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HSA investment options

Investing part of your HSA balance makes your money work even harder — growing tax-free for future health expenses.

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Accelerate your financial wellness — start investing now

Put your HSA to work for you. Whether it's for health care costs or retirement savings, invest part of your funds and feel good about helping your tax-free savings grow.​

Why invest?

  • Investment growth potential can boost your HSA balance.​
  • Investment earnings are federal income tax-free, and state tax-free, too, in most states.​
  • HSA investments are easy to set up, and if ever you need your invested funds back for care, you can easily transfer your funds back into your HSA. 

Choose the investing option that is right for you

Looking to invest yourself? Try self-directed mutual funds.

You can choose from a wide variety of mutual funds screened for high Morningstar ratings and some of the lowest expense ratios in the industry.

There are over 25 mutual funds from leading investment firms, with diverse choices by investment objective, market sector and asset class.

Need help or pressed for time? Try digitally managed investments with Betterment.

Betterment is one of the largest independent online financial advisors and offers a more managed, automated way to invest your HSA money. Betterment combines low-cost, tax-efficient investment strategies with technology and personalized advice to help you pursue your financial goals.

Investment benefits

 

Investing your HSA dollars has many potential tax benefits and can be an additional way to save for long-term health care needs and financial goals.

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Double the HSA balance

An HSA account holder who contributes $6,000 each year and saves it all can have $120,000 in 20 years. By investing that same amount, earning 7% with investments, and saving it all, the account could potentially more than double to $263,190* in the same amount of time.

National trends

Over two million Americans are investing their HSA funds, and it is paying off. On average, HSA account holders with investments have a $19,224 total balance. That's 7.3 times larger than an average account holder without investments.*

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Investment options

You've got choices for your HSA investment options, allowing you to select the solution that's best for you.

Watch this video to learn more about your investment options and how to start investing today.

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Investing resource

Investing opportunities

Investing your HSA dollars can play an important role in your overall wealth and retirement strategy.

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HSAs and retirement

An HSA is a great tool to help you prepare for future health care costs, retirement, and help you to save on taxes.

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General investing FAQs

Money you contribute to your health savings account (HSA) is placed in a deposit account, also called a cash account. When you reach a certain balance in your cash account, you may put your money over that minimum balance into an investment account.

This gives you the opportunity to potentially grow your HSA savings longer term — whether you are planning for a medical procedure in several years or saving for health costs in retirement. Investment returns are not guaranteed and involve more risk than cash deposits.

You currently have diverse investment options in your HSA, including self-directed mutual funds and digitally managed investments from Betterment. You can choose to invest based on how experienced you are and how involved you want to be in selecting your investments.

I want help investing and don’t want to spend a lot of time managing my portfolio. Can I get help investing?

You may choose to have Betterment manage your investment funds. Betterment is an independent online investment advisor and combines low-cost, tax-efficient investment strategies with technology and personalized advice to help you pursue your financial goals.

Once you answer a few brief questions about your investment goals and priorities, Betterment will build a personalized portfolio of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with investment mixes and risk levels that are suitable for you.

I have some investment experience and prefer mutual funds. Can I choose my own investments?

You may choose from among a number of pre-selected mutual funds from nationally recognized fund families. These have been selected to offer a broad and diverse range of investment objectives, with high Morningstar ratings and some of the lowest expense ratios in the industry.

HSA investments through Optum Financial are simple to start and just as easy to manage. Once your HSA meets the required balance,** you can set up investments in a matter of minutes through your online account or using the mobile app.

If you don’t have enough money set aside in your cash account to pay for a qualified medical expense, you may sell some or all of your investments at any time. You should generally allow several business days for the money to become available in your cash account after the trade settles.

If you need your money sooner, you may always pay for your qualified medical expenses out-of-pocket now and reimburse yourself later once your funds are posted to your cash account.

You can continue to use the money in your HSA if your investment balance drops below the minimum; however, you won’t be able to transfer any new funds into your investments until your HSA balance exceeds the investment minimum balance again.

Your HSA is owned by you, and you may transfer funds to Optum Financial or to another institution. If you transfer your HSA funds to a new custodian, you may incur transfer fees, as disclosed in your terms and conditions document, and you will need to liquidate your investment holdings.

No, generally all investment growth is income tax-free.

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* Based on an account holder making no withdrawals and incurring no account fees. Your situation may vary, please consult your tax advisor. Individual Results may vary, investing may result in losses including the loss of the principal amount invested.

** Devenir Research 2021 Year-End HSA Market Statistics & Trends