If it's the last week of the month, odds are that Alison Southwick and Robert Brokamp are going to amble over to the Motley Fool Answers mailbag to find out what it is their listeners really want to know. And for added gravitas and expertise, they've brought in reinforcements: Naima Barnes, a financial planner with Motley Fool Wealth Management, a sister company of The Motley Fool.
In this segment of the podcast, a listener needs some advice on what to do with the balance in the health savings account he had at his previous job. The Fools break down his options and explain the advantages of using an HSA for long-term investing.
A full transcript follows the video.
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This video was recorded on May 29, 2018.
Alison Southwick: The next question comes from Brian. "I have a high deductible insurance plan with a health savings account. If I move to a new company that has another plan type, what should I do with the money remaining in the HSA?" This might apply to me, as well. I might have some money sitting somewhere now that I think about it. So, Brian and Alison want to know what you do with it.
Naima Barnes: HSAs are amazing. They're one of the best investment vehicles, especially because you can use them for health expenses. But when you leave a company and you still have money in your HSA, you can take that with you, and because HSAs are an investment vehicle, you can invest them once they reach the threshold.
But in order to continue to contribute to it, you do need to make sure that the current employer that you're at, or if you're applying for health insurance on your own, is a high deductible health plan or HDHP. If it's not one of those plans, then you're unable to continue to contribute to your HSA.
Robert Brokamp: And like any other investment account, you do want to pay attention to fees and investment choices. If your current provider of the HSA isn't very good, you can transfer it.
Barnes: A cool thing with them is that you can use them for long-term care. If you keep it in there and then you need it when you're retired, you can use that for long-term care expenses.
Brokamp: Right. One of the big benefits is as you get to a certain age in retirement -- once you reach that age and if you still have money in the account -- you can use it for anything you want. While you're working, you have to use it for medical expenses. Once you retire, you can use it for anything.
Southwick: That's fun.
Brokamp: Yeah.
Southwick: I've got to go figure out if I really do have an HSA hanging out somewhere.
