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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
  • vanguard brokerage equity lending program
    HSA accounts must not be eligible….I have two Brokeragelink accounts attached to my workplace 40x, and an HSA. My Roth (and my parents’ IRAs) is at TDA (for 30 more days). It said I am ineligible (this is all at Fidelity).
    Does anyone know the link for Schwab’s lending program for future reference? Thanks. I can’t do much on Schwab yet (though I did create an account ID there ahead of the transfer).
  • Schwab move...Let's retire this thread. Lots of interactions. Food for thought. THNX.
    @linter, fwiw, I have money in 3 brokerages, a traditional IRA and Roth IRA with Schwab, an HSA with Fidelty and a 401k with Merrill Lynch. I would dump Merrill if I could, but that is where I hold PRWCX and I don't want to lose it. TRP was the long-time holder of the 401k, but it moved to Merrill last year. Don't really know why.
  • Moving out of BRUFX
    As I recall, my Fidelity trustee to trustee transfer from Bruce HSA to Fidelity HSA involved Bruce first converting BRUFX to cash and then completing the trustee to trustee transfer to Fidelity.
  • Moving out of BRUFX
    @Crash,
    I moved 75% of my BRUFX holdings (Bruce converted shares to cash) then Fidelity executed a “trustee to trustee transfer” to Fidelity back in 2021.
    This was a HSA account at Bruce and I decided to move the majority of my HSA to Fidelity’s new HSA platform.
    I would explore a “Trustee to Trustee transfer” with both Bruce and the investment firm you are transferring to.
    Going to cash first at Bruce Fund is just a how transfers are done at Bruce since they are not listed on other platforms.
    I left a 25% allocation at Bruce knowing full well that if I moved 100% of my position the fund would have quadrupled the day after I transferred all shares.
    This fund’s long term results are stellar, but the short term - mid term performance test your patience.
    I support Bruce Fund’s spirited independence from the big boys, but I see the value Fidelity’s platform.
  • Bolin's Investment Picks For Retirees In 2024
    Very nice piece. One might add HSAs to the mix. They're sort of like Roths, in that growth is tax-free so long as you have accumulated medical expenses over the years (since the HSA was started) that exceed the amount withdrawn from the HSA.
    Because of this qualification, they also resemble traditional IRAs. You don't want a T-IRA to grow too large because then RMDs can kick you into a higher bracket. You don't want HSAs to grow too fast, because if they outrun your medical expenses, some of the money you take out becomes taxable. For this reason, I allocate slower growing assets (e.g. bonds) to my HSA.
    Regarding IRMAA, I don't see where the $5832 at $194,001 income level (joint) comes from in Table #2. A petty issue is that $194K is the 2023 threshold; for 2024 the threshold is $206K.
    This minor point aside (and using 2023 figures for consistency), the monthly Part B IRMAA per person started at $65.90. That's $790.80/person per year. Throw in the starting level Part D IRMAA of $12.20/mo, and that brings the total annual IRMAA per person up to $943.20. Assuming both spouses are participating in Medicare, double the amount to $1886.40.
    Cap gains - in 2016, cap gains didn't kick in until one hit the 25% tax bracket. The 2017 TCJA decoupled cap gains brackets from ordinary income tax brackets. Sunsetting reverses this - the 15% cap gains bracket will once again start at the 25% ordinary income tax bracket. Sunset minus cap gains should always be positive.
    All of the numeric adjustments are noise. They don't change the points made. It's a formidable task to compress so many moving parts and levers into something clear and digestible. Bravo!
    I haven't taken a close look at the funds yet, though I did notice a dearth of Fidelity MM to short term funds (bucket #1). It's hard to beat Vanguard on MMFs, but you might consider FCNVX as a peer to VUSFX.
  • Falling knife, are you willing to get cut !
    "Further, someone with 3 different accounts (taxable, Roth, Traditional IRA) might find reasons to hold more funds than someone with just one type of account."

    Exactly!
