HSA - The best retirement account?

[flintnational]

Here is a short article from Vanguard regarding HSA's, their flexibility and use for general savings.

"The best retirement account you’re not using

While the explicit purpose of an HSA is to save for health care expenses—it’s in the name, after all—it’s actually an extremely flexible account. And its combination of tax benefits can even make HSAs a more attractive vehicle for retirement (or any other kind of) savings than something like an IRA or 529."

 

[pjigar]

Lot of us here already knows this. I am afraid that government will call such usage a "loop hole" some day and kill the usefulness of such account in future.

 

[flintnational]

Lot of us here already knows this. I am afraid that government will call such usage a "loop hole" some day and kill the usefulness of such account in future.

Shhhhhh........lets not tell the government. If you are not a congress critter, please read on.

 

[fabdog]

HSA's are a great deal. One downside that is not often talked about... you can inherit your spouse's HSA, and they can continue to use it for medical.

If both die at once, or the survivor passes with a large balance they hadn't yet used for medical expenses, the HSA ceases to be an HSA, and the full balance is distributed to the beneficiary as taxable income.

So depending on the balance in the accounts, some people set up charities as the beneficiary/secondary beneficiaries to avoid having this impact the heirs

Mike

 

[zinger1457]

Lot of us here already knows this. I am afraid that government will call such usage a "loop hole" some day and kill the usefulness of such account in future.

I don't see that happening, those wanting to change/replace ACA have promoted expanding its use.

 

[mpeirce]

I saw that article the other day and my first thought was "I wonder if Vanguard is going to offer HSA accounts soon?" They don't as yet, but probably a lot of HSA providers offer Vanguard funds.

I know my HSA is invested in a Vanguard Total Stock fund.

 

[dvalley]

Anyone have PayFlex for their HSA? All my investment choices come with high expense ratios. So my money's been kinda just sitting there but there's enough now that I'd like to put to use. I wonder if I'm allowed to move money from my company's PayFlex to say a Vanguard HSA?

 

[flintnational]

I saw that article the other day and my first thought was "I wonder if Vanguard is going to offer HSA accounts soon?" They don't as yet, but probably a lot of HSA providers offer Vanguard funds.

I know my HSA is invested in a Vanguard Total Stock fund.

That was my hope also. But I did not see anything that indicated Vanguard offered or was planning to offer an HSA.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Can anyone open a HSA? For example. If I am on Medicare, can I open an HSA to pay for copays and Out of pocket expenses, or Supplemental plan premiums?

OR, my DW has an ACA Plan, can a HSA be used to offset Out of pocket expenses and copays? Currently we add those to our health tax deductions.

 

[mpeirce]

Can anyone open a HSA?

Nope, sorry. You need to be on a high deductible health plan that offers the HSA.

 

[foxcreek9]

Can anyone open a HSA? For example. If I am on Medicare, can I open an HSA to pay for copays and Out of pocket expenses, or Supplemental plan premiums?

OR, my DW has an ACA Plan, can a HSA be used to offset Out of pocket expenses and copays? Currently we add those to our health tax deductions.

You can no longer contribute to an HSA once you enroll in Medicare.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Thanks

 

[Olbidness]

Anyone have PayFlex for their HSA? All my investment choices come with high expense ratios. So my money's been kinda just sitting there but there's enough now that I'd like to put to use. I wonder if I'm allowed to move money from my company's PayFlex to say a Vanguard HSA?

My retirement healthcare is subsidized using a HSA administered by Payflex. It's a convoluted process, my former employer drafts my insurance premium from my checking account, I capture 3 documents from the employee website and use them to file a claim with Payflex. If approved my former employer replaces the money in my checking account. Annoying but it gives me something to do 1X per month. Deductibles, co-pays and prescriptions are much easier, I get an e-mail that I have a claim to approve, I go the the Payflex site, approve the claim and the money is automatically deposited in my checking account. The HSA money in the account draws no interest, and the company website states that the dollar amount is just a bookkeeping entry.
I'm not complaining because at least I have insurance and at the current premium rate it will be enough to last until Medicare.

 

[rocketjockey]

Anyone have PayFlex for their HSA? All my investment choices come with high expense ratios. So my money's been kinda just sitting there but there's enough now that I'd like to put to use. I wonder if I'm allowed to move money from my company's PayFlex to say a Vanguard HSA?

I do, all my $ in Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares. I have a Payflex investment account linked to the Payflex account and sweep everything above the $1K minimum into VFIAX.