The Personal Finance Podcast - The Ultimate Guide to the HSA (The Super Retirement Account!)

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Starting point is 00:00:56 Find your advisor at IG Private Wealth.com. On this episode of the Personal Finance Podcast, the ultimate guide to the HSA and how to supercharge it. What's up, everybody, and welcome to the personal finance podcast. I'm your host, Andrew founder of mastermoney.com. And today on the Personal Finance podcast, we're going to talk through the ultimate guide to the HSA and how to supercharge it. If you guys have any questions, make sure you join the Master Money News. newsletter by going to mastermoney.com slash newsletter. And you can reply with your questions there.

Starting point is 00:01:52 And don't forget to follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or whatever your favorite podcast player is. And if you want to help out the show, consider leaving a five-star rating and review on Apple podcast or Spotify. It truly does help us spread this message. I cannot thank you guys enough for leaving those five-star ratings and reviews. Now, I am pumped for today's episode. because we are going to be giving you the ultimate guide to the HSA or the health savings account.

Starting point is 00:02:23 And I'm going to show you why I call this the super retirement account. Now, the HSA is the most underutilized retirement account that is out there. Yes, you are hearing me say a health savings account is a retirement account. And the reason for that is because there are so many very cool things that you can do with this account. Now, there are 178 million Americans that have health insurance and only 37 million of them have an HSA. And just 9% of those who actually have an HSA are using it to its full potential. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to break down how to use an HSA to its full potential, how to supercharge it, some of those common pitfalls that I think a lot of people fall into

Starting point is 00:03:08 and how to turn it into the most powerful investment vehicle out there. In fact, the HSA is probably my favorite account overall, but not everybody qualifies for an HSA. And so we're going to dive into how that works in this episode. Without further ado, let's get into it. Okay, so the first thing that I want you to understand is HSA stands for health savings account. And this is a tax advantage savings account that is available to individuals enrolled in a high deductible health plan. Now, this allows you to contribute pre-tax dollars to pay for qualified medical expenses,

Starting point is 00:03:44 including medical, dental, and vision care, as well as prescription drugs, and over-the-counter health products. But here's the thing, and here's how an HSA works. Money goes in and you get a tax deduction when you contribute to an HSA. The money grows tax-free. You can actually invest your dollars inside of an HSA, and the money will grow tax-free, and you can pull the money out tax-free as long as you have a qualified medical expense, which we will get into more as this episode goes on here. Now, this is very powerful because what that means is that an HSA has triple tax benefits. A Roth IRA does not have triple tax benefits. A 401K does not have triple tax benefits.

Starting point is 00:04:24 A traditional IRA does not have triple tax benefits. This is the highest level of tax benefits that you can get within a retirement account. Now, one big thing up top that I want most people to understand as well is an HSA and an FSA, a flexible spending account, or to totally, totally different accounts. Okay? The FSA, a flexible spinning account, is an account that when you put money into your FSA,

Starting point is 00:04:50 you got to either use it or you lose it, meaning that when money goes in to that flexible spending account, you've got to use those dollars every year. Whereas an HSA, it rolls over every single year, so you can keep those dollars invested, and it stays with you even if you change jobs. And so this is something that can grow over time. Now, who qualifies for an HSA?

Starting point is 00:05:10 This is going to be a huge thing. You must be enrolled in a high deductible health plan to qualify for an HSA. Now, what is a high deductible health plan? You can ask your current health insurance provider or your HR department, am I in a high deductible health plan? But typically what a high deductible health plan means is that you pay more out of pocket for health expenses before your insurance actually kicks in. So if you know, like when you go to open enrollment every single year,

Starting point is 00:05:35 if you go to select your health insurance, you see all these different plans. And some of them, you may be paying more out of pocket to, go for a doctor's visit or to go to the ER or if you ever had an emergency and you had to take a ride in an ambulance. All of those different plans, some are high deductible health plans and some have a standard deductible. And so the high deductible health plans mean you pay more out of pocket front. So a lot of people who are younger, for example, are going to get a high deductible health plan because they don't visit the doctor as much. And so they don't have as much health care expenses that they need to spend money on. And so they're willing to take the risk of, hey, I'm going to spend