    It may be difficult or potentially counter-productive for investors with multiple account types
    (e.g., 401K, traditional IRA, Roth IRA, taxable, HSA, 529) to hold the "right number" of funds
    regardless of what some self-proclaimed experts state. Having too many funds can be detrimental
    (e.g., diworsification, increased portfolio maintenance), but there isn't an arbitrary number of funds
    which is optimal for every investor's unique situation.
  • M* On Allocation/Balanced Funds
    Covered are the US (up to 10% foreign), diversified (11-39% foreign), and global ( >= 40% foreign) moderate/global allocation/balanced funds. Excluded are Multi-Asset funds (M* calls them "supporting"; it's not a M* Category yet) and the TDFs (with glide-path allocations).
    https://www.morningstar.com/funds/best-balanced-funds
    "After suffering one of their worst downfalls on record in 2022, balanced funds bounced back in 2023. The Morningstar US Moderate Target Allocation Index, which resembles a typical diversified balanced fund, gained more than 15% for the year to date through mid-December, and despite continued pessimism from some market observers, the outlook isn’t as grim as some soothsayers say....."
  • HSAs
    IOW, a plan with a $300 deductible is not a high deductible plan.
    By design, high deductible, HSA-eligible health plans discourage use. Aside from free (no deductible) preventive care, they may cost so much to use that they are effectively just catastrophic insurance.
    They work for people in excellent health or those who expect to require major care (premiums + out of pocket cap can be smaller on these plans). They typically don't work as well for those approaching Medicare age, or more generally for people who use some but not a lot of health care goods and services.
    These two plans are very good, and the HDHP plan may be (slightly) better in most cases.
    Illustrating, where low use means just premiums and free annual preventive care and high use means premiums plus out of pocket cap. For medium care I add deductible and a few routine visits including specialists (say 6 specialist visits CPT 99213, quarterly PCP). For the regular plan, the copays come to 6 x $50 + 4 x $30.
    Regular plan: Low use $2400, medium use $3100 (approx), high use $5400
    HDHP plan: Low use $1200, medium use in the middle, high use $4200
    With the HDHP it's easy to hit the $4200 ($100/mo + $3000 cap) max, especially with Upper East Side doctors, even in network. So say in the medium case (just office visits, minor testing, nothing special) you're comparing $4200 to $3100. That's a difference of $1100. The tax savings (32% bracket) with an HSA is around 32% of $4K or around $1300.
    The HDHP may be close to a wash in the middle use range and better on both ends. That's not typical (usually the regular plan works out better in the middle).
    Regardless, it may not be a big enough difference one way or the other to be worth pursuing. Your friend might check with a Social Security office to see if Medicare disenrollment is possible. Out of curiosity if nothing else :-).
  • HSAs
    I've been procrastinating forever moving my HSA from a low interest savings account to a Fidelity account to invest long term. This thread was the motivation I needed to make the move, thanks to @bee and others.
    My HSA amount isn't great and with being on Medicare the past 5 years I haven't been able to contribute. Bummer. I wish the gov. would change that rule and allow contributions for seniors! I mean, my Medicare advantage plan is no different than the required plans younger folks have.
    There has been some talk in DC about changes to HSA and its relationship to Medicare. But it may be more of give & take - get somethings, but give up some other things.
    https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/592/thread
  • HSAs
    I've been procrastinating forever moving my HSA from a low interest savings account to a Fidelity account to invest long term. This thread was the motivation I needed to make the move, thanks to @bee and others.
    My HSA amount isn't great and with being on Medicare the past 5 years I haven't been able to contribute. Bummer. I wish the gov. would change that rule and allow contributions for seniors! I mean, my Medicare advantage plan is no different than the required plans younger folks have.
  • Let's Breathe…
    @Crash, yes, DCA down each month into BRUFX. A few years ago I migrated some of my HSA to Fidelity from Bruce Fund. About 25% of my HSA is with Bruce.
  • HSAs
    My friend sat down with HR yesterday and they had no experience with an employee unenrolling from Part A.
    However, they told her that if she is interested in an HSA that she would need to change healthcare plans. With her current plan, approximately $200 is taken out of her paycheck monthly. $300 yearly in-network deductible, $3,000 maximum out-of pocket limit, and mostly copays. $30/visit for her primary, $50/visit for a specialist, $30/visit for x-rays, and $10 copay / $25 copay for generic drugs. With the HSA eligible plan, it would cost her approximately $100 per month. $1,500 yearly in-network deductible, $3,000 maximum out-of pocket limit, and the coverages change from smallish copays to 20% coinsurance pretty much across the board.
