HSA Review

I moved out to Las Vegas to marry P, but a big plus of moving out here was the opportunity I got to work for a very technically advanced company that works with very sophisticated software. I love software engineering and enjoy going to work every day. One of the perks of working for my company is that they give employees access to an HSA.

HSA stands for Health Savings Account. It’s an account employers usually sponsor for their employees that gives employees access to healthcare with a spending account to cover the cost of their health savings. My company gives me health insurance for approximately twenty dollars a month. The insurance is free preventative with a $3,000 deductible which is quite steap; however, the company also gives me $500 every year in my HSA and I can contribute up to $3,300 a year or an additional $2,800.

Each paycheck, I try to contribute to the HSA to help reach this max for the following reason: As I am young, my medical needs are quite limited. I rarely need to go to the doctor and when I do, I use this app called MDLIVE where within minutes I speak with a doctor with my issue and only pay $40. There is literally 0 wait time. Regardless, my expenses are limited.

What most people don’t know is that HSA lets you invest contributed amounts in investment vehicles that are…. drumroll… tax free on capital gains! This means that the money a user invests in an HSA, he/she must keep $1,000 available in the account at all times in cash, but all amounts >$1,000 can be used toward any investment vehicle and can be kept tax free post retirement.

If your company uses a HSA, you should definitely consider investing in it because it’s pre-tax money going in and all capital gains are tax free and can be taken out after 55.