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Unlock the potential to grow your HSA

Your Health Savings Account (HSA) is a great tool to help you save money to pay for qualified health care expenses,but if the money you set aside in your account is just sitting in cash, you may be missing out on potential to grow your health savings for the future.

Did you know that with an HSA you can invest a portion of your balance in a range of mutual funds for potential tax-free earnings over time? Let’s take a look at some examples showing how much more you could potentially save if you were to take advantage of your HSA investment feature vs. leaving those dollars in cash.

Keep some in cash and invest the rest

You may be keeping a large balance in cash so that you can access funds to pay for health care expenses as they arise. What you may not realize is that funds in your HSA investment account can be moved back to cash when you need to use them to pay for a qualified expense. Take a look at the impact of keeping $5,000 in cash over 20 years compared to the potential growth when that $5,000 is invested.

Hypothetical results are for illustrative purposes only and are not meant to represent the past or future performance of any specific investment vehicle. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate and when redeemed the investments may be worth more or less than their original cost. Scenario assumes a beginning balance of $5,000 with no additional contributions or withdrawals to illustrate the impact of a 5% rate of return on investments and a 0.03% interest rate on the cash account over 20 years.

Bar chart shows comparison of HSA dollars in cash and investments. With a beginning balance of $5,000 and a .03% interest rate the cash balance is $5,030 after 20 years and, assuming a 5% rate of return, the investment balance is $13,266.
Woman at home looking at laptop

Example: The long-term impact of HSA investing

Anna is contributing $600 a month to her HSA—$7,200 annually. Anna spends about half her HSA balance on qualified health care expenses for her family each year, leaving a balance of $3,600 unspent and uninvested. Take a look at the long-term impact of investing her balance instead of keeping it in cash.

With a 5% rate of return, Anna’s balance could potentially grow to $122,237 in 20 years—about $50,000 more than if she keeps it in cash. By investing her HSA dollars, Anna could be taking a step toward building her health care nest egg for retirement.

Hypothetical results are for illustrative purposes only and are not meant to represent the past or future performance of any specific investment vehicle. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate and when redeemed the investments may be worth more or less than their original cost. The scenario assumes annual contributions of $7,200 and annual spending of $3,600 for 20 years. The cash only scenario assumes an interest rate of 0.03% and the investment scenario assumes a 5% rate of return.

Bar chart shows comparison of HSA dollars in cash and investments. Assuming a .03% interest rate, a cash balance of $3,600 could be $72,217 after 20 years. Assuming a 5% rate of return, investing $3,600 could potentially grow to $122,237 over 20 years.

Put your HSA to work for your future

You’ve made a smart decision to use an HSA to save for health care expenses. Don’t stop there—consider investing a portion of your HSA to give your health care savings the potential for growth over time. You can set up the automatic investing feature at any time. When your cash balance reaches the threshold you establish, funds will automatically transfer to your investment account. This feature can help simplify account management, ensuring you have cash in your account to pay for qualified expenses now, and funds in your investment account to work for your future.

Set up your investing account today. Your future self will thank you.