ABLE Accounts
ABLE Accounts
In order to be eligible to receive Social Security Disability funds, a person’s bank accounts and money cannot go over $2,000. This has been a problem because people haven’t been able to save money while getting Social Security Disability (SSI). ABLE accounts allow people with disabilities to save more than $2,000 to use on qualified disability expenses.
Currently in Massachusetts, Fidelity is the only financial institution offering this type of account.
Contact Fidelity online at Fidelity Website or via phone at 844-458-2253
This is an account available to anyone with a documented disability (documented before age 26).
The money in this account isn’t taxed and you can use it on “qualified disability expenses”.
You can also choose to use this account for investing.
Each person can only have one ABLE account.
Right now in Massachusetts, Fidelity Investments is the only company that offers ABLE accounts.
For health, independence, quality of life (like education, housing/rent, transportation, employment/uniforms, training and support, assistive technologies, personal support services, health/doctors, basic living expenses).
Keep records of expenses in a safe place either an envelope at home or take a picture and save it on your computer.
Between $30 (minimum) and $400,000 (maximum).
BUT if you have more than $100,000, your Social Security benefits can be suspended. Insurance won’t be affected.
Up to $15,000 can be deposited per year.
You, family, or friends.
If you want to use cash from this account, you will need to withdraw money from the account before making a purchase (use these funds to pay for the purchase).
To get money: either use Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) (a way to transfer money from one account to another), request a check by calling on the phone with the amount you’d like, or transfer to another Fidelity account.
You can also pay yourself back if you use your personal bank account for qualified expenses.
Log into your Fidelity ABLE account online and connect it to your personal banking account.
You can set it up to transfer every week, month, or other period of time, or just a one time transfer (after your paycheck gets deposited, so your bank account doesn’t go over $2,000).
Set weekly balance alerts on your personal bank account to make sure the balance doesn’t get close to $2,000. Some banks will be able to alert you when it reaches a certain amount too.
Check your personal bank account’s fees to make sure you won’t be charged a fee for having too much or too little money in it.
Keep an accordion file of your receipts, separated by what you spent it on (like transportation, housing, food, or health).