a direct primary care practice for six or seven years, paying about $75 a month. My doctor also runs an in-house pharmacy, and many of my prescriptions cost about 10% of what I used to pay at a regular pharmacy.

The visits are different too. My doctor spends about an hour with me. She told me she'd rather care for 400 patients well.

That experience got me thinking about a bigger question:

How many of us are paying for things simply because we've never stopped to ask if there's another way?

That's where today's episode starts.

Can an HSA pay for direct primary care?

This is one of those questions that's easy to miss because the rules changed.

Starting in January 2026, an HSA can pay up to $150 per person or $300 per family toward a direct primary care membership.

If you're considering direct primary care, that's worth knowing.

There's an important distinction, though. Direct primary care doesn't replace health insurance. Hospital stays, emergency care, and specialist care still need to be covered separately.

Are you getting enough from your credit card to justify the annual fee?

Premium credit cards can come with annual fees of $800 or $900.

My American Express Platinum fee went from $695 to $895.

So the question isn't whether the card has impressive perks.

It's whether you use enough of those perks to make the fee worthwhile for you.

Take airport lounges. I've used mine and enjoyed the food and showers, but I also had to be intentional about using the benefit.

Take a look at your own statement.

Find the annual fee. Then add up the credits and benefits you actually used.

If you're nowhere near the fee, it's worth asking the card issuer about your options.

And if you're carrying a balance, remember that interest can wipe out the value of those rewards quickly.

Are you paying extra for premium gas you don't need?

Here's a question you can answer in about 30 seconds.

Check your owner's manual.

If premium is required, use it.

If it's only recommended, you may have another decision to make.

As of September 7, premium gas was averaging about $1 more per gallon. On a 20-gallon fill-up, that's about $20 more.

Before you automatically reach for the premium button at the pump, check what your vehicle requires.

Sometimes the easiest money question is the one sitting in your glove box.

Are your rewards making you spend more?

A listener brought this question to the show after a debate with a family member.

The concern was simple: Do rewards and mileage cards encourage people to spend more?

Research discussed in the episode suggests they can.

And there's another number worth remembering: the average credit card rate cited in the episode was 22.15%.

That's why the rewards only tell part of the story.

If you earn miles while carrying a balance, the interest you're paying can quickly outweigh what you earned.

My youngest son has a simple rule. He has a credit card, but he treats it like a debit card.

That's one way to think about it.

The card can earn rewards, but you still have to pay attention to what leaves your bank account.

What happens when your buy now, pay later plans start stacking up?

One listener wrote in because they had five or six buy now, pay later plans running at once.

Each individual payment might look manageable.

Together?

That's where things get complicated.

The episode discussed 2026 LendingTree survey data showing that 29% of users had used these services for groceries, up from 14% two years earlier. It also found that 47% had made a late payment in the previous year.

The issue isn't necessarily one payment.

It's losing sight of the whole picture.

If you've got several plans pulling money from your account on different dates, write down:

• The amount
• The due date
• The account it comes from

Then look at all of them together.

A payment that looks small by itself can feel very different when five more are waiting behind it.

Should you buy mechanical breakdown insurance or an extended warranty?

This is another question where the answer starts with knowing what you already have.

The episode compared extended warranties with mechanical breakdown insurance and discussed a listener who was quoted $2,400 for a dealer warranty.

Before you sign anything in the finance office, check your existing coverage.

When a dealer offered me tire and glass coverage for my Suburban, I opened my Geico app.

My existing policy already covered the windshield, subject to my deductible.

That saved me from paying for coverage I already had.

And remember, warranties and breakdown coverage aren't a substitute for maintenance.

I learned that one the expensive way.

When I was 19, I skipped oil changes on my Pontiac Firebird for 24 months and seized the engine.

The replacement cost me $3,500.

What could a 32-hour workweek mean for overtime?

The episode also tackles a proposed change to the overtime threshold for non-exempt workers.

Rather than telling you what to think about the proposal, there's a more immediate question you can answer about your own paycheck:

Are you classified as exempt or non-exempt?

Look at your pay stub.

If you're unsure what that classification means for you, ask your employer.

Understanding what's on your paycheck is part of understanding your money.

Have you checked your tax withholding yet?

This one can take about 10 minutes.

Grab your latest pay stub and run the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator.

The goal is simple: get a clearer idea of whether your current withholding is likely to cover what you owe for 2026.

If something looks off, there's still time to adjust your withholding during the final months of the year.

While you're looking at your paycheck, check your retirement contributions and FSA balance too.

You don't need to overhaul your entire financial life in one afternoon.

Sometimes you just need to ask one better question.

That's what we're doing on Becoming Financially Confident

Money questions don't come with an age requirement.

You might be 25 and wondering where to start.

You might have a growing family and be wondering whether you're seeing the whole picture.

You might be 55 and wondering whether there's still time to change course.

Those questions deserve somewhere to go.

Becoming Financially Confident is a free daily show where Ralph Estep Jr., a licensed public accountant, answers real money questions in plain English.

No question is too basic.

No shame if you don't know.

And no expectation that you have everything figured out already.

Watch or listen to today's episode, then subscribe to Becoming Financially Confident so you have somewhere to bring the next money question.

Got a question of your own? Send it to the show. It may become part of a future episode.