Interesting article at Free Money Finance on how to maximize your savings on a Health Savings Account, turning it into a “super Roth”.
For the first two years, I followed conventional practice and used HSA funds to pay for all of our medical expenses, including approved expenses that were not covered by our insurance plan (over the counter medications and such). However, at the end of 2007 I began to think about the conventional wisdom and studied various government rules and publications about HSA contributions. It was then that I realized that I could likely obtain a greater long term financial benefit from my HSA funds by NOT spending them now. Instead, I could let them accumulate in the account and withdraw those funds when I retire later (including any investment earnings and appreciation), absolutely tax free. In other words, I was going to use my HSA account as a “super Roth” account.
Tags: finance, retirement