ABLE accounts: Funding your Special Needs life
I don’t know so much about money. I know it doesn’t grow on trees. I know insurance seems not to cover many treatments that my clients need. And I know life is expensive. That about sums up my knowledge. It appears we will have to do some learning together, specifically about ABLE accounts.
While skimming Money magazine this weekend (my attempt to learn more about money, on a monthly basis), I saw a great little article about ABLE accounts. Based on this article, your family can save up to $14,000 a year for a family member who has a documented disability prior to age 26 without messing with the paltry $2000 you are allowed to save when you qualify for Medicaid or SSI Benefits. (Right. Read that again: if you have SSI, you know you can only have $2000 in your possession, but the ABLE account allows you to SAVE MORE, up to $14k a year, to cover living expenses and other qualified costs.)
A quick search of the internet yields many, many articles on the ABLE accounts. Here are a couple resources:
http://www.ablenrc.org/about/what-are-able-accounts
http://time.com/money/4318129/disabled-able-accounts-nebraska/
ABLE funds can be used to address concerns related to housing, transportation, employment training, health care, and independence/qualify of life. It would also appear that “family and friends” can contribute, so Grandma can actually legally contribute now!
The way I read it, if you qualify for SSI, you qualify for an ABLE account. Think about it, research it, and see if this solves some of the financial problems (how to save for a rainy day when the emergency must cost less than $2000 to solve…) you may be facing.