Starting point is 00:06:10 the max $8,000 per year in health care expenses, but I really don't go to the doctor much. I do my yearly checkup and that's about it. And so I'm willing to take on that risk to spend less out of pocket every single month in order to hopefully not spend more out of pocket later on down the line. And so that is how a high deductible health plan actually works. And so you must be enrolled in a high deductible health plan to have an HSA. And so as your HSA grows and as you develop a larger HSA, then you can even as you age enroll in a high deductible health plan if that fits your criteria. Number two, to contribute to an HSA, you cannot be enrolled in Medicare. If you are in Medicare, you cannot contribute to an HSA because you're already getting a percentage

Starting point is 00:06:55 of your health care covered, and so you do not have access to an HSA. Number three is you cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else's tax return. So if you are dependent on someone else's tax return, if your parents still claim you as a dependent or if you are someone who, for whatever else's reason, is claimed that as a dependent, you cannot contribute to an HSA. Number four is you must not have other health coverage unless it's permitted coverage, like dental or vision insurance. So those are the big four criteria to qualify for an HSA. The biggest one, though, is the high deductible health plan and Medicare.

Starting point is 00:07:31 Those are the two that a lot of people will fall into those categories where maybe you have a standard deduction health plan and or you are. or someone who participates in Medicare. And if that's the case, then you cannot do that. Now, what is the minimum deductible to qualify in 2025? So for an individual, the minimum deductible is $1,650. And for a family, it is $3,300. Now, the maximum out of pocket for eligibility is $8,300.

Starting point is 00:07:58 And for a family, it's $16,600. So you can check with your employer or you can go to health care.gov to ensure your plan is HSA eligible. So those are the two places that you can go, Healthcare.gov, or your HR department if your HSA is through your company. So let's get into now how much you can contribute to an HSA in 2025, and then we're going to start to get into some of these amazing advantages and how you can really build massive amounts of wealth with your HSA.

Starting point is 00:08:26 All right, so in 2025, HSAs have contribution limits, just like Roth IRAs, just like 401Ks. Anytime there is some tax advantages in an account, the IRS is going to dictate how much you can put in there. They don't want you to be able to just put hundreds of thousands, if not millions and millions of dollars. Otherwise, every really wealthy billionaire would be sticking their money into these accounts. And so the first is for individual coverage.

Starting point is 00:08:51 So if you have an individual coverage plan, maybe you're single, you just cover yourself, then the contribution limit for 2025 at the time recording this is $4,300. Now, for family coverage, it is $8,550. And if you are over the age of 55, you can actually have a $1,000 catch-up contribution. So every person out there who is over the age of 55 listen to this podcast, you need to make sure that you are taking advantage of that $1,000 catch-up contributions. Now, employer contributions count towards the total limit. So make sure that you note that because if your employer is matching you in some way,

Starting point is 00:09:28 shape, or form, or if they're helping you contribute to your HSA every year, those contributions do count towards your limit every single. year. Now, anyone, including your family members, can contribute to your HSA, providing that you're eligible. Now, contributions must be in cash, and they're allowed up to the tax filing deadline. So, April 15th of 2006 for the 2025 tax year, but it's all the way up till tax day is when you can contribute to these accounts. Now, why is the HSA so amazing? It's that triple tax advantage that we keep talking about. So contributions are tax deductible. And so it's easy. It's easy. pre-tax or it's through your payroll. So if your payroll contributes, then it's pre-tax,

Starting point is 00:10:11 or it's tax-deductible if it's after you've already been tax on your paycheck. Now, growth is also tax-free if it is invested, which is absolutely amazing. So it's got the power, pre-tax power of a 401K. It's got the tax-free growth power like a Roth IRA, and withdrawals for qualified medical expenses are tax-free. Now, there is an exception here. It's California and New Jersey. Do not recognize. HSA tax benefits at the state level. So that's just one big note. If you're in California or New Jersey, which already has really high taxes, those two states do not recognize the tax benefits only at the state level. Now, there are no required minimum distributions within HSA. So this is the

Starting point is 00:10:52 beautiful thing about an HSA that I want you to understand. Let's say, for example, and we'll probably talk about more about this again later on in this episode, but let's say, for example, you build up this massive HSA and you're like, well, how do I have enough qualified medical expenses in this HSA to be able to actually use this and withdraw this money. Well, what happens is this HSA basically turns into something like a traditional IRA or your 401k, where you're going to get tax when you pull the money out. Okay? So you get to the age where you're going to start withdrawing on your HSA. You're going to get taxed when you pull that money out. But there are no required minimum distributions in an HSA like there are with a 401k and an IRA. So instead, you don't have that

