### Understanding Health Savings Accounts: Key Considerations and Benefits

HSAs provide significant tax advantages for medical expenses, making them a valuable option if eligible.

### Understanding Health Savings Accounts (HSAs): Key Considerations for Enrollment
* 💡 Michael D. inquires about the benefits of a healthcare HSA offered by his employer, and the advice is to consider it, as HSAs can be **very advantageous**.
* 💰 An HSA is designed for individuals with **high-deductible health insurance plans**, allowing them to **save for medical expenses with tax benefits**.
* 📈 Contributions to an HSA are **tax-deductible**, and funds can be used for **current medical expenses**, providing a **tax-efficient way to manage healthcare costs**.
* 💸 "If you want to fall into the **4% of Americans** that actually turn this into a **triple tax advantage savings vehicle**, you can put money in your HSA, you can then invest those dollars, and let them **grow tax deferred**."
* 🔍 It’s essential to do your homework by **assessing your current insurance options** and **understanding your medical expenses for the upcoming year**, especially if **significant expenses are anticipated**.
* 📊 The speaker shares their personal experience of skipping the HSA option for a year due to expected high medical costs, emphasizing the **importance of proactive planning**.
* ⚖ Additionally, it’s crucial to be aware of employer benefit rules, as participating in a **flexible spending account** may limit your ability to contribute to an **HSA**.
* 📅 Ultimately, thorough research and planning can help **maximize the benefits of HSAs and other health-related financial options** available to you.

[Music] Okay, Michael D. has a question for you guys. He says, "My employer is offering a healthcare HSA for the first time. Is there anything I should keep an eye out for? And should I do it? Like, what do you think?" Well, yes, there are things that you

should keep an eye out for, and should you do it? Well, I'm going to say that it depends, but most likely you should because HSAs are pretty awesome. And let me tell you why. An HSA, a health savings account, is a type of account that exists

for folks to save for medical expenses if they are covered under a high-deductible health insurance plan. So when it comes to open enrollment, you're looking at your options. If you want to review your current plan that you're under, you want to make sure that it says

HSA eligible, high-deductible plan. If that's the case, what you're allowed to do is you can put money into your health savings account, and you get a tax deduction for doing that. So right off the bat, it's a beautiful thing. Well, then

if you so choose, and you have medical expenses come up, you can use those dollars to pay for current-year medical expenses. So you're paying for medical expenses with pre-tax dollars. Pretty neat. If, however, you want to fall into the 4% of Americans that actually turn

this into a triple tax advantage savings vehicle, you can put money in your HSA, you can then invest those dollars, and let them grow tax deferred. And then, in the future, if you want to use them for future medical bills, or if you want to reimburse yourself for medical bills

that have happened in the past and you've tracked receipts, you can then reimburse yourself completely tax-free, so money goes in and you get a tax deduction, it grows tax-deferred, and when you pull it out, it's tax-free. It is an amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing savings

vehicle. So if you have one available to you, it may make sense to take advantage of it. But does that mean that you always select the option to do that? Well, Michael D, here's what I would share with you: homework, despite how we felt as K through 12 students, homework is actually

very rewarding. Um, and and here's what I mean by this: well, here, but I want you to know, I I get it, but when we ask you to do a net worth statement, it is amazing when you start tracking what you own versus what you owe. You're going to

notice when you do this over a few years, magical things will start happening because you're keeping inventory. It's the same thing when we talk about the Know Your Number course. When you know are you ahead of the curve, behind the curve, or right where you're supposed to

be? I mean, as soon as you know that stuff, magical things will start happening because even I, I don't know if it's a subconscious thing, but that Invisible Hand of success starts working. Well, it's the same thing in I want you to take an

active role with your insurance planning. Um, I think a lot of people when you get to open enrollment, they just go, yeah, um, you know, I know that my insurance is good, so I'll just take this whereas HSA, oh man, that's going to put more on me. I

Don't know if no, don't just, don't just do the brochure review. I want you to actually sit down, do the homework and say, hey, what's going to happen this coming year? Are we doing family planning, meaning are we going to have a baby this

year, or maybe you get old like me. You know, once you reach 50 they tell you go get a colonoscopy. I'm like, I bet that's expensive. And sure enough, it's like 8 grand according to the Serious bill I got in the mail. But not for me cuz I

knew I did. I take an active role in my, in my life. So I, I was like, you know, I'm going to do the Cadillac insurance this year. I'm not, so I'll tell y'all this year is the first year in a long year in

a long time that I haven't done the HSA option here at the office because you did your homework. Me and a few other people in the house I knew had some big medical expenses coming up. I did my homework and I realized, hey, this is

probably a good year to go ahead and load it all up, do all those corrective things, those, you know, things I know are going to be very expensive. And then I'll tell you what, when we do our open enrollment in November, going back to the HSA cuz I came and I, you know, and I

loaded it up in the year that I needed it. So do the homework, guys. It is that, it's that easy. Michael Diaz said if and know I love HSAs. I, I mean, I look, I'm at that point where I don't even reimburse myself. I'm keeping up with all the

expenses for years and I'm watching that money just grow on itself so when you see the market's up 20%, my HSA is up like 20%.  CU, I'm buying index funds within that HSA and that's exciting stuff but you also still have to to to

triage and take an active role in your life and say is that the best decision?  You see that thing attack me again, this thing we got to we got to talk to this thing later. That's the second time in one show this microphone has attacked me.

but um make sure that you know what your expenses are for the next 12 months and plan accordingly. The other thing to watch out for, M, I encourage you uh recognize there are some rules based on employer benefits you have access to so like if you're participating in a

flexible spending account through your uh employer plan you can't do a flexible spending account and a health savings account so you can't double dip and do both. Now there are certain exceptions like if you're doing a dependent care flexible spending account then a special

rule applies but you just want to understand the suite of benefits that are available to you and you want to choose the ones each year. Do the homework, like Brian said, that make the most sense for the year you have coming up.

Are you Making THIS HSA Mistake?

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The Money Guy Show

An employer is offering an HSA for the first time, prompting a question about its benefits and potential drawbacks.

HSAs are accounts for saving for medical expenses with high-deductible health insurance plans.

To utilize an HSA, the insurance plan must be HSA-eligible and high-deductible.

Money deposited into an HSA receives a tax deduction, and can be used for current medical expenses with pre-tax dollars.

Investing HSA funds offers tax-deferred growth, and future withdrawals for medical expenses are tax-free.

Importance of proactive insurance planning

Proactive planning, similar to tracking net worth, helps achieve financial success.

Regularly assessing financial standing (ahead, behind, or on track) improves financial outcomes.

Active participation in insurance planning is crucial; avoid simply accepting the default option.

Consider upcoming medical expenses (family planning, age-related checkups) when choosing a plan.

A personal anecdote illustrates the benefits of adjusting HSA usage based on anticipated medical costs.

Additional considerations and caveats regarding HSAs

Understanding the interplay between HSAs and other employer benefits (e.g., flexible spending accounts) is crucial.

It's generally not possible to use both a flexible spending account and an HSA simultaneously, with some exceptions.

Evaluate all available benefits and select the most suitable options for the upcoming year.

Thorough planning and understanding of available options are emphasized.