Fidelity offering Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) with Sechrest as investment advisor on the account

12/18/2019
Fidelity offering Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) with Sechrest as investment advisor on the account

We wanted to make you aware that Fidelity is now offering Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) where Sechrest Financial Services, LLC can be listed as the investment advisor on the account, like we are with your investment accounts at Fidelity.

WHAT IS A HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNT (HSA)?
An HSA gives individuals the flexibility to manage today's qualified medical expenses and plan, save, and invest for future health care needs.

1. It's an individual account designed to work together with a high-deductible health plan (HDHP).
2. It provides a triple tax advantage - pretax contributions, tax-free qualified withdrawals (for qualified medical expenses), and tax-deferred earnings.
3. It's portable for the individual investor.
4. There's no "use it or lose it" - the amounts in an HSA carry over from year to year.
5. You can then choose how to invest the funds in an HSA.

One analogy is to think of it like an IRA that you're setting up to save for and ultimately pay for your qualified medical expenses.

CONTRIBUTION LIMITS
1. For the 2019 tax year, you can contribute up to $3,500 to an HSA if you have single health insurance coverage, or $7,000 if you have family health insurance coverage.  Plus an additional $1,000 if you're at least 55 years old.  (These contribution amounts are scheduled to increase in future tax years.)

2. The deadline for making an HSA contribution is the earlier of a) filing your tax return, or b) April 15th.

HIGH DEDUCTIBLE HEALTH PLAN (HDHP)
1. In order to be eligible to make contributions to an HSA, your health insurance needs to be considered a HDHP. 

2. For a health plan with individual coverage, the HDHP must have an annual deductible of at least $1,400 and annual out-of-pocket expenses must not exceed $6,900 (in the 2019 tax year).  For family coverage, these amounts are $2,800 and $13,800 respectively (for the 2019 tax year).

3. If your health insurance isn't considered an HDHP, you can still have an HSA.  But you aren't eligible to make annual contributions into the HSA.

FIDELITY'S HSA
1. Fidelity's HSA has cash-management capabilities including:

• HSA-specific debit card
• Checkwriting
• Electronic bill pay

2. Sechrest Financial Services, LLC would be listed as the investment manager on the account.  We can make suggestions on how to invest the funds in the HSA.  And we can speak with Fidelity about any questions you have on the account.


NEXT STEPS
If you have an interest in HSAs for your health care planning, if you have an existing HSA account that you'd like to consider rolling over into a Fidelity HSA account, and/or if you'd like to learn more about setting up an HSA, please let us know.


Thank you again for having us be your CPA and financial advisor.  We wish you and your family a Happy Holidays!