Hey, it's Louis.

We've spent a few issues in the 401k and Roth IRA kitchen. Today we're opening a cabinet most of you didn't know was there.

👀 IN TODAY'S STASH

🌳 THE SHADE

Some of you are treating your HSA like a coupon that expires at midnight. Grab some shade for a minute, brother.

You load it up, then blow through it the second something hurts, a $4 bottle of Advil here, a box of Band-Aids there, like the money's gonna evaporate if you don't spend it fast enough.

Some of us don't even know we've got one. It's sitting in your benefits package, untouched, like a gym membership you signed up for in January and forgot existed by February.

Either way, we're fixing that today.

🌰 THE NUT

This could be one of those late-night infomercials, right?

You've heard about the 401k and the Roth IRA, but did you know about the all-new, all-tax-free HSA!

Act now and we'll also throw in tax-free growth, absolutely free!

But wait, there's more!!!

Order in the next ten minutes and take home tax-free withdrawals too. That's right, three tax breaks for the price of one account, and no, we're not going to make you call a 1-800 number at 2 a.m. to get it.

Sounds like a scam, right? Like Ron Popeil is about to pop out and tell you it also slices, dices, and juliennes.

It's not a scam.

It's called a Health Savings Account, and it's most likely sitting there in your benefits package right now, completely ignored, like that bowl of mystery in the back of the fridge.

Here's the catch, and it's a small one. You've got to be on a high-deductible health plan to qualify. Not everybody is, so check your plan before you get excited. If you are, congratulations, you've got access to the most underrated account in the entire retirement conversation.

Let's talk about why it's underrated.

Every dollar you put in comes out of your paycheck before taxes touch it. That's tax break number one.

Once it's in there, it grows completely tax-free, same as a Roth. That's number two.

And when you pull it out for a qualified medical expense, no taxes there either. That's number three.

Your 401k gives you one of those breaks. Your Roth gives you two. The HSA gives you all three, at the same time, in the same account.

Now, some of you are thinking this sounds like your old flex spending account from a previous job, the one where you had to guess how much you'd spend on contacts and belly button cleaner for the year or lose whatever was left.

Forget that. This money is yours. It doesn't disappear at the end of the year. It doesn't disappear when you switch jobs. It just sits there, growing, waiting.

For 2026, you can put in $4,400 if it's just you, or $8,750 for family coverage. If you're 55 or older, tack on another $1,000.

Here's where it gets good, and where "secret third retirement account" earns its name.

Once you turn 65, you can pull money out for anything, not just medical stuff, and you won't get hit with a penalty.

You'll pay regular income tax on it, same as a withdrawal from a traditional 401k, but the penalty's gone.

Before 65, pulling money for non-medical reasons costs you a 20% penalty on top of the tax, so this isn't a slush fund for a boat. But at 65, it turns into just another retirement account, one you didn’t know you were building.

And if you want to play it like the guys who actually optimize this thing, here's the move. Pay your medical bills out of pocket now, if you can afford to.

Keep the receipts. Let the HSA sit there untouched, invested, growing for years.

Then, whenever you want, next month or twenty years from now, reimburse yourself from the account, tax-free, for that old receipt.

There's no deadline on it. You're basically letting the account marinate while you bank a stack of future tax-free withdrawals.

Set it, forget it, and let it cook.

🐿️ THE STEP

Two things this week.

First, check if your health plan actually qualifies as a high-deductible plan. If you're not sure, your benefits portal or HR person can tell you in under five minutes.

Second, if you've already got an HSA, log in and see where that money's sitting.

You may not know that your HSA can be invested just like a brokerage account once it hits a minimum balance. Don’t let it sit there in cash earning basically nothing.

If it's in cash and could be invested, that's your move. Get it working instead of napping.

Until the next Stash, protect your nuts brother.