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Max Out Your HSA Contributions

Financial planners know something you'll not—when you reach your HSA, some powerful tax advantages follow. Did you recognize that your health bank account is often a big part of your retirement nest egg?


HSA Contributions


What Is an HSA?

A health savings account—or HSA—is an account specifically for paying healthcare costs. due to the tax advantages that accompany your HSA, contributing to and using the account to buy qualified medical expenses gives you a big discount on your healthcare costs.



Do I Qualify?

Not everybody qualifies for an HSA. the most qualification is that you simply must be covered by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). because the name implies, HDHPs require you to pay a big portion of your healthcare costs upfront before insurance kicks in. To qualify for an HSA the plan must require you to pay a minimum of the primary $1,350 ($2,700 for family plans) and a maximum of $6,650. ($13,300 for families).

Warning: To qualify for an HSA, you've got to pay the above amounts before insurance pays anything. meaning you’re liable for the insurance-adjusted costs of doctor visits. If they charge the insurance firm $150 for a visit, you've got to pay it until you pay your deductible. But remember, you'll use your HSA balance to pay those costs.


If you'll afford to shoulder those portions of your medical aid upfront, HDHPs often cost but other insurance plans and doubtless qualify for an HSA.


Are You in Good Health?

The main purpose of your HSA is for paying for medical aid but if you employ your entire balance annually, you can’t cash in of the advantages that come from holding a balance long-term. For that reason, don’t consider your health bank account as an investment vehicle if you deplete the balance annually.



Why reach Your HSA?

The tax benefits are so good that some financial planners tell reach your HSA before contributing to an IRA. Here’s why:

You get a tax write-off once you contribute funds. As of 2018, you'll write off up to $3,450 of your contributions if you’re single or $6,900 for family plans.

You don’t pay any taxes upon withdrawal as long as you employ the cash to pay qualified medical expenses or qualified insurance premiums if you’re over the age of 65.

With an IRA, you get one or the other; you get the tax advantages once you contribute or once you withdraw but not both. With an HSA, you get the tax benefits on each side.


Contribution Limits

As of 2018, you'll contribute a maximum of $3,450 or $6,900 for families. (The same limits that qualify for a tax write-off .) Like other retirement accounts, these limits adjust supported inflation rates. Once you reach the utmost, redirect contributions to an IRA, 401(k), or another pension plan. Also, a bit like other retirement accounts, you’re allowed an additional $1,000 in catch-up contributions once you reach age 55.


Penalty Fees

Just like all tax-advantaged retirement accounts, if you employ the cash for something outside of its purpose, the IRS will hit you with some pretty hefty penalties. Your HSA funds must be used for qualified medical expenses. If you employ the cash for love or money else, you pay ordinary income taxes on the withdrawal plus a 20 percent penalty. 

Some quick calculations show that you simply could pay nearly 50 percent or more in taxes and penalties if you don’t use the cash for its intended purpose.


Once you reach age 65, things change slightly. you'll use the funds for things aside from medical expenses but you'll only pay ordinary tax.
If you’re in healthiness or pays those medical costs out of pocket until you reach your deductible, you'll consider it as adding an additional $3,450 or $6,900 to your Roth IRA yearly maximum. That’s an excellent deal!



How It’s Invested

Before using your HSA as an investment vehicle, do some investigating. If your employer offers you the HDHP with a health bank account, first ask about the corporate who will hold the HSA funds. If it’s nothing quite a real bank account, you won’t get much enjoy maxing it out since the cash isn’t being invested. 

Many companies allow you to take a position the funds into something more aggressive than a standard bank account. If your HSA comes with investment options, that’s where the HSA becomes a vehicle for wealth building.


Don’t ditch It

Although you’re eligible for an HSA if you’re self-employed, most of the people get the account through their employer. a bit like a 401(k), once you leave your current company, that account is yours to require with you. As long as you remain enrolled in an HDHP you'll contribute to your HSA. Don’t ditch your account and collect all the knowledge about it from your human resources department if you’ve had little contact with it within the past.



Some basic math 

To show you the facility of an HSA, consider this: For the sake of straightforward math, let’s say that the utmost contribution never went up and you contributed the utmost annually for 20 years and earned a 4 percent rate of return.

We’ll use a really conservative return rate because you'll have some years where you've got to withdraw some funds for medical expenses. Using these numbers, you'd have a balance of quite $113,000 that's completely tax-free if used on qualified medical expenses.


As you age your medical expenses will become a bigger a part of your monthly budget. Having this much money put aside for expenses that would also include long-term care later in life frees up your other retirement funds for things more discretionary.

Don’t view your health bank account as something to zero out before the top of every year. this is often a valuable tool in your retirement savings arsenal.

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