Today, I want to talk to you about how to open a Health Savings Account the right way. Not everybody can open an HSA so it’s really important to know if you can or can’t.
Setting Up Your Health Savings Account
A lot of folks have their benefits through their employer, and one of those types of benefits is a Health Savings Account option. With that, you’re allowed to open an HSA account that is specific to allow you to put money in with tax advantages to it.
If you’re going to do this through your employer, I would advise you to start with your HR director to make sure that you are set up properly and that person can help you get that benefit started.
If you don’t have this possibility through your employer, then you want to check with your local bank. That way you can start using the HSA account to pay for your medical expenses on a pre-tax basis.
That’s how I do it. I currently have a local bank relationship that handles my HSA because it’s a separate account, separate from my savings, separate from my checking. It’s an actual HSA account that I put money in that I get to take off my tax return at the end of the year.
HSA Advantages for Your Family
The advantage for a family is not just for medical—it’s also dental and vision, different things that you’ve been learning about in our whole series of articles and videos on this topic.
But the other thing it’s very important to know is that with these accounts, you may get a debit card that you can swipe at the pharmacy or the doctor’s office. That makes it very convenient to get access to the money you’re putting in there.
Also, it may have monthly charges or annual fees and you may ask “Hey, if I’m able to get money into that account to a certain point, maybe I can do some investments with it.”
Gaining All the HSA Advantages Possible
Once you get into these accounts, you can start to take advantage of all these aspects once you know a little bit more about the subject. But it’s really important to talk to a professional who can help you through this. Here at MBhealth Insurance, that’s what we like to do. I like to talk with everybody at each stage of their decision-making, especially when they have a Health Savings Account plan because there are so many other ways to make your money do more for you.
So please, if you want or you have an HSA or you have questions, do not hesitate to reach out to me. Call me to learn more about setting up your own HSA: (314) 544-5400.
