How can I find/compare custodians for my HSA in the United States?
In general, things to look for are: Things to look out for: I'd recommend two places: I'd recommend reading up on HSA's in this related question here. "The account I have found that works best as a HSA is Alliant Credit Union. They have fee-free HSA (no fees for almost all types of transactions or monthly fees) and a fairly decent online banking website. I've been with them for about 5 years now without trouble. FYI - They are a credit union not a bank so you do have to make a small $10 donation to one of their charities to become ""eligible"" for opening the account."
"Actually the reason isn't because of the gold standard. The real reason is because we have seen a sharp increase in fruit imports over the past 5 decades.  Productivity is up rather dramatically as compared to 40 years ago. Maybe you mean manufacturing?  The reason you're seeing the gains over the past several years shifting towards the rich is due to a combination of tax policy and a rise in cronyism caused by our campaign financing problems. Big businesses often have a lot of lobbying power to get laws passed that ultimately are felt by the  rest of the economy.   Fiat currency is a good thing for countries like the United States. We can safely finance and pay our debts for a few more years while wracking up debt without fear of hyperinflation. Now, there may be a lot to gripe about how the United States is *currently* spending its money, but it's established ""practical"" fact that government investment can spur growth, level out recessions, help people, etc.  **TL;DR The Gold Standard sucks, it has a lot of problems. Fiat Currency rocks for the USA because USA Fuck yeah! We are in a particular advantage where the real risks of fiat currency don't really apply to the USA**" The rebate amount is a non-qualified distribution: IRS Pub 969 describes how the HSA works: Reporting Distributions on Your Return How you report your distributions depends on whether or not you use the distribution for qualified medical expenses (defined earlier). If you use a distribution from your HSA for qualified medical expenses, you do not pay tax on the distribution but you have to report the distribution on Form 8889. However, the distribution of an excess contribution taken out after the due date, including extensions, of your return is subject to tax even if used for qualified medical expenses. Follow the instructions for the form and file it with your Form 1040 or Form 1040NR. If you do not use a distribution from your HSA for qualified medical expenses, you must pay tax on the distribution. Report the amount on Form 8889 and file it with your Form 1040 or Form 1040NR. If you have a taxable HSA distribution, include it in the total on Form 1040 or Form 1040NR, line 21, and enter “HSA” and the amount on the dotted line next to line 21. You may have to pay an additional 20% tax on your taxable distribution. I looked at several plans regarding how to handle mistaken distributions: example A What if I accidentally use my HSA Visa debit card for a non-qualified expense?   To fix this problem, just bring that same amount into any local branch and tell us it was a Mistaken Distribution. We can then put the funds back into your HSA and correct the problem.  example B  You’re allowed to correct mistaken   HSA withdrawals when there is clear and convincing   evidence that amounts were distributed from an HSA   because of a mistake of fact due to reasonable cause. You   can correct the mistake by repaying the withdrawal   no later than April 15 following the first year that you   knew or should have known that the withdrawal was   a mistake. When a correction is made, the mistaken   withdrawal does not have to be included in gross   income or be subject to the 6 percent additional tax, and   the repayment does not count as an excess contribution.   If an error is made by SelectAccount in its role as the   administrator, SelectAccount will be responsible for   taking appropriate corrective action. Check with your plan trustee on their procedure to fix the mistaken withdrawal. "Thanks for your additional comments Sam, that is helpful. Here is an overview of what you can and cannot do with an FSA as it applies to your situation. The government intends that a general health FSA be used to cover expenses that are usually out-of-pocket when you are covered by a qualifying health plan. It is funded with pre-tax dollars and is on a use-it or lose-it basis. However, an HSA is itself a form of health coverage that is tax-advantaged, and the balance can be invested. Because of this, an HSA is not considered by the government to be a health plan that ""qualifies"" for use with a general health FSA. However, this means that a given covered person cannot have both of these simultaneously. In your wife's case, if you have an HSA and she has traditional health benefits with an FSA, this is not considered a problem since she can only use the FSA money for expenses incurred by members of your family on her plan. However, if she were to join you on