Starting point is 00:11:33 RMD issue. So essentially, at the age of 65, if you want to start using this money for retirement income, you can do so. You just pay your taxes on that money, but there are no RMD, so it's not required to draw down a certain percentage every year. This provides you with way more flexibility than you would have with a 401k or a traditional IRA. So let's go through six ways to maximize your HSA in 2025, because this is something I want you to note for the future that you can maximize. them right now. So number one is to contribute to the maximum. So what level should you contribute to your HSA? So if you've ever heard us talk through the order that we like to invest our dollars, to start, we want you to get your 401k match. We always want you to do that because it's 100% free money.

Starting point is 00:12:19 Those are dollars that will grow over time. And if somebody said, hey, if you give me $100, I'll give you $200 back. What would you say? I would say, heck yeah, I would do that. Every single day, all day, every day, I would get 100% rate of return. Well, that's what you're doing with your 401k match. But second, what do you do once you get that match? Then I'd be looking at the HSA and the Roth IRA. Those are at the same level to me and I would look at one or the other. If you have a high deductible health plan, an HSA is fantastic for you to look at starting to contribute dollars towards that. Or if you're interested in growing your wealth tax free and not worrying about the qualified medical expenses and all those different things, then a Roth IRA is also great.

Starting point is 00:12:58 But it would be at that first initial level is when I'd be looking at. Then I'd go back to your 401k and look at that level. So ways to maximize it is first to contribute the maximum. Again, the maximum for 2025, which is the time I'm recording this for individuals is $4,300 and $8,554,000 for families. And if you're over the age of 50, there's a $1,000 catch-up contribution. Why? If you max this out, you can start to take advantage of compound interest early inside of these accounts. You don't get the years back that you missed. So you want to start to get your dollars in these accounts. to start to grow over time. Okay?

Starting point is 00:13:35 Secondly, if your employer has an HSA match, which some employers do, there's HSA matches out there that they allow you to contribute a maybe $1,000 per year, and they'll put $1,000 in there. Absolutely 100% do that every single time all day, every day. Always make sure that you can get your employer's match contribution. This is going to help you supercharge your HSA, get more dollars in the HSA that you would not have to earn. So I want you to make sure that you were doing that over time.

Starting point is 00:14:04 Now, one big thing I also want you to do is contribute at least the amount of your high deductible health plans deductible. This is a really good rule because if you do that, then you are always prepared for out-of-pocket costs if they catch you off guard. So one thing is I don't utilize my HSA for health care expenses right now. I will be utilizing it for health care expenses in the future and I'm saving my receipts, which we will talk about in a second. But if you get yourself in a bind, this is also a way that you can utilize it as a medical

Starting point is 00:14:36 emergency fund. So if you're putting in your deductible every single year and at least at a minimum, you have your deductible inside of that HSA, you'll be able to cover medical expenses and still get the tax benefits that is so coveted inside of the HSA. Next is I would aim for the out-of-pocket max, meaning that I would contribute enough over time to eventually cover your full out-of-pocket limit. Now, this prepares you for any of those medical emergencies as time goes on. So I would actually build this up as a medical emergency fund first, and then from there you can utilize it for some additional things that we're about to talk about here.

Starting point is 00:15:12 And then five is investing for the long term. So this is an amazing way to maximize your HSA, is to invest those dollars in the HSA. So you have your out-of-pox max, and maybe you keep that as your emergency fund and everything else outside of that, then you go and you invest those dollars and allow them to grow over time. And then you can reimburse yourself later. So you can save your receipts for medical expenses that you pay today and you can reimburse yourself later.

Starting point is 00:15:38 Now, here's the beautiful thing about the reimbursement process that I want to talk through here up front is that the IRS has no limit or limit on dates on how old the medical expense has to be. So you could break your arm when you're 23 years old, save all of those receipts for those medical expenses. and you can reimburse yourself when you're 75 years old. This is the power of the HSA because those are tax-free dollars that you can reimburse yourself with. Or let's say, for example, that you had some sort of knee surgery. You know, maybe you were doing something working out. You were doing the squat rack.

