An HSA, or Health Savings Account, is an amazing vehicle for saving for both medical expenses, retirement, and medical expenses in retirement. Its seemingly unmatched tax advantages make it truly a secret weapon in saving for retirement.

In this post, I will list the best places you can open your own HSA today. I will start by outlining the steps you need to get started with your account, and then I will provide you a detailed overview of the two best places to open your HSA.

How to Get Started with Your HSA

Before you open your HSA, there are a few things you need to take care of. Most importantly, you need to make sure you are eligible.

1. Make sure you meet the eligibility requirements.

There are some important requirements you must meet in order to open an HSA. You will qualify for an HSA if all of the following statements are true:

You are 18 years or older.
You are covered under a qualifying high deductible health plan (HDHP). In 2025 this means your yearly deductible is at least $1,650 for an individual or $3,300 for a family plan.
No other person claims you as an independent on their tax return.
You are not covered by any other health plan (such as your spouse’s) that is not an HDHP.
You are not covered by any other healthcare benefit account such as a Healthcare Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Healthcare Reimbursement Account (HRA).
You are not covered by Medicare.

The biggest thing here is the high-deductible plan - that will probably eliminate about half of you. If you have a low deductible, then unfortunately you can’t contribute to an HSA.

2. Check your employer’s offerings.

Many employers provide an HSA for their employees. And on top of that, many contribute a certain amount each month to the account at no cost to the employee. So make sure you are aware of your employer’s offerings. If they provide the account for you, you may be better off using that account instead of choosing one for yourself. That doesn’t mean you necessarily have to, but it will probably be more convenient for you.

If your employer offers an HSA and you plan to use it, then obtain information on the account so you can log in and begin to manage your transactions.

3. Open Your HSA Account.

If your employer doesn’t provide an HSA for you or if you want to choose your own provider, then open an individual account, provided that you are eligible. Check out the best places to open an individual HSA below.

4. Choose your cash balance.

If you have somewhat consistent medical expenses and need the funds, then maybe you want to keep a cash balance in your HSA to allow for easy access to reimbursements. But if you are flexible on when you need the reimbursements, it may be better to invest as much as your account allows. The cash balance will earn you little or no interest, but investing will earn you a significant return over time.

5. Select your investments.

Now it’s time to choose what you’d like to invest in. Make your selections, and consider meeting the IRS maximum of $4,300 (in 2025) for an individual. Since your eligibility for contributing to an HSA may change down the road, it can hardly hurt to put in the maximum now.

6. Continue contributing.

With many HSAs you can set up automatic deposits into the account, and you can set up automatic investments into the funds you select. Keep contributing year after year and your money will grow into a healthy retirement and medical savings account.

The Best Places to Open Your HSA

There are a bunch of HSA providers out there, but almost all of them charge some sort of fee. For that reason, I’m only going to list two providers as the best places to open your HSA. Because of the fee policies, Fidelity and Lively are my two favorite providers out there. They are excellent investing platforms, and they are virtually cost-free. I’ll go into a little more detail about each.

Lively

Lively is an excellent choice for a place to open your new HSA. Many providers force you to keep a few thousand dollars in a “checking” balance before you are able to invest your money. With Lively, you don't have to do that - you can invest your entire balance so you can make the most of your interest-earning potential.

Lively offers an investment selection in partnership with TD Ameritrade. This gives you access to tons of stocks, bonds, ETFs and mutual funds; you can buy and trade these easily at extremely low cost.

You can even set up auto-investments to automatically invest your new money into mutual funds. You can't do this for stocks or ETFs though.

The investment options that come with TD Ameritrade are great; but the downside here is that you have two accounts to worry about - both Lively and TD Ameritrade. Transferring your funds back and forth between Lively and TD Ameritrade is an extra step you have to do.

With Lively there are absolutely no fees for individual accounts, and as of now it’s the only provider out there I’ve found I can say that for. I can almost count Fidelity in, but it has an account closing fee, so if you want zero fees across the board, then go with Lively.

Lively has an easy-to-use platform and is available to help when you need it. Because of its fantastic investment options and no-fee mentality, it’s overall a great choice for opening your individual HSA.

Lively Overview

$0 fee for individuals
$2.95/employee fee for employer accounts
$0 commissions for online stocks, ETFs, and option trades at TD Ameritrade
$0 minimum balance
Debit card and online banking
FDIC-insured
Can invest entire HSA balance

Fidelity

Like Lively, Fidelity also offers first-dollar investing, meaning that you aren’t required to keep a cash balance before being able to invest. This is what you want if you’re looking to make the most of your HSA money-making opportunities.

Fidelity is another low-cost HSA for individuals. Fidelity does have a $25 account closing fee, which Lively doesn’t have, but that’s about it in terms of account fees. You should plan to keep your account open for a while, so the closing fee isn’t really a big deal. Almost all HSAs have them, just not Lively.

Just like TD Ameritrade, Fidelity is a top-tier brokerage account with a ton of investment offerings and low-cost choices. They even have some funds with zero expense ratio, which is really awesome. You can automate your deposits and investments to make your money work for you.

The ability to open an account directly with Fidelity may provide you an added level of convenience that Lively doesn’t have. And with that you can also manage other account types - like an IRA or a standard brokerage account - with Fidelity. A centralized place for handling your investments is certainly a plus for Fidelity.

Overall, there’s not much to dislike about Fidelity as an HSA provider. It gives you everything you need at a really low cost.

Fidelity Overview

Debit card, checks, online banking, auto investing
$0 investing fee
$0 transaction fees
$0 record-keeping fee for individuals
FDIC-insured

Choosing Your Provider

Lively and Fidelity are both excellent choices for your HSA. If you already have an account with TD Ameritrade or don’t mind multiple accounts, maybe you choose Lively. If you have an account with Fidelity or like the convenience of a single brokerage, maybe you choose them for your HSA. But you can’t really go wrong with either, as they both offer a diverse set of investments at virtually no cost to you.

How and Where to Open an HSA