the HSA (which sounds like it could be a good idea overall), she would need to wind down her FSA and would not be able to fund it for the next year. This could be a problem if you have a lot of money in the FSA that she isn't able to spend prior to joining the HSA. The reason why the government doesn't want one given person covered by both an HSA and given access to an FSA at the same time is that they are both tax-advantaged. What they intend is that people can set aside money pre-tax which they will use to pay their non-covered health expenses. If someone had both, there would be two potential problems: If you do ultimately want your wife to be on the HSA, see if you can spend what is left in her FSA, as it will end when she ends her health coverage with her employer. If the amount you stand to lose is significant, you may need to wait another year until your next open enrollment period or life event (such as the birth of a child) to enroll her on your HSA. It is also likely that her premium on the HSA will be lower, which could impact the effect of ending her FSA. Recently, there has also been a rule change regarding what is called a ""Limited Use"" FSA. These are FSAs that are used for qualifying non-""health"" expenses such as dental and vision that can be used together with an HSA. This may be something that is helpful to you and/or your wife on the HSA if your employer offers this as a possibility. Please note that unlike retirement accounts, you cannot ""rollover"" funds between FSA plans offered by two different employers as each FSA is a separate benefit fund that is on a use-it or lose-it basis (again, because the government wants to restrict tax-advantaged contributions to what you are likely to spend). You may also find the article here helpful to learn more about FSA/HSA combinations and Limited-Use FSAs. I hope this helps!" "Uniform Transfer to Minors Act (UTMA) and Uniform Gift to Minors Act (UGMA) accounts in the United States are accounts that belong to your child, but you can deposit money into.  When the child attains his/her majority, the money becomes theirs to spend however they wish.  Prior to attaining their majority, a custodian must sign off on withdrawals.  Now, they are not foolproof; legally, you can withdraw money if it is spent on the child's behalf, so that can be gamed.  What you can do to protect against that is to make another person the custodian (or, perhaps make them joint custodians with yourself, requiring both signatures for withdrawals). UTMA/UGMA accounts do not have to be bank savings accounts; for example, both of my children have accounts at Vanguard which are effectively their college savings accounts.  They're invested in various ETFs and similar kinds of investments; you're welcome to choose from a wide variety of options depending on risk tolerance.  Typically these accounts have relatively small fees, particularly if you have a reasonable minimum balance (I think USD$10k is a common minimum for avoiding larger fees). If you are looking for something even more secure than a UGMA or UTMA account, you can set up a trust.  These have several major differences over the UGMA/UTMA accounts: Some of course consider the second point an advantage, some a disadvantage - we (and Grandma) prefer to let our children make their own choices re: college, while others may not prefer that. Also worth noting as a difference - and concern to think about - in these two.  A UGMA or UTMA account that generates income may have taxable events - interest or dividend income.  If that's over a relatively low threshhold, about $1050 this year, those earnings will be taxed (on the child's own tax return).  If it's over $2100 (this year), those earnings will be taxed at the parents' tax rate (""kiddie tax""). Trusts are slightly different; trusts themselves are taxed, and have their own tax returns.  If you do set one of those up, the lawyer who helps you do so should inform you of the tax implications and either hook you up with an accountant or point you to resources to handle the taxes yourself." @ Chris:  Companies like Keane, ours, and others know where to look for these funds and where to ask at the correct agencies that are holding this money that is not part of the public links that you have access to. This is how we find this information.  Our types of companies spend significant time, money and resources in finding out about the money, then finding who it actually belongs to (because it does not always belong to who is mentioned on the list) and then finding the correct individual. @ jdsweet:  I apologize if you think this is a marketing ploy.  It is not.  Our company doesn't even take phone calls from people that want us to find them money.  Only if we contact someone, because at that time we're confident that the person we touch base with is due the funds. Again, I am not plugging our company, but trying to let Neil know that in some cases he is right, you don't need a third party to claim funds for you - if you can find them.  In this case, he has looked and cannot find them.  