Starting point is 00:16:11 You did a squat. All of a sudden, your knee blew. Well, if that happened and you had some major medical surgery that cost you thousands of dollars, then all of a sudden you can reimburse yourself later on down the line and get those tax benefits. So it's really, really powerful what you can do. Now, the IRS has a laundry list of what is considered a qualified medical expense, and we'll talk about some ways to look that up here coming up.

Starting point is 00:16:33 So those are six different ways to maximize your HSA in 2025. I'm going to show you my system on how I use the HSA and how we can start supercharging this thing. Now, there are three ways that you can use your HSA. And the way you use your HSA is going to dictate how big you can actually make this account. Now, the first one is short-term spending. I think this is what a lot of people think the HSA is for, is you pay for your medical expenses now using your HSA card and you get some of those tax benefits. This is what most people do when they're not educated on the power of the HSA is they just use it as their checking account for their medical expenses and they just spend dollars on that. They're not taking the benefits of the tax-free growth and they're not really seeing the big picture.

Starting point is 00:17:14 And it's just really because most people don't talk about the HSA and they just don't have that financial education. Secondly, is some people will save it in cash and they let their balance grow slowly, not realizing that they could invest those dollars over time. So maybe they're just putting some cash in every single year in their HSA, but they don't realize that they can actually invest those dollars. But for most of you, here's what I want you to take away. And I'm going to show you my system in a second. But I want you to supercharge your HSA.

Starting point is 00:17:42 Well, how do you do that? You invest your HSA and pay for out-of-pocket medical costs now, and then you let your HSA balance grow for your future. So let me show you exactly how this works. I want you to think about this, and I want you to reframe the HSA in your mind as a health investment account, okay? HIA, let's call it the HIA.

Starting point is 00:18:01 I want you to treat your HSA just like you would, your Roth IRA. Now, here's how this works. You're going to pay for medical expenses for out of pocket. So let's say you have a prescription or you have something come up where you have a doctor's visit, or maybe you have a 911 call

Starting point is 00:18:14 because you had some sort of medical scare. And so if any of those things have, you're going to go and pay for those medical expenses out of pocket. You're like, well, why am I saving this money then? What is the purpose of even saving this money? You're going to see, but all your medical expenses will be paid out of pocket. Then, secondly, I want you to save your receipt. So I want you to get a Google Drive folder or a Dropbox folder or Notion

Starting point is 00:18:34 or whatever else that you utilize to organize your life. And I want you to save all of your medical receipts. I don't care how small or how big it is. I want you to save those receipts. And I'll talk even more about my receipt saving system. coming up here in a second. Then I want you to find a place that you can actually invest your HSA. There's a lot of different places to go. I like Fidelity. Fidelity is my favorite place to hold an HSA. They have the best investment options and they have the lowest fees, which are the two things

Starting point is 00:19:01 that I look at, but you want to be able to find somewhere. You can invest your HSA at low cost. There are a lot of HSAs out there who have terrible investment products, meaning you can't invest in things like index funds or ETFs, and you can't invest in things that actually truly matter. And so what I want you to understand is that you want to make sure that you are looking at those fees and finding a place to open your HSA that makes sense. Then decades down the line, your money is growing. You have those dollars invested and it is growing over time. Then you can reimburse yourself later. You have those receipts saved.

Starting point is 00:19:34 And so you have proof if the IRS comes a knock and saying, hey, what are you reimbursing yourself for? You have those receipts saved. So let's say, for example, you have a $2,000 medical expense that popped up. Well, if you have a $2,000 out-of-pocket medical expense, you can let that grow. And if you did not use it from your HSA and you let it grow at 7% over the course of 30 years, the result is 30 years later, that $2,000 expense has grown at a 7% rate of return. And it is now worth $15,000. And so these HSAs can actually grow very, very large depending on how much you are putting

Starting point is 00:20:08 in your HSA. So next, what I'm going to do is I'm going to get into how to track your receipts for future reimbursement. I'm going to give you my whole system now. All right. So, lately, I've been noticing how fast things are changing at home. The kids are growing like crazy. Clothes don't fit anymore and routines are changing. And it just hits you.

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Starting point is 00:22:18 Indeed.com slash personal finance. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring, Indeed is all you need. Let's talk groceries, specifically your groceries. With Instacart, you want your groceries just the way you like them, right? Well, the Instacard app lets you do just that. They have a new preference picker that lets you pick how ripe or unripe you want your bananas. Shoppers can see your preferences up front, helping guide their choices. Instaccarc card. Get groceries just how you like. Amazon presents Jeff versus Taco Truck salsa, whether it's Verde, Roja, or the orange one. For Jeff, trying any salsa is like playing Russian roulette with a flamethrower.

