Investment Threshold

The ideal investment health savings account (HSA) has no investment threshold, allowing the very first dollar you contribute to be invested. If you're using an HSA for investment purposes, seek an administrator that does not hold your dollars hostage in a checking account earning little to no interest. 

HealthSavings has no investment threshold requirement. HealthSavings is one of five administrators in our study that allows first dollar investing.

Investment Account

HealthSavings offers 42 high-quality investment options from Vanguard and Dimensional Funds, two of the best fund families in the mutual fund industry. Highlights of the HealthSavings pre-selected investment lineup include:

• Carefully curated lineup that covers all core asset classes

• A robust selection of low-cost, institutional-class funds

• 50/50 balance between active and passive funds

In the chart below you can see a breakdown, by asset class, of the wide array of investment options made available by HealthSavings. The smaller the square, the lower the expense ratio.

At the The HSA Report Card we are big proponents of passive index investing. We like to see investment lineups with at least one index fund for each of the core asset classes. In the chart above, you can see that HealthSavings offers low-cost index funds for every major asset class, save an emerging markets fund.

How expensive are the funds in the HealthSavings investment lineup?

HealthSavings offers participants very inexpensive funds. Of the 9 HSA administrators in our study with pre-selected investment lineups, HealthSavings offers the second lowest cost funds. The average expense ratio across every asset class is less than 0.20%. 

Interest-Bearing Account

HealthSavings offers participants an FDIC-insured, interest-bearing account. Interest bearing accounts make sense for participants who are uneasy about investing their HSA dollars in the equity markets. Interest is credited monthly and based on the balance in your cash/debit card account. The interest rate available on different balances is as follows.

Condensed Schedule of Fees

In our study of the top 10 investment HSAs, HealthSavings ranks as one of the most expensive administrators. HealthSavings charges its participants a fixed fee in addition to a custodial fee. 

Complete Fee Schedule

Projected Fees

In this section, we have a little fun projecting fees for each administrator. Our goal was to keep fees as low as possible for each administrator. Keep in mind, we are assuming the HSA is being used solely for investment purposes, therefore only certain fees will apply. Given that every HSA offering is different, there is no perfect way to compare the top 10 administrators in our study. Nonetheless, we gave it a shot and believe there is value in presenting our findings.

In order to compare fees, we made a few simple assumptions:

• Every dollar above the investment threshold was invested.

• Current and future contributions were invested in a single fund.

  • Total Stock Market Index (VTI / VTSAX / SPTM/ FZROX) or S&P 500 index (IVV / VIIIX / VFIAX). We believe these two index funds are one in the same.

• No transaction fee (NTF) or commission-free ETF programs were utilized to buy the index funds.

• If these index funds were not available under the NTF and/or commission-free ETF programs, we turned to the open market and executed a single trade per calendar year in order to keep transaction costs down.

For HealthSavings we made the following assumptions:

1. Every dollar was invested in VTSAX (expense ratio 0.04%)

2. Annual Administrative Fee: $36

3. Annual Custodial Fee: 0.25%

The chart below summarizes the projected fees HealthSavings participants would incur for different investment balances.

The following chart illustrates where HealthSavings Administrators stands in terms of fees compared to the other top 10 investment HSA administrators. 

HealthSavings Administrators fees are on the high side, thus the poor grade on this measure. HealthSavings Administrators ranked as the 9th lowest cost provider in our study of the top 10 investment HSAs.

In our search for the very best investment HSAs, we looked for administrators that offered a hassle-free investment experience. We believe HealthSavings Administrators gives investors the necessary tools to easily manage their account. The website is easy to navigate and automated account transfers are available. A receipt storage tool would make the HealthSavings Administrators offering even more attractive though. 

Personal Finance App Integrations

In this modern age of personal finance consumers want the ability to bring together information from multiple accounts and institutions in order to get a 360-degree of their finances and make better spending and saving decisions. The two best personal finance data aggragators are Personal Capital and Mint. HealthSavings Administrators integrates with Personal Capital, but not with Mint.

Pros & Cons

A HealthSavings HSA may be right for you if:

• You are satisfied with the investment options in the pre-selected lineup

• You are planning on making multiple transactions per calendar year

• You desire first dollar investing

• You have less than $15,000 in the investment account

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