Fidelity HSA? Thinking of switching.

[Jtdmn]

I apologize if these questions have been asked and answered previously but I have searched and not able to find anything on point. My HSA is with Optum. My employer adds funds early in the year and I contribute through payroll deductions. I want to transfer to a Fidelity HSA. My questions:
- Some of the responses in this thread suggest you need to liquidate to cash in the existing HSA before doing the transfer. Is that necessary? Wouldn't funds that can't be transferred in kind automatically be liquidated?
-Once the Fidelity HSA is set up should I stop the payroll deductions (which would go to Optum) and make contributions to the Fidelity HSA on my own? Or should I just occasionally transfer the Optum funds to Fidelity? It probably doesn't matter but I am curious as to what others do.
- I assume once the employer contribution in January shows up in Optum that I can transfer that amount to Fidelity.

Optum seems to work pretty well and has a good choice of funds. The $3/mo investment fee isn't enough to get me to move but I have to keep $2k in non-interest earning cash and that is the reason I want to move. Thanks

[illumination]

It's a no brainer to switch to Fidelity. I finally feel like the HSA is "home" and not bouncing around random places anymore.

Just disappointed Schwab doesn't offer HSA's. I hate Fidelity's interface, but otherwise, they've been great.

[buzzz_buzzz_buzzz]

Just disappointed Schwab doesn't offer HSA's. I hate Fidelity's interface, but otherwise, they've been great.

Schwab does indirectly offer HSAs through Lively but they charge a $24/yr fee that Lively never had when it was using TDA.

[illumination]

Just disappointed Schwab doesn't offer HSA's. I hate Fidelity's interface, but otherwise, they've been great.

Schwab does indirectly offer HSAs through Lively but they charge a $24/yr fee that Lively never had when it was using TDA.

Yea, I had the old Lively when it was with TDA.

I never had an issue with them, I just knew eventually they were going to have to start charging fees.

You basically have to be a major brokerage willing to lose money to have a "free" HSA account.

Fidelity is good enough, just everytime I use it, it seems terribly designed, but ultimately Im able to use it.

[secondopinion]

Just disappointed Schwab doesn't offer HSA's. I hate Fidelity's interface, but otherwise, they've been great.

Schwab does indirectly offer HSAs through Lively but they charge a $24/yr fee that Lively never had when it was using TDA.

Yea, I had the old Lively when it was with TDA.

I never had an issue with them, I just knew eventually they were going to have to start charging fees.

You basically have to be a major brokerage willing to lose money to have a "free" HSA account.

Fidelity is good enough, just everytime I use it, it seems terribly designed, but ultimately Im able to use it.

Fidelity has funds specially designed for HSAs; they also offer managed options for the HSA. They hope to get enough people to use these options.

For me, it is a free area to invest as I like; the fact it is even spendable money is secondary to what I use it for.

[jumbo shrimp]

I apologize if these questions have been asked and answered previously but I have searched and not able to find anything on point. My HSA is with Optum. My employer adds funds early in the year and I contribute through payroll deductions. I want to transfer to a Fidelity HSA. My questions:
- Some of the responses in this thread suggest you need to liquidate to cash in the existing HSA before doing the transfer. Is that necessary? Wouldn't funds that can't be transferred in kind automatically be liquidated?
-Once the Fidelity HSA is set up should I stop the payroll deductions (which would go to Optum) and make contributions to the Fidelity HSA on my own? Or should I just occasionally transfer the Optum funds to Fidelity? It probably doesn't matter but I am curious as to what others do.
- I assume once the employer contribution in January shows up in Optum that I can transfer that amount to Fidelity.

Optum seems to work pretty well and has a good choice of funds. The $3/mo investment fee isn't enough to get me to move but I have to keep $2k in non-interest earning cash and that is the reason I want to move. Thanks

I'm sure Optum has a partial transfer form/process. My employer uses Health Equity. I have a HSA at Health Equity that receives my contributions (and contributions from my employer at the beginning of the year). Once the account reaches $750 or $1,000 I transfer it to my Fidelity HSA. I have to keep $25 in Health Equity to keep the account open. It's not optimal, but it works. I had some problems with Health Equity and I asked my employer if the contributions can go straight to Fidelity since the 401k is there. They said no, so I continue with this direction.

I think funds are liquidated in my Health Equity account if it needs to cover the amount in the transfer. I never invest with Health Equity so I have never liquidated within the account.

[illumination]

Just disappointed Schwab doesn't offer HSA's. I hate Fidelity's interface, but otherwise, they've been great.

Schwab does indirectly offer HSAs through Lively but they charge a $24/yr fee that Lively never had when it was using TDA.

Yea, I had the old Lively when it was with TDA.

I never had an issue with them, I just knew eventually they were going to have to start charging fees.

You basically have to be a major brokerage willing to lose money to have a "free" HSA account.

Fidelity is good enough, just everytime I use it, it seems terribly designed, but ultimately Im able to use it.

Fidelity has funds specially designed for HSAs; they also offer managed options for the HSA. They hope to get enough people to use these options.

For me, it is a free area to invest as I like; the fact it is even spendable money is secondary to what I use it for.

I can almost guarantee it's a loss leader for them to service these accounts. Similar to FZROX having a zero expense ratio.
I think they hope to bring in other business with assets under management when clients park their HSA's there.

Probably why Schwab isn't doing it on their own.