Keane is charging a fair amount to retrieve funds he cannot find and doesn't know about and is not charging him anything to do all the work. Again, as mentioned above, the direct answer is that we know how to access information and lists that have this money hidden from the public because the agency holding the funds doesn't want you to know about it so that they can escheat the funds.  Escheating is the state's legal way to confiscate your money.   See, if you don't put in a claim for the money (depending on what type it is and where it is located) the agency and state holding the funds has certain time frames for you to get the money.  If you don't, again, they get to keep it and that is what they want despite what they say.  That is why there is approximately $33 Billion that is known to the public and really $1 Trillion that's out there. I apologize if you think that this is a plug for my company, it's not because we're not looking for calls, we make them.  I'm also not asking Neil for his business. From all accounts on my side, this seems like a fair deal. "I also talked to the IRS yesterday to get a few of my own questions answered, and I asked a few of these while I was at it (as I didn't know the answers for sure either, even after reading IRS pub 969). To answer your specific questions: I would, however, like to confirm a few things: You are allowed to have multiple HSA accounts. My company forces me to   use a specific bank if they are going to be make contributions.   However, I would like to move this money to a higher-risk/higher-yield   account. You are allowed to withdraw money to reimburse any past payments that   were made after the HSA is opened – perhaps years later. This would   allow me to accumulate interest on the money and then get reimbursed   later. You can transfer money between HSAs, etc. and the money will still   cover any payments since the first HSA was opened? I am currently unmarried and without children. An HSA can be made to   pay for any dependent or spouse medical bills as well. I am currently   signed up with an HSA that is marked as ""individual"" or something. I   assume that once I get married, I should have no issues using this   money from the past on my wife and kids? Note that I am not a certified tax professional and you should not rely on this information for your own tax decisions, but should investigate or contact the IRS yourself." First, as noted in the comments, you need to pay attention to your network providers.  If you are unable to pay exorbitant prices out of pocket, then find an in-network medical provider.  if you are unhappy with the in-network provider list (e.g. too distant or not specialists), then discuss switching to another plan or insurer with your employer or broker. Second, many providers will have out of pocket or uninsured price lists, often seen in outdated formats or disused binders.  Since you have asked for price lists and not been provided one, I would pursue it with the practice manager (or equivalent, or else a doctor) and ask if they have one.  It's possible that the clinic has an out of pocket price list but the front line staff is unaware of it and was never trained on it. Third, if you efforts to secure a price list fail, and you are especially committed to this specific provider, then I would consider engaging in a friendly by direct negotiation with the practice manager or other responsible person.  Person they will be amenable to creating a list of prices (if you are particularly proactive and aggressive, you could offer to find out of pocket price lists from other clinics nearby).  You could also flat out ask them to charge you a certain fee for office visits (if you do this, try to get some sort of offer or agreed price list in writing).  Most medical practices are uncomfortable asking patients for money, so that may mean flat refusal to negotiate but it may also mean surprising willingness to work with you.  This route is highly unpredictable before you go down it, and it's dependent on all sorts of things like the ownership structure, business model, and the personalities of the key people there. The easiest answer is to switch clinics.  This one sounds very unfriendly to HSA patients. There is no distribution limit, only a contribution limit.  You can empty your HSA completely without tax or penalty, as long as the expenses are used for eligible medical expenses. In addition, you can reimburse yourself in the future for expenses that you have now, as long as you have an HSA account in place.  For example, you said that your dental bill was $3500, and you only had $3300 in your HSA, so you emptied your HSA and paid the rest from your checking account.  When you do get more money in the HSA, even if it isn't until next year, you can reimburse yourself for the $200 that you had to pay out of pocket on your dental bill.  And if you don't have enough money in your HSA this year to cover all of your birth expenses (congrats, by the way), you can reimburse yourself in a future year. Just make sure you keep good records on what the distributions were used for, in case you get audited.