Madison MoneySports - Personal Finance Thread

[Kaan]

we look at our HSA as a long term investment. yes we use it from time to time... but I increased my pre tax contributions and the "plan" is to keep it growing the best we can into retirement.

This.   IMO the HSA is best thought of as a health 401k.    You get to put in pre-tax dollars, and can make additional payments into it up to a an annual cap.   If we were on a HDHP I would be contributing the max into it to keep my taxable income as low as possible.

Is there a long term benefit to contributing to the HSA as opposed to 401k/IRA/any other tax deferred vehicle?  Is it tax free at withdrawal in the future if its used for medical expenses?

Once you hit your max 401k contribution, its the "next place" to reduce your taxable income directly with your employer. It does have the limitation of only being spent on medical expenses, but as you get older, I promise you have more and more of them (even at 39).

you also get to contribute more to it when you get older... all my raises in the last 5 years have gone toward maxing all possible retirement contributions