TD Ameritrade HSA investing

[Amyolin]

Hi all,

Big fan of WCI and slowly getting more savvy with my finances.  Just opened a TD Ameritrade acct with 5K of my HSA funds and wondering how to invest it.  I'm 40 and hoping to retire in early 50s.  I realize 5K isn't a lot but not sure where to put it.

Also curious to hear thoughts from others on investing all HSA $ vs keeping the 5K+ in the savings acct.  I actually spend about 1-2K per year on healthcare and love swiping my HSA card.  Don't have to remember to pay myself back so I prefer leaving cash in the account but I've been reading that I'd prob do better if I invested all of it and just kept good records of healthcare spending to pay myself back later.

Thanks for any advice!

[Zaphod]

I invest it all. Keep to your personal allocation.

[adventure]

Amyolin wrote:

just opened a TD Ameritrade acct with 5K of my HSA funds and wondering how to invest it.

Click to expand...

With HSA BANK, or with Sterling HSA?

[Amyolin]

With HSA bank

[jfoxcpacfp]

Invest it all. You're a 40-yo doctor planning to retire in another 10+ years. Can you really not afford to pay a grand or 2 a year OOP on healthcare? Sure you can. Or is it really all about the swipe? Let it grow in a well-diversified equity etf portfolio until you need it in retirement. It will be a nice gap-filler until you qualify for Medicare. You'll be glad you did.

[WallStreetPhysician]

+1 on investing it all. Not all HSA administrators will let you invest all of it, but there's no reason to leave 5K+ in a savings account earning minimal interest.

-WSP

[The White Coat Investor]

As long as you beat the fees, you'll be better off investing it. $66 a year on $5K is only a little over 1%, so not too tough to beat.

There's no great wisdom out there on HOW to invest it, but if you don't plan to spend it for decades, might as well treat it as part of your retirement plan.

Mine happens to all be in VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF)

[Amyolin]

Thanks for your response.  I was reading a forum post on bogleheads and saw your response to a similar question from jan 2016 and was curious if you are still with VTI.  Was also unaware that I needed to sign up with TD Ameritrade for the free trades.

Few more questions now generated by all the things I've read:

1.  Do you just reinvest the dividends?

2. What minimum do you keep in HSA bank to cover fees?

3. Assuming you are paying out of pocket for health care expenses, are you keeping all receipts/records just in case you want to pay yourself back for these expenses much later?  (Let's just say I'm healthy til I die...can I pay back my 5K appendectomy that I need at age 40 when I'm 55?)

[jfoxcpacfp]

Amyolin wrote:

Assuming you are paying out of pocket for health care expenses, are you keeping all receipts/records just in case you want to pay yourself back for these expenses much later?  (Let’s just say I’m healthy til I die…can I pay back my 5K appendectomy that I need at age 40 when I’m 55?)

Click to expand...

I meant to hit quote, not like, sorry :-). That is what I'm doing, just throwing everything in a big drawer, eventually to be shoved in a big manila envelope that I never expect to open. Yes, you can pay for expenditures made at any time during the period you were covered by the HSA.

[The White Coat Investor]

Amyolin wrote:

Thanks for your response.  I was reading a forum post on bogleheads and saw your response to a similar question from jan 2016 and was curious if you are still with VTI.  Was also unaware that I needed to sign up with TD Ameritrade for the free trades.

Few more questions now generated by all the things I’ve read:

1.  Do you just reinvest the dividends?

2. What minimum do you keep in HSA bank to cover fees?

3. Assuming you are paying out of pocket for health care expenses, are you keeping all receipts/records just in case you want to pay yourself back for these expenses much later?  (Let’s just say I’m healthy til I die…can I pay back my 5K appendectomy that I need at age 40 when I’m 55?)

Click to expand...

I've got a blog post coming up on this (I think I'm going to start spending from the HSA soon as it is growing very well.)

1. Yes.

2. I had $100 last year. This year I've got closer to $1000 in there, but again that was because we were thinking about starting to spend it soon.

3. Yea, I've got a huge folder with 5+ years of receipts. I'm trying to log them into a spreadsheet. The big issue is those receipts don't get increased with inflation. So $5K might sound like a lot now, but it might not be much in 40 years!