Starting point is 00:23:03 Luckily, Jeff saved with Amazon and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea, and milk. Habaniero? More like habanier, yes. Save the everything. Day with Amazon. My receipts, I do two different things. One is I set it up in Google Drive. You can use whatever else you want. Whatever your life is in, it doesn't matter what the system is. But I just utilize Google Drive.

Starting point is 00:23:26 And I have two folders in Google Drive, and I do this by year just to kind of have it available. By year, I guess, is not really necessary. But one folder is called To Be Paid Out. And the second folder is called Paid Out. Okay. So to be paid out is all the receipts for the year, all the medical, receipts that I have not paid myself in yet. Then once I pay myself and reimburse myself based on that medical receipt, then I move it over to paid out. Now, what I do is every single medical

Starting point is 00:23:53 receipt that I get, I scan a photo and I organize it accordingly. So a lot of times, like your doctor's office, for example, we'll just email you a receipt. That's what I try to get them to do. Then I just download it and throw it in the Google Drive really quick. And it just really takes someone, just taking the extra step, that extra second to put it inside of that folder. Then for visibility, and I want to know how much I have available to be able to reimburse myself. I will track this in a spreadsheet. So on this spreadsheet, it will literally do three things, okay? I will put the date.

Starting point is 00:24:23 I will put some sort of title on that spreadsheet. And then I will put a link to the actual receipt. That's all it is. And then I will put the total amount that I paid to that medical provider. And the reason why I do this personally is I want to know how much I have available to reimburse myself. because over the years, it starts to get confusing on how much you have spent in medical expenses. And so as this spreadsheet starts to build up, maybe you just started this process.

Starting point is 00:24:52 So the first year, you spend $1,500 in medical receipts. And you're going to see there's a lot more things that actually qualify for an HSA than just, you know, your standard doctor's visits. You'll see that there are a lot of things that you buy normally that you may not realize are actually qualifying for an HSA. And so in that spreadsheet, that's all I put in there is kind of having that all available in one spot. And typically if I, for example, have a medical purchase, I'll just utilize that in my five-minute drill. So part of my five-minute drill, which is our daily five minutes that we just work on our finances, during that five-minute drill, I will move that receipt over in the Google Drive folder. So it's a very simple system.

Starting point is 00:25:25 It's just a Google Drive folder and a spreadsheet. It's titled HSA. It's got to be paid out and paid out. That's all it has to say. You got your spreadsheet there. Literally, it'll take you less than a minute or two a month. And then you have this organized system that allows you to see how much, much progress you have made within your HSA and how much you can reimburse yourself for.

Starting point is 00:25:46 So that's really, really great. That is my favorite system in the way that I set this up. Now let's talk about choosing your HSA provider because it's really important to make sure that you choose the right provider that is going to allow you to get the right outcome with your HSA. So Fidelity has an HSA platform. This is not sponsored. This is just a person who loves Fidelity's HSA platform that offers additional benefits that kind of set it apart. Number one is it's got great investments in the HSA. So it has index funds, ETFs, those types of things that you can actually invest in in. And they're very low cost, which is very important with an HSA.

Starting point is 00:26:19 You want to make sure that you are not spending too much in fees for your investments inside of your HSA. But if you stick with Fidelity, Fidelity actually also has a tracking system that allows you to track your expenses. You can upload your receipts. You can pay bills. And you can confirm if purchases are HSA qualified by scanning those barcodes in. So it's actually a very, very cool system.

Starting point is 00:26:39 they have a Fidelity Health app that will do this for you so you can make it really, really quick and easy. Now, most employer chosen HSA providers charge unnecessary fees, and a lot of times your employer-HSA provider may be doing this, or they're going to force you to hold specific cash balances. That's not what we want with our HSA providers. We want to make sure that they allow us to do what we want with our money and invest as many of those dollars as we possibly can. And so the Fidelity HSA, not Fidelity Go, but the Fidelity HSA is the one that I I absolutely love because it has the no minimum cash balance required. It has low fees and solid investment options.

