What's your ideal target for an HSA?

[Anonymous]

no goal. we max ours out every year and have never dipped into it for expenses. Just letting it grow as long as we can. i guess i just consider it bonus money we have basically forgotten about. Will come in handy if we have medical catastrophe.

[Anonymous]

How high of a deductible do you need to qualify for a HSA?

[Anonymous]

Interesting point about spending it before you die. I am adding the max and taking nothing out, but it will be my first account to withdraw from in retirement. Saving receipts isn't hard. At the end of each year log in to your health insurance account and print out your claims. Label them by year and save them somewhere digitally. I plan to cash them in my first year of retirement for tax free funds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The HSA is extremely powerful. Do not ever cash it out for medical expenses in real time. Cash flow them if you can, and save receipts and let your HSA money pile grow. You can “pay” yourself back in 30 years. The people that “use” it are either poor (understandable) or have no clue

I do my more aggressive investing (QQQ, individual stocks) in my HSA

Yes, nobody will be able to verify 30 year old receipts.
I predict that the law will change and this reimbursement timeframe with no time limit will not survive.

[Anonymous]

IMO, I think it is better to spend down HSA balances once you reach retirement age. If you die with a large HSA balance and someone other than your spouse inherits it, the entire balance will be taxable as income in that year to your beneficiary. From an estate planning perspective it’s better for your kids to inherit a a given 401k balance than it is to inherit the same amount in an HSA. At least for the 401k they can spread the taxable amount over multiple years to minimize the income taxes paid on the inheritance.

[Anonymous]

We have young children and a decent amount of medical expenses now, we don't opt for the HDHP. Maybe in 10 years, but not now. I get the benefits, but we need more coverage now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have young children and a decent amount of medical expenses now, we don't opt for the HDHP. Maybe in 10 years, but not now. I get the benefits, but we need more coverage now.

Have you ever done the math? I’ve been consistently surprised how little of a difference there is between PPOs and HDHPs once you take into account the different premiums. Of course, this varies widely among different plans and different medical spend patterns, but it’s worth checking the numbers if you haven’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have young children and a decent amount of medical expenses now, we don't opt for the HDHP. Maybe in 10 years, but not now. I get the benefits, but we need more coverage now.

Have you ever done the math? I’ve been consistently surprised how little of a difference there is between PPOs and HDHPs once you take into account the different premiums. Of course, this varies widely among different plans and different medical spend patterns, but it’s worth checking the numbers if you haven’t.

+1. What we save in premiums more than covers the increased deductible. But it’s hard for people who don’t have excess cash flow.