Changes to my HSA 2026

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It’s that time of year again – time to sign up for benefits in 2026. It’s almost our last year to sign up for benefits for my work. We have decided next year to switch to insurance with a hub job. But for now, things will remain at a high level.

We choose a highly deceptive system and make donations to Health Savings Account (HSA)Take advantage of my employer investing some money on our behalf.

But one thing is changing this year relative to last year.

I believe that last year was the first year that we he took out our HSA contributions. Before that, we only contributed enough to meet our budget and used the HSA effectively every year for qualified medical expenses.

And this year was the first time (sometime a year-ish when we interview all the financial advisors and writers) that We really started looking at our HSA as an investment vehicle instead of a savings account. As a savings account, I always used my HSA card to cover any necessary medical expenses. I loved that it didn’t affect my regular budget!

However, when meeting with financial advisors and CPAs, we realized that we actually missed out on some HSA tax benefits. A Health Savings Account is the only triple tax account offered in the US that allows you to:

• Pre-Tax Contributions: Money invested in our HSA comes from pre-tax income and therefore does not count as “Income” for Federal Income tax, Medicare Tax, or Social Security.
• Tax free capital growth: Once funded, the money in the HSA can be reinvested and any interest earned is taxable.
• Tax free withdrawal: When taken, the money must be used to pay qualified medical expenses, but it is never recognized as “income” or taxed as such.

I can mostly use my HSA as a way to pay for medical expenses. But that means I’m leaving a lot of money on the table (literally) and missing out on tax-free growth over time.

After meeting with the CPAs and talking to the hubs, we decided to change the way we managed our HSA and start treating it like an investment vehicle. We will continue to release our donations every year. But now whenever we have medical expenses, I pay them through our regular accounts and just track and manage the receipts. I have a file of medical receipts and each one entered into a spreadsheet. The program, now, should Let our HSA money grow tax-free.

With that end in mind, I started investing our HSA money through leveraged investments. About twice a year, I plan to transfer money from an HSA through my employer (OpTUM) to FileThelity, where my retirement and other assets are. I opened an HSA with Fidelity because 1) I like the convenience of keeping money at the same financial institution, and 2) It’s easier for me to invest, and with lower fees than Opkumu. Now, I get to sit back and watch the money grow with the peace of mind that it’s there if we need it (if something catastrophic happens that we can’t afford our regular money), but otherwise, we can have free withdrawals in retirement when we’re withdrawn.

This works well for two reasons.

First, it probably is Another income stream in retirement. Yes, it can only be used to cover the cost of appropriate treatment. However, there is no time limit on the refund. That means the medical costs we incur now (in 2025) may be repaid 10-20 years down the road. At the moment, we have been paying those expenses through our checking/savings, so the money is covering past medical expenses. In this way, it is like a tax free stream.

Second, I actually like the fact that this is creating some work for the pastors (Tracking medical receipts, keeping a spreadsheet, etc.). I train my 13 year old girls to do this leg for me! I think teaching an important skill (bookkeeping) that will help them in the future. And in addition, because I now have an LLC and I like to pay my girls to help me, this kind of personal assistance work is organized for them, and it frees up my time to work on business tasks versus doing books. Right now my girls are in the “training” stage, but I am very happy when I can give you a receipt and I can deal with the folder about the expenses, the date of receiving help, then I am treated there, and then I put the physical receipt in the filling Cabinet).

In any case, if anyone else is like me and has had a health savings plan in the past but never really used it for the full tax benefit, you might want to consider making some changes in the New Year to allow for that money.

Are you making any changes for next year’s open enrollment?

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