Starting point is 00:27:16 And if you go online and look at some of the best HSA accounts, Fidelity is always at the top the list. And it's because of those reasons. So that's the only one I recommend, to be honest. The other ones that are out there just have too many fees. Now, if you're self-employed, you can go into Fidelity and choose an HSA plan manually and you can contribute post-tax and then deduct it on your return. So if you're contributing to your HSA post-tax, you're just going to get a form that you fill

Starting point is 00:27:39 out for your HSA from the IRS come tax time and it'll come up. So like turbo tax, all those different places will ask you if you have an HSA and they'll give you that form so that you can fill it out. A lot of times Fidelity will give you those tax forms to help you through this. Now, what are some rules and warnings that I want you to kind of think through with an HSA? First is to contribute in any month. You must be covered by the high deductible health plan. So number one, I'm going to keep saying that because you got to remember that. Two, you can transfer or roll over an HSA from a high feed provider to Fidelity after leaving your employer. So if you are at an employer that has a really high fee HSA, I would just roll that thing over

Starting point is 00:28:15 if you can later on down the line. And then always make sure you retain your HSA tax firms, forms, which usually they will come up, form 5498 essay is for contributions, and form 1099 essay is for distributions. And the IRS form that I was just talking about is 8889 with your taxes if you contribute or withdraw. all. Only the qualified medical expenses are tax-free. The cool thing is your account is portable if you change jobs. So if you switch jobs, you can move that account around. It is very portable. Now, surviving spouses can inherit an HSA completely tax-free, which is another huge benefit

Starting point is 00:28:50 when it comes to estate planning is your spouse can inherit your HSA tax-free. And non-spouse beneficiaries are taxed on the HSA's value upon death. So if you have an HSA and you want to hand it down to your kids, they will be taxed on. those dollars upon your death. That's one other thing you want to look at. Now, let's talk about qualified medical expenses because there is a laundry list of qualified medical expenses when it comes to the HSA. Now, the IRS has a huge list of qualified medical expense, but there are so many different things that would qualify for this that it is absolutely amazing. So it's things from even acupuncture. Ambulance rides, obviously, you know, artificial teeth, birth control treatment, blood sugar tests,

Starting point is 00:29:35 breast pumps, chiropractor visits, x-rays, dental treatments, laser eye surgery, laboratory fees, guide dogs, physical therapy, psychiatric care, psychologists, vaccines, vasectomies, visions, vision care. There are so many different things that would qualify that you'd probably think would qualify. But also common over-the-counter medicines will qualify, things like cold and flu medicine, eye drops, lice treatments, baby rash ointments, sleep aids, stomach remedies, pain relievers like ibuprofen also qualify. There are also services that may be eligible with a letter of medical necessity. So weight loss programs, massage treatments, CPR classes for children. There's also eligible dependent care expenses, things like au pair

Starting point is 00:30:16 services, babysitting services before and after school programs. There's nursery school, pre-kindergarten, summer day camp, and tons of other things that could be qualified in the HSA, the HSA, the HRA, or the FSA. So a lot of those are, they could be qualified. So here's a couple of things that you can think through here. One great thing is Amazon actually has an HSA page. So if you go to Amazon.com slash health spinning account items, they have an entire HSA section. And the cool thing is now when you're looking to buy something on Amazon, they actually have something that says HSA eligible. So I pulled up the site that shows you right there. Like the first thing is Crest White Strips is actually HSA eligible.

Starting point is 00:30:54 And so there's all these different things that you can look at here that allow you to contribute to an HSA, a no touch thermometer for kids, a first aid kit, neosporin. There are so many different things, ibuprofen on here, that you're actually allowed to utilize for an HSA. Hydration packs, so like LMMT and all those different little hydration sticks are HSA eligible, a massage gun. Claritin. If you have allergies, you know you're probably spending Buku dollars on Claritin. A electric toothbrush is HSA eligible. Essential oil diffuser is HSA eligible. A heating pad is HSA eligible.

Starting point is 00:31:31 A scale, a body scale, is HSA eligible. And so the list goes on and on and on. So you're going to realize pretty quickly that there is a lot of common items that you are using day in and day out that are actually HSA eligible. And so your qualified medical expense list is going to grow more and more and more. So I highly recommend you going to Amazon's HSA site just to kind of get an idea of some of these products that should be HSA eligible. And I actually utilize this a ton when I am trying to figure out, hey, what actually is qualified? I will actually Google it on Amazon. And if you look, there's a little badge when you're shopping on Amazon that will say this is actually HSA eligible. And so it is something I would definitely, definitely highly recommend most of you go and look at because I use it all the time. And so you can always keep those receipts and documentation is going to be super, super easy. So you can either use my Google Drive system or if you're with somebody like Fidelity, you can keep it in there as long as you're staying with him. The big thing, though, is if you are using your provider, you need to make sure that you're staying with them long term because some of these providers will not keep your information if you leave. And so that's why I use the Google Drive system because most of these providers would not give you access if you left them.

