HSA Investing— Investment options

Discover how you can make investment decisions or use the advisory tools from HealthEquity Advisors LLC for your HSA investments

Updated over a week ago

Whether you are making investment decisions on your own or using the powerful advisory tools from HealthEquity Advisors LLC, there are a number of ways to invest your Health Savings Account (HSA) funds. Read on to find out specific details on investment options for your HSA, or jump to a section with these links:

How to start investing your HSA funds

Know your resources.

Use the resources on the Investment Education Center to get started in your HSA investment journey.

Build your portfolio.

Building and maintaining an HSA investment portfolio is like building and maintaining a house. A home takes time to construct before you can start living in it. Similarly, it takes time to build your investment portfolio. But like a house, once it’s built you can start enjoying the benefits of your investment portfolio as you maintain and care for it.

An important part of investing is understanding your own financial goals and risk tolerance. For instance, a specific fund may average an 8% return over 15 years[1]. But from year to year, the returns will likely have swings, which could have a significant financial impact if your goals are shorter-term.

If you’re more risk-averse, you may want to take a more conservative stance with your investment portfolio allocations, which may include fewer high-yielding yet potentially more volatile asset classes.

Be consistent.

On top of your initial investment, setting up automatic recurring contributions to your HSA investment portfolio can increase your growth potential. Moreover, regular maintenance of your investments allows you to effectively react to market changes.

For example, let’s say you plan to add $345.83 to your HSA investment balance each month ($345.83/month for 12 months will max out an individual’s HSA contribution limit of $4,150 for 2024). When the price of a mutual fund goes down, your monthly investment will purchase more shares of the fund. When the price of the same mutual fund goes up, your monthly investment will purchase fewer shares.

Rebalance regularly.

Rebalancing is when the amount of money in each mutual fund within a portfolio is either equalized or returned to a predetermined percentage of the total portfolio. This is done by liquidating money from the funds which performed best during the prior period, often one year, and investing it into the mutual funds which performed poorest over the prior year.

This part of rebalancing may seem counter-intuitive, but rather than buying low and selling high, rebalancing reverses that common mantra, encouraging you to sell high and buy low.

Be patient.

Investors with long-term strategies must apply patience. The fluctuation from year-to-year can be stressful, but patience pays off.

One of the risks of not being diversified is experiencing a decline in your account value. During downswings in the market, an investor’s patience is severely tested, and many fail by bailing out. A more diversified approach to investing also requires patience, but the ups and downs of the portfolio’s value can be less dramatic and easier to tolerate.

Investment Fund offering

With your HealthEquity HSA investment account, you can select from a lineup of 31 low-cost Vanguard funds, called Investor Choice Funds are chosen to provide flexibility and to suit several investment philosophies and strategies.

Each of the funds offered carries a low expense ratio (an expense ratio expresses the percentage of assets deducted each fiscal year for fund expenses). In addition, most of the funds we offer are rated 4- and 5-star by Morningstar[2] , an industry-leading research and advisory firm. Be confident that, no matter what your selection, you’ll be investing in high-quality funds.

See our Member Investment Guide for a list of the available Vanguard investment funds.

Investments are subject to risk, including the possible loss of the principal invested and are not FDIC or NCUA insured, or guaranteed by HealthEquity, Inc. HSA holders may select mutual funds for investment through the HealthEquity investment platform, but HealthEquity, Inc. does not provide investment advice. HealthEquity Advisors, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of HealthEquity, Inc. and an SEC-registered investment adviser, provides web-based investment advice to HSA holders who subscribe to its services (minimum thresholds and additional fees apply). Registration does not imply endorsement by any state or agency and does not imply a level of skill, education, or training. Investing may not be suitable for everyone. You should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of any mutual fund before investing. A prospectus and, if available, a summary prospectus containing this and other important information can be obtained by visiting the fund sponsor’s website. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Web-based automated investing service with Advisor

Your HealthEquity HSA has access to Advisor, a web-based automated investment advice tool developed and available from HealthEquity Advisors, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of HealthEquity and an SEC-registered investment adviser. Advisor may be accessed through the HealthEquity Investment Desktop. You can subscribe to receive advice on which funds to choose and how to tailor your portfolio to your personal risk preferences.

You may choose to subscribe to Advisor at any time. There is an additional fee associated with subscribing to Advisor, but Advisor offers a 90-day free trial to help you decide if the product is right for you. There are two service options to choose from when subscribing to Advisor, depending on how involved you want to be in the selection and implementation of provided investment advice:

  • Advisor GPS: Provides investment guidance that you may choose to implement in whole, in part, or not at all.

  • Advisor AutoPilot: All the same tools and services of GPS, but AutoPilot includes automated implementation of the Advisor investment advice.

How to enroll in Advisor

  1. Log in to your online account and navigate to the investment desktop.

  2. Select See My Advisor Options from the investment desktop.

  3. Choose a service level (GPS or AutoPilot) and complete the risk questionnaire to build your investment profile.

  4. After completing all required information, click Submit to enroll.

  5. You can confirm your enrollment by logging in to your HealthEquity online account and checking the investment tile on the main screen.

How do I stop investing through the Advisor service?

If your Service Level is 'GPS' or 'AutoPilot,' you are enrolled in Advisor. Here is how to cancel your subscription:

  1. Click the Service Level area of the investment tile OR within the investment desktop click the My service level tab and click the Go to Advisor button.

  2. You will see a message that you are leaving the HealthEquity online account. Click Continue.

  3. Click Edit Profile in the upper right corner of the screen.

  4. In the Service Level section, select Cancel Advisor service.

  5. You will be prompted to confirm. Select Yes.

Your Advisor services will be cancelled immediately.

[1]The example(s) used is (are) for illustrative purposes only.

[2]Data as of May 26, 2023

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