    The combination of uncertainty regarding unenrolling and reenrolling with Medicare Part A and the inferior healthcare coverage, she decided pass on an HSA. Thanks all for your input!
  • HSAs
    Certainly she can ask HR what she can do, recognizing that HR likely had nothing to do with her initial enrollment. I have my doubts about prospects for success, but there's no harm in asking.
    CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) is the Medicare regulatory agency (authority) within HHS much as the IRS is the taxation regulatory agency within the Treasury Dept. And much as the IRS puts out Pubs which can have errors (they are not the regulations themselves), CMS puts out material for public consumption that can have errors. In both instances, errors are not common but they're certainly possible.
    So when CMS says that disenrolling from non-premium Part A Medicare is against the law, it's possible that this agency is misstating its own regs. Not likely, but possible.
    Here's CMS form 1763 for terminating Medicare coverage.
    https://www.cms.gov/medicare/cms-forms/cms-forms/downloads/cms1763.pdf
    It is titled: REQUEST FOR TERMINATION OF PREMIUM PART A, PART B, OR
    PART B IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE DRUG COVERAGE
    It begins:
    WHO CAN USE THIS FORM?
    People with Medicare premium Part A or B who would like
    to terminate their hospital or medical insurance coverage.
    Is it possible that there's a different form for non-premium Part A beneficiaries to terminate coverage? Sure, but not likely since this form covers all other situations.
    We can go back to the Wellesley College page with info from HSA Resources to observe some oddities.
    First, this is an old page (not disqualifying, but curious). The pdf creation date is  11/22/2016. That's consistent with the fact that HSA Resources was acquired by Select Account in Dec 2016.
    (FWIW, SelectAccount was renamed Further and acquired by HealthEquity in 2021.)
    More important is how it suggests that disenrollment is dated differently depending on whether one is receiving SS checks. If you are receiving checks, it says that you are supposed to pay back any Medicare money spent on claims. Effectively, this is undoing the Medicare enrollment entirely. OTOH, it doesn't say that you have to refund Medicare benefits received if you're not receiving SS checks. It seems you are allowed to keep Medicare benefits received up to the time of disenrollment request.
    What this page is doing is misquoting the rules for undoing registration for Social Security (not Medicare) benefits:
    The request to withdraw a [Social Security retirement] application must be made in writing. Anyone who receives benefits based on the client's application must consent in writing to the withdrawal. Additionally, all benefits previously received must be repaid. This includes:
    • Benefits received by family members;
    • Money withheld for Medicare premiums;
    • Money withheld for voluntary tax withholding; and
    • Money withheld for garnishments.
    https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2023/mar/how-to-reverse-course-collecting-social-security.html
    You have to repay the Medicare premiums not the Medicare benefits, from start until termination. That is, you have Medicare throughout, but the premium payments come from you and not your Social Security check if you undo those checks. And it terminates SS benefits, not Medicare enrollment.
    The one item I have found that supports the idea that any Medicare Part A can be voluntarily terminated is in the Medicare statute itself (42 U.S. Code § 1395q(b)(1)):
    An individual’s coverage period shall continue until his enrollment has been terminated—
    (1) by the filing of notice that the individual no longer wishes to participate in the insurance program established by this part,
    https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1395q
    That says only that such a filing will terminate coverage. It doesn't specify the conditions under which such filing is permitted. Such as being charged a Part A premium. Those conditions may be in the regs, which gets us right back to CMS.