Starting point is 00:32:40 So that's really, really important to understand as well. Now, how powerful can this be? Like if you're going through this process and you're like, all right, you convince me to utilize an HSA, but how much can I actually have in an HSA? Let's say you maxed out the individual contribution at $358 per month. And over the course of 30 years, you got a 7% rate of return. You can have $405,000 over the course of 30 years in your HSA with triple tax. benefits. And if you're healthy, and if you're investing through an HSA, this is arguably better than a

Starting point is 00:33:09 401k and a Roth IRA. We can have arguments about this all day long. A lot of people that I have talked to actually like the HSA more than the other two. Now, the pros, the big pros are obviously the triple tax advantages. We've been talking about that the entire episode. Contributions are vested and they roll over a year over a year. Three is the investment potential within the HSA that you get that tax-free growth. The portability, if you change jobs, is really, really, really, powerful. You can use in retirement without penalty and it basically transforms into a traditional IRA and it complements other retirement accounts. There are so many amazing benefits to the HSA that help you complement your other retirement accounts. I like having the HSA, the Roth, and the 401K. That's

Starting point is 00:33:50 the triple combination that I love having. Now, there are cons to the HSA like it requires a high deductible health plan. You must have extra cash to fund your HSA obviously outside of your retirement accounts. The record keeping is a little bit annoying. It's obviously an extra step and some people who are not type A may not be willing to do that. And so you got to make sure that you take that extra step. There are strict tax penalties for non-qualified withdrawals. And there's lower contribution limits compared to a 401k or IRA. So those are just some of the cons. But I really like to utilize an HSA and I integrate it into my retirement plan because it gives you additional flexibility. So let's think about this for a second. Let's say that you decide that

Starting point is 00:34:30 you're going to retire early. Well, if you retire early and you have a tax, brokerage account, and that's helping you through some of this process, but you don't want to start drawing down obviously on your 401k or on your Roth IRA because you're trying to allow those to grow until you hit the age 59 and a half when you can then withdraw some of this contribution. So what do you do? Well, if you have an HSA, you can start to withdraw on that first with your qualified medical expenses because this is going to allow you to get some flexibility in early retirement. So it's another great tool for early retirement if you were thinking about that. And listen, health care costs are rising at 7% every single year.

Starting point is 00:35:06 The inflation rate for health care costs is absolutely astronomical. It is one of the biggest problems that we have in this country and worldwide, and nobody is really able to solve that problem. So you have to take your health into your own hands by making sure that you have a plan in place to pay for those health care expenses. The last thing you want to be doing is being on Medicare or Medicaid and not being able to do the things that you want during retirement age. the HSA gives you that flexibility and allows you to have more cash on hand so that if you wanted to go to long-term care somewhere, or if you wanted to take advantage of some of the health care advancements that are going to be happening over the course in the next couple of decades, especially with AI, you're going to have the cash there and you'll probably be able to.

Starting point is 00:35:47 If you have cash on hand, you'll be able to live longer because you can take advantage of some of these cool health care advancements that are going to be happening in the future. So there are so many incredible benefits to the HSA. I'm incorporating it into my retirement plan. And it is something that I am really, really bullish on for the future. It is a really powerful tool that I think if you have not looked into or learned about yet, I think you should definitely look deeper into it. It is the super retirement account because those triple tax advantages.

Starting point is 00:36:16 And so I hope you learned a ton today in this episode because that was our entire goal. And listen, thank you so much for listening to this episode. If you are getting value out of this episode, please share it with a family member or a friend. and don't forget to follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or whatever your favorite podcast player is. Also, if you want daily market news and want to learn more about the market, make sure you're listening to our other show called The Business Show where we give you daily updates on the market and try to help you with an unbiased opinion. So listen. Thank you again so much for listening to this podcast and we will see you on the next episode.

The Personal Finance Podcast - The Ultimate Guide to the HSA (The Super Retirement Account!)

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