How Do I Use an HSA for Retirement Healthcare Costs?

Do you use an HSA? If not, you may want to start one after listening to this episode. Find out how you can use an HSA to help lessen healthcare costs in retirement and stick around to hear the answers to listener questions on this episode of Retirement Answer Man.

Are you trying to figure out how to deal with an unexpected retirement? Would you like to come on the show? We are looking for a volunteer for the next Retirement Plan Live coming up in January. If you would like some help in navigating your unexpected retirement head on over to RogerWhitney.com/rpl to put your name in the hat and potentially become our next case study for Retirement Plan Live. 

What is focus?

Focus is the act of concentrated activity on something. You choose where to place your focus in your life. 

What do you choose to focus on? Do you choose to focus on fear, problems, and all that could go wrong? Or do you choose to focus on the present and future excitement? 

When you focus on a problem does it seem huge and overwhelming? Or do you break that problem up into chunks so that you can determine what to do next? 

I like to say focus on the WHAM. Figure out what the problem is, how to do it, get accountability, take action, and achieve momentum. In your retirement planning, think about how you can shift your focus to best serve yourself.

Can you still contribute to a Roth IRA with only a 1099R?

One listener has a question about Roth IRA contributions. He is no longer working and receives a pension, but would still like to contribute to a Roth IRA since he is under the income limitations. 

Unfortunately, this isn’t allowed since the income must be ‘earned income’ according to the IRS. But the good news is, his wife can still contribute to his Roth IRA since he is considered a nonworking spouse. 

Learn the specifics of his question and the answer by listening to this episode of Retirement Answer Man. 

HSAs are like ‘SuperRoths’

Lynn wrote in to encourage us to discuss HSAs a bit more. This is a great idea since HSAs can be like ‘SuperRoths’. 

I knew I was missing out on having an HSA so when I was shopping for healthcare plans last year I specifically looked for a healthcare plan that was HSA compliant. With an HSA an individual can contribute $3500 per year and a family can contribute $7100. 

A great way to use an HSA for retirement healthcare costs

There are a few things that make an HSA is so fantastic. The money you put into an HSA is tax-deductible and the money you take out is tax-free. HSAs are also extremely flexible. You can pay your healthcare expenses out of pocket now and save the receipts for reimbursement any time you want to. Listen in to find out how you can use the HSA as a medical expense slush fund and grow it in the long term.

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

• [1:42] What is focus?

PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT

• [11:26] Can you still contribute to a Roth IRA with only a 1099R?
• [13:38] HSA’s in preretirement
• [18:46] How valuable is 2 months of your life?
• [22:26] Fire calc and inflation risks

TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT

• [29:37] Realize your focus

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

BOOK - The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley

FireCalc.com

New Retirement Calculator

RogerWhitney.com/rpl

Rock Retirement Club

Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That

BOOK - Rock Retirement  by Roger Whitney

Work with Roger

Roger’s Retirement Learning Center