  • HSAs
    There are secondary sources that go over into HSA and Medicare details. Info is probably also hidden in some obscure federal publications. For your friend, it may matter more what her HR says.
    https://offices.depaul.edu/human-resources/benefits/Documents/HSA-medicare-faqs.pdf
    https://www.medicareinteractive.org/get-answers/coordinating-medicare-with-other-types-of-insurance/job-based-insurance-and-medicare/health-savings-accounts-hsas-and-medicare
  • HSAs
    There's no requirement that HSA contributions be made into the employer's HSA. She can open an outside HSA (say, at Fidelity) for the year. The benefits of contributing to an employer's HSA via payroll deduction are:
    1. Possible employer contribution
    2. Reduction in payroll income subject to FICA
         a) Social Security (6.2% employee-side) - someone in the 32% tax bracket would likely max out even if W2 income is reduced by HSA contribution amount
         b) Medicare (1.45% employee-side) - this is the only obvious benefit of contributing to the employer's chosen HSA.
    ---
    Color me skeptical about being able to disenroll from Part A. The referenced page is not authoritative and was shown to be imprecise (re: Part C premiums). To offer another non-authoritative page, here's an AARP page. It says that one cannot generally drop part A if one is not paying a premium, even if one has an employer plan providing primary coverage.
    The hedging there is in the word "generally". AARP is just repeating what Medicare.gov says: "Generally, you can only drop Part A (Hospital Insurance) if you have to pay a premium for it."
    However, CMS is unambiguous: "Individuals entitled to premium-free Part A cannot voluntarily terminate their Part A coverage. This is not permitted by law. "
    https://www.cms.gov/medicare/enrollment-renewal/health-plans/original-part-a-b
    (last modified 9/6/2023)
    For a longer narrative saying the same thing, see this Forbes piece, Can You Drop Part A?, 6/9/2023.
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/dianeomdahl/2023/06/09/can-you-drop-medicare-part-a/
  • HSAs
    @yogibearbull, for some reason, I am under the impression that her employer only allows "enrollment" once per year in January. Hopefully, I am wrong.
    As davidsherman said "HSA is superior to IRA and Roth IRA". This seems to be the case because unlike an IRA where you are tax upon withdrawal, with an HSA you are not taxed on the income for the contribution or the distribution so long as it is a qualifying medical expense. Am I characterizing this correctly?
  • HSAs
    @Mona, actually, she can also contribute $4,850 for 2023 by 4/15/24 so long as she signs up for HSA BEFORE December 1, 2023. Fido link has details.
    Annual contributions are adjusted each year, so they may be higher in 2025, 2026,...
    Tax math looks OK otherwise.
  • HSAs
    HSA annual contribution limits are (single/family):
    2023 $3,850/7,750
    2024 $4,150/8,300
    There is also additional $1,000 catchup for 55+.
    https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/smart-money/hsa-contribution-limits
    She is single and would be able to contribute the full amount of $5,150 in 2024. In a 32% tax bracket, does that mean she would be saving $1,648 in taxes?
    And, assuming that she works 3 more years and for easy math, have $15,450 ($5,150 x 3) available for qualifying medical expenses (deductibles, co-payments, etc.)?
  • HSAs

    One huge benefit of HSAs is years of buildup of funds ....
    If she is only going to work 2-3 more years, I wonder if it is worth her while to sign up for the HSA now and deal with unenrolling from Medicare Part A with the Social Security Administration. However, she is in a 32% tax bracket.
    Average life expectancy for a US female aged 65 is about 20 years (shorter than 2/3 of the other OECD countries). That's two decades of appreciation.
    Even a non-spouse heir can withdraw the HSA assets tax-free, so long as she keeps records of qualifying expenses. The heir must make the withdrawals within a year of death.
    https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/blog/what-happens-to-the-funds-in-an-hsa-after-the-account-holder-dies/
  • HSAs

    This link seems to cover a lot of the questions regarding HSA and turning 65
    hsa_and_medicare
    At age 65, you can use your HSA to pay for Medicare parts A, B, D and Medicare HMO premiums tax-free and penalty-free.
    You can use an HSA to pay for Medicare PPOs and Medicare PFFS plans as well as Medicare HMO plans. They are all types of Part C (Medicare Advantage) plans.
    A common misconception is that all Medicare Part C plans are HMOs. This is why one often sees articles saying that a disadvantage of Medicare Advantage (MA) plans is that they limit you to doctors in a network. That's true for HMO plans but not for the other types of MA plans. The PPOs still require insurer approval for some procedures, though.