Got benefits? Well, make sure that you don’t miss the open enrollment period that comes around every October. This is the one time during the year when you can re-consider your employer-sponsored insurance coverage and not be penalized financially for making any changes.

But guess what? If you don’t at least investigate your options during open enrollment, you could end up penalizing yourself financially. In fact, a recent survey of human resources managers from CareerBuilder showed that employees who don’t bother checking out their open-enrollment options could stand to lose anywhere for $500 to $2,500 a year in benefits.

When asked to identify which benefits employees typically don’t realize that their companies provide, human resource managers pointed to the following:

• Flexible healthcare spending – 43 percent
• Wellness benefits – 45 percent
• Tuition reimbursement – 38 percent
• Banking programs – 25 percent
• Discounts on personal entertainment – 24 percent
• Discounts on technology for personal use – 22 percent
• Discounts on travel for personal use (rental cars, airplane tickets) – 20 percent
• Transit programs – 10 percent
• Help with childcare – 10 percent

So how can you make the most of benefits-savings in the coming year? Here are four tips to consider:

1. Schedule time on your calendar to review benefit options. Make sure to schedule this review early in the process, so you’re not rushing to make a decision an hour before the deadline.

2. Leverage pre-tax dollars. In addition to setting aside pre-tax dollars for retirement through your 401(k), also look at how those dollars can be applied to the near future. Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) can help offset rising healthcare costs by putting aside pre-tax money for medical expenses that are not covered by insurance. You can also set aside pre-tax dollars to offset commuting costs through company transit programs.

3. Compare plans by working with your HR representative to compare your coverage to coverage offered through your spouse’s or significant other’s employer. It may make better financial sense to have the whole family covered under one plan. Remember to look for quality, not the cheapest option.

4. Don’t miss out on perks, such as discount programs for stores, technology, entertainment, personal travel, concierge service, dry-cleaning, etc. If your employer offers a wellness benefit, you can apply that to gym memberships, smoking-cessation, acupuncture and more.

Our big task during open enrollment is to figure out the amount of pre-tax dollars we put aside each year to cover out-of-pocket medical expenses. What about you?