Accelerate your financial wellness — start investing now
Put your health savings account (HSA) to work for you. Whether it’s for health care costs or retirement savings, invest part of your funds and feel good about helping your tax-free savings grow.
Why invest?
- Investment growth potential can boost your HSA balance.
- Investment earnings are federal income tax-free, and state tax-free, too, in most states.
- HSA investments are easy to set up, and if ever you need your invested funds back for care, you can easily transfer your funds back into your HSA.
Optum Financial offers mutual funds
You can choose from a wide variety of mutual funds screened for high Morningstar ratings and some of the lowest expense ratios in the industry.
There are over 25 mutual funds from leading investment firms, with diverse choices by investment objective, market sector and asset class.
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Investment options
Discover the ins and outs of investing a portion of your HSA in mutual funds, and how your HSA could potentially play an even greater role in your retirement strategy.
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Planning for life after work
Investing your HSA dollars can play an important role in your overall wealth and retirement strategy.
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HSAs and retirement
A health savings account (HSA) is a great tool to help you prepare for future health care costs and retirement and save on taxes.
Frequently asked questions about investing
Money you contribute to your health savings account (HSA) is placed in a deposit account, also called a cash account. When you reach a certain balance in your cash account, you may put your money over that minimum balance into an investment account.
This gives you the opportunity to potentially grow your HSA savings longer term — whether you are planning for a medical procedure in several years or saving for health costs in retirement. Investment returns are not guaranteed and involve more risk than cash deposits.
You may choose from among a number of pre-selected mutual funds from nationally recognized fund families. These have been selected to offer a broad and diverse range of investment objectives, with high Morningstar ratings and some of the lowest expense ratios in the industry.
HSA investments through Optum Financial are simple to start and just as easy to manage. Once your HSA meets the required balance of $2,000, you can set up investments in a matter of minutes through your online account or using the mobile app.
If you don’t have enough money set aside in your cash account to pay for a qualified medical expense, you may sell some or all of your investments at any time. You should generally allow several business days for the money to become available in your cash account after the trade settles.
If you need your money sooner, you may always pay for your qualified medical expenses out-of-pocket now and reimburse yourself later once your funds are posted to your cash account.
You can continue to use the money in your HSA if your investment balance drops below the minimum; however, you won’t be able to transfer any new funds into your investments until your HSA balance exceeds the investment minimum balance of $2,000 again.
Your HSA is owned by you, and you may transfer funds to Optum Financial or to another institution. If you transfer your HSA funds to a new custodian, you may incur transfer fees, as disclosed in your terms and conditions document, and you will need to liquidate your investment holdings.
No, generally all investment growth is income tax-free.
- Devenir Research 2021 Year-End HSA Market Statistics & Trends.
- Ibid.