Written by Tanya Terry
The month of August has been and will continue to be ABLE to Save Month.
The federal ABLE act came about because of Stephen Beck. Beck had daughters. Beck told his financial planner he wanted to start saving for his daughters’ education. He was told he should create a 529 education account for them. However, when Beck said he also had a daughter with Down syndrome, he was told by the financial advisor not to save money for her because if he did, she would lose money for her benefit programs, such as Medicaid.
Beck was inspired by that knowledge and decided there should be a way for individuals with disabilities to save for their disability-related expenses, without jeopardizing eligibility for the programs they need.
The federal ABLE Act was signed into law December 2014, and the Michigan ABLE, or MiABLE, was signed into law October 2015. MiABLE accounts were created in November 2016.
Because able accounts are so new a lot of people don’t know about them, according to de Varona, director of MiABLE Disability Savings Program. So, all of the ABLE programs through the United States came together and decided something needed to be done to help the program on a national level.
“The great thing about the state of Michigan is-we have created a promotion for anyone who opens an account in August-ABLE to Save Month,” de Varona said. “We will match up to a $50 deposit when they open their ABLE account.”
The mission of MiABLE is to encourage the saving of private funds to help persons with disabilities cover costs that support their health, independence and quality of life. As of the morning of August 24, 4,180 miABLE accounts had been opened throughout the state.
Individuals from 37 different states are participating in the Michigan program, according to de Varona.
“Most states have their own program, but some people like the Michigan program,” he stated. “That’s why they’ve chosen to invest in our program.”
The $50 matching promotion is available in Michigan to the first 200 accounts opened this month. As of August 24, there were 87 opened.
“We have what’s called our ABLE Ambassadors, which is a national program that was put together by the ABLE National Resource Center, where individuals with ABLE accounts will basically tell their story. They’ll tell people what they’re saving for. They’ll tell people when they opened the account (and) which state they have the account with. The bottom line is, some people are using them for long term investments. They could be saving up for a wheelchair accessible vehicle that costs $70,000-$80,000-or they’re using them for their regular everyday expenses, to pay pharmacy bills and those kinds of things.”
For details on miABLE, visit https://savewithable.com/mi/home.html
