153: Saving with Steve with Steve Sexton - Episode 153153: Saving with Steve with Steve Sexton - Episode 153
UK Health Radio Podcast
Steve Sexton talks with benefits expert Catherine Larkin about using workplace health and childcare accounts to cut costs and reduce money stress. The discussion focuses on practical ways to plan ahead, use wellness incentives and adjust benefits around major life events.
45:03•7 Nov 2026
Make Your Work Benefits Pay You Back: Catherine Larkin on Saving with Steve
Episode Overview
- HSAs can roll over year to year and fund current or future medical costs, while FSAs generally must be used within the plan year.
- Review past medical, childcare and camp expenses to set realistic, tax-efficient contribution levels to benefit accounts.
- Dependent care accounts can significantly offset childcare and camp costs, especially when limits are fully used.
- Wellness incentives, gym reimbursements and screenings often come with cash credits or discounts, but only if you actively claim them.
- Major life events such as childbirth, job loss or bereavement usually allow benefit changes within a limited time window, so contacting your benefits team promptly is crucial.
“"Use your benefits, because they’re actually part of your wages."”
What drives someone to seek a life without financial stress? This conversation on UK Health Radio’s "Saving with Steve" zeroes in on a surprisingly powerful tool: your workplace benefits. Host Steve Sexton chats with Catherine Larkin, who oversees Vanguard’s global benefits strategy, about how everyday employees can stop leaving money on the table. You’ll hear Catherine break down health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible spending accounts (FSAs) in plain language.
She explains the simple but crucial distinction between an HSA you can keep "forever" and an FSA that’s "use it or lose it", showing how both can turn regular medical costs – from prescriptions and dentist visits to sunscreen and therapy – into tax-efficient spending. Steve brings this to life with his own story, sharing how his HSA helped cover the unexpected costs of colon cancer treatment. The chat moves on to dependent care accounts for childcare and camps.
Catherine speaks as a parent who used these accounts for years, describing how planning ahead can make pricey daycare or summer camps feel more manageable, and how recent increases in limits better reflect real costs. She keeps coming back to one key habit: taking an hour to review past expenses and "sit down and pay yourself" through smarter benefit choices.
They also cover wellness incentives, gym discounts, and even concierge support from health insurers, all aimed at keeping people healthier and less stressed when life throws up major health events. Catherine reminds everyone that benefits are flexible around big life changes and that employers genuinely want staff to use what’s offered because "they’re actually part of your wages". If you’ve ever clicked through open enrolment on autopilot, this episode might make you think twice.
Could a single focused hour with your benefits be the easiest way to give future you a financial breather?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.