I’m looking into buying a sauna thru my HSA and jumping thru the hoops necessary to facilitate that process. I’m curious if anyone here has done this before and has any advice or lessons learned they could share? It looks like there’s several companies that offer payment thru an HSA and I’m trying to vet the different companies. Thanks!
Are you looking to install one inside your home or outside. I’ve often thought about getting a sauna ( Love those things ) Just don’t have a good space inside my home, and the cost of most of the outside ones are rather spendy.
I’d be looking for an outside one that is not built permanently as I don’t plan on living at my house long term and want to bring it with me when I move.
You can get a nice outdoor sauna for under $10k. I see 6 ft electric barrel saunas on fbook marketplace all the time in a reasonable price range.
The attractive thing about the HSA option is I have a hefty chunk of money sitting in my HSA collecting dust. I invest it thru my HSA investment platform but would love to deploy some of those funds into a sauna if I can. Another reason why HSA’s are one of the best tax advantage accounts and investment vehicles out there.
Be following this to see how the whole HSA part of this works out for you and what model you end up getting. May have to increase the HSA and look into doing the same thing in the next year or so.
I’ve gone down the rabbit hole on Sauna’s, but didn’t realize HSA payment was even an option. I’d be interested in hearing if that works out and what Sauna you end up with.
The attractive thing about the HSA option is I have a hefty chunk of money sitting in my HSA collecting dust. I invest it thru my HSA investment platform but would love to deploy some of those funds into a sauna if I can. Another reason why HSA’s are one of the best tax advantage accounts and investment vehicles out there.
Not just collecting dust, it’s growing… tax free. All good reasons to leave the HSA alone and use other funds if you have them available. Everyone’s situation is different but just general speaking – let that pre-tax money continue to grow tax free as long as possible.
Just a thought… That money will go a long way when you retire to pay for your medical expenses. You can’t have too much.
On the sauna part, they sure are nice. I feel like they are the best option when I’m not feeling great or am sore beyond belief. My cousin has one similar to what you’re talking about and uses it daily without regret.
On the HSA side – I’d let that fund balance pile up since it is all pre-tax dollars. Medical expenses are going nowhere but up. If you aren’t retirement age, they can be used to buy insurance if/when you retire early. I try to let both my HSA and HCSP remain untouched whenever I can. I don’t want to think about what routine medical care will cost 15-20 years from now.
Ill stay away from the financial advice, it’s all been said here and every situation is different. Are you unable to just payout of pocket or credit card and then reimburse yourself? That’s how I do HSA expenditures to eliminate the hoops. Also can gain credit card points (and bonuses) if your into that sort of thing.
I appreciate everyone’s financial advice. I work (and my education background is) in finance so am very versed in investment vehicles and tax advantage accounts and I know the pros and cons of this move. I can increase my HSA contributions (over what I’m already contributing) to make this purchase with pre-tax dollars. So I’d be leveraging my HSA’s tax attributes, not robbing my HSA balance to make this purchase if that makes sense
I certainly can pay out of pocket and do the reimbursement route but from the research I’ve done, it’s cleaner if you pay directly with your HSA and accompany it with a LMN (letter of medical need). Theres several sauna manufacturers who specialize in the HSA route and all the documentation needed to avoid any issues with the IRS.
RE: paying on a CC. I’ll look into it but many vendors now charge an extra 3% to pay with a CC and that will erode any financial benefit you’d get from getting points/rewards on the transaction. I am huge into the credit card game and maximizing rewards/point monetization, so trust me that I’m maximizing the value there whenever possible.
I enjoy a good sauna but don’t have the space inside. On recommendation from a friend I bought one of the individual sized “portable sauna tent” options from amazon for about $250 and have it in my garage (garage is attached, heated, insulated). Going on year 2 and it’s still working great. Not for everybody, but has fit the bill for me. Plus, it reminds me of ice fishing 
acorroline – what kind of heat source did that portable sauna come with?
acorroline – what kind of heat source did that portable sauna come with?
It looks like a small crock pot with a hose that goes to the tent. Hundreds of variations on amazon. Fits about 1 gallon of water, boils it, releases heat and steam.
