The Health Savings Account (HSA) is an amazing tool that a lot of people have been talking about. It is meant to help you save money on insurance and make your life simpler, maybe even help you be healthier. A Health Savings Account is an investment. You may not have thought of it that way, but it is. When you open your HSA, your insurance agent or financial advisor will ask you How do you want to invest this? Your answer to that question might mean the difference between having money for that emergency operation or not having it. There isnt room here for a big explanation of investing principles, but I can tell you that there are volatile investments and stable investments. A volatile investment would be putting money into a fast-moving stock on the stock market. One day its up, the next day it takes a dive. The most stable investment is a bank account. You get paid a certain interest rate and thats that. No volatility. And not much benefit either, because the interest rate will be quite small. My recommendation to you is to invest your HSA money into a bond mutual fund. Bonds are a special type of investment that are less risky than stocks, but more beneficial than a bank account. By investing in a bond mutual fund, youll have a steady rate of growth with no big ups or downs. Some months your investment might go down a little, but it wont be dramatic. And, over time, youll beat that bank account interest by several percentage point. Bond mutual funds are your best option for HSA investment. Ask your HSA custodian if they offer this type of investment for their HSA. If they dont, shop around until you find one who does. If you cannot find someone offering a bond mutual fund, then stick with a money market account. That is your second-best choice. You want something very stable, because you never know when youll have to tap into that money. Healthcare emergencies dont give us advance notice, do they? Health Savings Accounts will change how we think of healthcare. They are the key to fixing the current healthcare crisis in America, and they will help your small business, self-employment or individual healthcare situation. |
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