{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.028086600351082503, 'fraction_numerical': 0.03159742539496782, 'mean_word_length': 4.896551724137931, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Investment Options and HSAs: Findings from the EBRI HSA Database

This paper examines data from the EBRI HSA Database to get a better understanding of who is using the investment-account option, and how account balances and contributions differ with respect to whether there is an open investment option in a health savings account (HSA). It focuses on the 1.2 million accounts in the EBRI Database that have information on the presence of an investment option. In 2014, 6.4 percent of HSA owners in the EBRI HSA Database had used the investment option portion of the account. Forty-seven percent of the HSAs with investments were opened between 2005 and 2008, compared with 8 percent among HSAs without investments. Among HSA owners with investments, the average age was 48.5 in 2014, compared with 43 among HSA owners without investments. Individuals contributed $2,636 annually on average when they had investments and $1,224 when they did not have investments. Annual distributions for health care claims averaged $1,777 from HSAs with investments, and $1,293 from HSAs without investments. End-of-year account balances averaged $10,261 among HSAs with investments, and $1,709 in HSAs without them. These findings may indicate that HSA owners with investments are maximizing its use for saving, spending, and investing. However, they may not truly be using it as a retirement savings vehicle, as the propensity to take a distribution for a health care claim is the same whether or not an investment option is being used. Given the availability of investment options and the triple tax-advantage of HSAs, future research will examine whether HSA owners are moving contributions from 401(k) plans into HSAs.