I assume you’ve looked into the Infrared saunas?
Mine is a 2 person. I would say it’s probably 4×4 and stands 6 feet tall.
stout – I’ve been in infrared saunas a few times and I don’t care for them. Its just a different kind of heat and I prefer the traditional saunas. I’m open to both wood and electric saunas, but have ruled out infrared. Nothing against them, just not my cup of tea.
Yeah, I hear ya. The infrareds are a bit different, but it still gets the job done for me….every Sunday in the fall and winter I’ll have a good sweat to get rid of all the toxins and genuinely feel fully rejuvenated for the week. Helps with sleep on Sunday nights too..
I’m open to both wood and electric saunas
As a disclaimer I’m not really a sauna enjoyer but do have a wood one. Ours is huge and takes forever to heat up so, even if I think it sounds nice, it turns into a chore of getting it up to temp and going back and forth in the cold to add wood and by the time it’s ready I’m usually over it. I would guess smaller better built ones are more efficient but electric (or gas) sure sounds nicer to me.
I had an infrared but it didn’t get hot enough for me.
I enjoy a good sauna but don’t have the space inside. On recommendation from a friend I bought one of the individual sized “portable sauna tent” options from amazon for about $250 and have it in my garage (garage is attached, heated, insulated). Going on year 2 and it’s still working great. Not for everybody, but has fit the bill for me. Plus, it reminds me of ice fishing
Just looked at those on Amazon. Have a Few questions for you. How warm can you get one of those? does the moisture cause any issues in the garage? do you think you could get one warm enough in a insulated but unheated attached garage?
Just looked at those on Amazon. Have a Few questions for you. How warm can you get one of those? does the moisture cause any issues in the garage? do you think you could get one warm enough in a insulated but unheated attached garage?
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Overall heat inside depends on the time of year. Manual says 122 degrees. I keep my garage at about 45-50 in winter and this gets hot enough for me in those months and usually do 25-30 mins a session. In the peak summer months it is hard to be in there more than about 20 mins. The one I got is Serene Life 35.5″x35.5″x70.9″. Disclaimer, no affiliation or personal benefit, just opinion and my experience.
We bought a 6×8 electric (steam) outdoor sauna about a year ago and use it even more than I thought we would (I’d say 5 nights/week in winter and 3 in summer). Great way to relax before bed, sweating out stuff, and seem to avoid or kick respiratory gunk a lot faster.
Bought it from this company out of Delano:
Owner Jedd is a very nice guy and super responsive on a few custom details we wanted. Ikki corner heater has been great.
Lessons learned:
– Think about venting and flooring. Ours is built on skids, so we can move it when we move, but that means with cedar plank flooring, we need to put mats down on floor for cold months (not a problem, just something we didn’t anticipate).
– Get the biggest heater you can for the size of your sauna. Every sauna takes a while to heat up but a bigger heater will get it up quicker.
– Get a heater that you can turn on through your phone. It is pretty great to be somewhere outdoors and turn on the sauna knowing it will be ready when you get home.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Gitchi Gummi wrote:</div>
I’m open to both wood and electric saunasAs a disclaimer I’m not really a sauna enjoyer but do have a wood one. Ours is huge and takes forever to heat up so, even if I think it sounds nice, it turns into a chore of getting it up to temp and going back and forth in the cold to add wood and by the time it’s ready I’m usually over it. I would guess smaller better built ones are more efficient but electric (or gas) sure sounds nicer to me.
I’m with you. These past couple of days have really got me thinking about firing up the sauna. But by the time I get kids and meals situated, I’d be long asleep before the sauna was up to temp.
Another reason why HSA’s are one of the best tax advantage accounts and investment vehicles out there.
Yep. Which is why I can’t see how using HSA funds for a purchase like this pencils out lol. Sounds like you have financial knowledge though, and everyone’s situation is different so you should do what is best for you! the following uses your sauna purchase purely as an example, not coming at you directly.
I don’t want to derail the thread, and I know this isn’t a financial forum but want to share this quick if others reading are considering using their HSA money for large purchases, or not fully utilizing HSA space. Triple tax advantage and you have limited contribution space each year, better than Roth’s or 401k from strictly a tax standpoint. 2024 max for single coverage is $4,150 or $345.8/monthly.
