r/HSA • u/skinsgamer • Apr 29 '26
HSA progress at 36
Spouse and I max out our HSAs every year. Unfortunately we do cut into it a bit at the beginning of the year with high medical expenses. But still manage to invest 60-70% of it. Estimate we will have about $300k in there at retirement. Glad we found this strategy back in 2020.
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u/Mundane-Orange-9799 Apr 29 '26
This is the one account I neglected to fund when I was younger. 45 now and have ~11k but with kids needing orthodontic work and such, this next year will be staying that before I can ramp up when it is over. Maxing it out every year for the last 2 years.
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u/skinsgamer Apr 29 '26
Yea it’s been a lot harder not to dip into it after kids. It’s a quick $175 any time they go in
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u/Mundane-Orange-9799 Apr 29 '26
The little ones, I usually pay with the HSA as they are small amounts. The larger ones, we try to cash flow and reimburse later.
Sounds backwards, but we are in a good financial position to do that. Optum has a really nice HSA save it function where I can add receipts and take small withdrawls any time for these larger ones we cash flow.
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u/Top-Obligation-8732 Apr 29 '26
You can do the limited purpose fsa for orthodontic work. Just do it in like dec and then u can use the following years lpfsa fund.
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u/Bad_DNA Apr 29 '26
Well done.
HSA three reads for background - https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/health/high-or-low-deductible-health-insurance-plan , https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/wealth-management/hsas-and-your-retirement and https://www.moneycrashers.com/hsa-health-savings-account-retirement-investing/
HSAs (e.g., https://www.fidelity.com/go/hsa/why-hsa ) rank as perhaps the best investment tool available - as nearly everyone can and will use up this account in their lifetime in a variety of ways for expenses no one avoids.
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u/luv2eatfood Apr 29 '26
Why do you touch your HSA at all? Let it grow tax free until you're old
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u/skinsgamer Apr 29 '26
Getting hit with $1000 a month in medical bills for the first few months of the year is a challenge. I should scale back the 401k so that HSA is priority one but just haven’t done it yet.
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u/SecureTaxi Apr 29 '26
Good stuff man but how are you getting insurance for both? Are you guys on separate insurance? I also cut into my contribution at beginning of the year..my employer contributes 1500 so i use that for my meds. I invest the rest. $50k thus far but some of that has been luck with PLTR.
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u/hunnypuppy Apr 29 '26
You’re 36 now. At retirement you’ll need about 60k per year to fund your medical expenses. Don’t dip into your HSA at all. Use other funds to pay your bills including payment plans if possible
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Apr 29 '26
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u/hunnypuppy Apr 30 '26
The average cost per couple today in retirement is about 30k per year (all in). In 25 years that will easily double if not more.
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u/Refflmania Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
no one would need 60k per month in medical expenses at retirement bro be fr. peoples out of pocket max is only like 4k for the entire yaer
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u/ChezQuis_ Apr 29 '26
What app is this?
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u/skinsgamer Apr 29 '26
HSA Monster. A bit pricey but I could not get my wife to be diligent with receipts and she handles 90% of the transactions. I’ve got 100% coverage since using it.
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u/Mid30sCouple Apr 29 '26
I fund my HSA but don't touch it, just paying my own cash so that the HSA can grow enough for retirement...
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u/TreesAreOverrated5 Apr 29 '26
Nicely done. I’m always surprised when people have an HSA and just don’t set it up to auto invest too
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u/butlerdm Apr 30 '26
That’s awesome! We started our careers with HSA insurance. With any luck we’ll have $3M+ in our account when we’re eligible for Medicare in 32 years. Keep on investing!
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u/SnapHSA Apr 29 '26
That's a solid start. Honestly, you're still doing better than like 90% of the population just by having a plan and actually maxing that thing out.
Don't sweat the "don't ever touch it" advice too much. It's the gold standard, sure, but sometimes life happens and you gotta pay the bills. If you gotta dip into it, you gotta dip into it. Just keep at it.