The last few months of the year are important for employees who receive benefits from the employers because, for most companies, this is open enrollment time. The benefit selections you make now are likely the ones that you will be stuck with for all of 2010 so choose wisely and take advantage of opportunities to use your benefits to improve your financial position. No one looks forward to open enrollment for corporate benefits, but the choices you make can mean extra money in your pocket if you make the right selections.

Every company offers a different benefits package so not all of these will be available to everyone, but look into each of these options and whether or not they would be an appropriate fit for you.

Health Savings Accounts: Most jobs offer health benefits for employees and their families, but a Health Savings Account is a way to put aside money for health expenses in a different manner. Employees can set aside pretax dollars that can be used to pay for qualified medical expenses and most plans allow unused funds to carry over each year. When this benefit is combined with a high-deductible health insurance plan, it is usually much cheaper than a traditional medical benefits package. It’s important to distinguish between Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement Accounts, which are owned and controlled by the employer instead of the employee.

Flexible Savings Accounts: If you pay for child care during the work week, a flexible savings plan is something that is definitely worth consideration. Employees can set aside pre-tax dollars to cover expenses for childcare or care for any other dependent. Most of these plans do not allow funds to carry over each year, so it’s important to budget carefully and avoid saving too much for childcare expenses. This money can only be accessed as it is set aside. There are also flexible savings accounts for healthcare.

Health Incentive Plans: Insurance costs for most companies are substantial and many employers are interested in reducing these costs. One way to do this is to offer wellness incentives to promote healthy habits and health education to employees. Employers save many by having a healthier group of employees to insure, and many of these incentive programs offer either additional cash in your paycheck or gift cards that are earned for completing certain milestones in the wellness plans. Many companies have a wellness program but the programs often aren’t the chief concern of employees enrolling for their annual benefits.

401K: This benefit is one that does get a lot of attention from employees but many are not taking full advantage of their company’s 401K offering. The most important thing to understand is the amount of your contributions that the company is willing to match. If there is a matching program, do all you can to take full advantage of it. Many companies are now also offering a Roth 401K option that allows employees to determine whether or not contributions of pre-tax dollars or after-tax dollars would be a better fit. The power of tax deferred growth over time is impressive and setting aside money as early in your career as possible can lead to a very comfortable retirement.

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