Two hypothetically situations: You continue to contribute the 2024 max for the next 30 years at a conservative 6% return. One has $10k starting and the other $0 (you took $10k out for a big medical purchase). That is a $57k difference of tax free money by spending 10k of contribution space. Note- this does not account for the HSA max contribution increasing every few years, your end dollar amount could be much higher.
summary- If you can, pay for these purchases out of pocket.
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back on track-
Man now you have me thinking about how sweet a home sauna would be.. something to consider to put in the backyard of our next home . In the mean time I should find a local place to use a sauna at, our town’s 24/7 chain gym definitely doesn’t have one.
As far as an investment… we bombed. 
We bought a nice new infrared one and it was in our bedroom. In 5 years I was in it once, when I assembled it, to install the radio !!! The wife used it a handful of times. We paid about $6k and sold it for $500 when we moved. 
10k, I chuckle because I’m the last person you need to walk thru TVM with. Are we going to go over CAPM next? You could literally take any purchase you ever made and say “well if you invested that in the stock market it’d be worth X in Y number of years”. Looking thru that lens, spending money on literally anything would never make financial sense.
Perhaps I can rephrase my approach to make it more clear what I’m doing. I save ~40% of my gross pay each paycheck in various different investment vehicles (401k, Roth, HSA, HYSA, brokerage). I have >10X my max annual out of pocket in my HDHP saved in there and I max out my Roth and 401k every year, so I’m not in a pinch to be throwing as much as I possibly can into my HSA because I’m pretty happy with what % of my pay I’m currently saving. Is more better? You bet it is, but I could say you should be investing more into your IRA than you’re currently doing because everybody has non-essential spending. I’m not thinking of draining my HSA to buy a sauna. I’m thinking of increasing my future contributions to my HSA over the next 2 years (above what I already plan to contribute, sauna or no sauna) and use those additional dollars to fund a sauna. Would it be worth a crap ton more if I let it sit and grow while invested in my HSA for a number of years? Absolutely it would. But I could also say that the fishing gear you bought or new gun or new vehicle or iphone or heck even the last time you went out to eat, if you invested that money instead of spending it on X, Y, or Z, you’d have a gazillion dollars in 30 years. Same exact argument you’re making to me which is a moot point.
So yes, all money would be better off if invested instead of spent on non-essential goods. That’s a no brainer.
All I’m talking about doing is flowing funds (above what I already contribute) thru an HSA to leverage the tax savings and pay ~25% less out of pocket than I would have if I buy a sauna with after tax funds. Said another way, I am paying for it out of pocket by temporarily decreasing my take home pay and inflating my HSA contributions.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk
… Theres several sauna manufacturers who specialize in the HSA route and all the documentation needed to avoid any issues with the IRS.
The IRS is not bound by self-serving documentation about whether a hot tub (or anything else for that matter) qualifies as a legitimate medical expense. You should consult with a CPA or qualified tax attorney. There are plenty of IRS rulings and tax cases on point.
On recommendation from a friend I bought one of the individual sized “portable sauna tent” options
Are those noticeably different than an insulated hub fish house? My redneck upbringing just thinks of throwing the hub up and firing up the sunflower on high. Is this a risk to my few remaining brain cells (other than Carbon Monoxide poisoning)?
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>acarroline wrote:</div>
On recommendation from a friend I bought one of the individual sized “portable sauna tent” optionsAre those noticeably different than an insulated hub fish house? My redneck upbringing just thinks of throwing the hub up and firing up the sunflower on high. Is this a risk to my few remaining brain cells (other than Carbon Monoxide poisoning)?
They sure don’t look much different than a hub house. The one I’m looking at looks a lot like my old clam JR. The heat source are probably vastly different than a sunflower though. as far as a loss to brain cells go, I gave up worrying about that long ago. If I was worried about that I’d have to give up drinking Beer and Whisky
poop in 30 years we could be dead, enjoy it now you can not take it with you. Just saying….. Live like today is your last
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