August 1, 2025 • 22 mins
Josh Woodward from the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services explains how ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) accounts allow people with disabilities to save money without losing crucial public benefits like SSI and Medicaid. These revolutionary accounts provide financial freedom for individuals who have previously been restricted by the $2,000 asset limit, giving them independence and control over their financial lives.
• ABLE accounts allow people with disabilities to save up to $19,000 per year.
• Account holders can maintain SSI benefits with a max balance of up to $100,000; for Medicaid, the max is $235,000.
• Disability onset must currently be before age 26, expanding to age 46 in January, 2026.
• Money in ABLE accounts can be used for qualified disability expenses.
• Unlike special needs trusts, ABLE accounts give direct control to the individual.
• ABLE accounts can be opened with just $25.
• Anyone can contribute to someone's ABLE account – family, friends, or organizations - and it is a tax deduction.
• Mississippi ABLE is offering $100 contributions to the first 20 new accounts opened in August.
For more information about Mississippi ABLE, visit mississippiable.com or contact Josh Woodward directly at jwoodward@mdrs.ms.gov or (601) 853-5257.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hope.
Mississippi is your salvation.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hi, my name is Josh Woodward.
I am the ABLE Director at theMississippi Department of
Rehabilitation Services and Iwanted to remind you that August
is ABLE to Save Month and forthe first 20 accounts that are
open in the month of August wewill contribute $100 to the
account when it opens.
So sign up and with anyquestions please reach out.
(00:26):
You can get me at mdrsmsgov orat 601-853-5257.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
When you need some hope and inspiration to build
collaboration hope.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Mississippi is your salvation.
One in four kids live inpoverty.
One in five are food deprived.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Build collaborations and build hope with those who
are struggling.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Hope, mississippi, hope, mississippi.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Hello and welcome to another edition of Hope
Mississippi, and I am thrilledto have Joshua Woodward.
I'm going to call him Josh.
Hi, josh.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Hey, how are you doing today?
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, I'm so glad to have you and you are the
director of Mississippi ABLEwith the Department of
Rehabilitation Services.
Can you tell us a little bitabout?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
ABLE.
That's a whole mouthful ofwords.
You know we us in government,we love our acronyms and all of
that.
But yeah, able is a financialaccount for individuals with
disabilities and what it helpsthem do is it helps them save
money in their name without itaffecting their public benefits,
(01:54):
which some of these individualsneed so much.
Specifically, you know, ssi,ssdi, medicaid.
What I do here at MDRS is workto help promote the ABLE program
.
I work to help connect andeducate.
Well, I guess the first step isdefinitely to educate all of
(02:15):
our interested parties on whatABLE is and how the benefit of
ABLE and why it's important forMississippians with disabilities
.
And then, once we get thosefolks to help spread the word,
you know, once we have peoplecoming to us wanting to sign up,
I help them get everythingsquared away, get signed up,
answer questions and justprovide that added bit of
(02:36):
customer support that they need.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Let's back up just a little bit and have a overall
view of exactly.
First, what does theMississippi Department of
Rehabilitation Services do?
A lot of folks.
Unless you need this service,you don't know the great things
that y'all do.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
That is one of the best questions that oftentimes
never gets asked.
You know, when people see ourname, they constantly think you
know the go-to.
The go-to thoughts are oh,they're the physical therapy or
they're, you know, drug andalcohol rehab, and both of those
(03:15):
are not wrong, but both ofthose are not right either.
What mdrs is is the stateagency that helps mississippians
with disabilities liveindependently.
That's the.
That is the state agency thathelps Mississippians with
disabilities live independently.
That is the overarching missionof our agency.
Through that mission, though,we have, I'm going to say, 3.5
major programs, one of thosebeing our vocational
(03:38):
rehabilitation program.
It is exactly like it sounds.
We help Mississippians withdisabilities get back to work or
stay work.
So if you acquire a disabilityand you need to work you want to
work well, then VR is going tohelp you do that.
If you are, maybe you're ayoung person and you're in
(03:59):
school and you have a disabilityand you're trying to get to
work one day, if you have theability, we're going to work
with you to help you overcomethose trying to get to work one
day.
If you have the ability, we'regoing to work with you to help
you overcome those hurdles toget to work, the second major
program we have.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Wait, I'm going to kind of interrupt you there,
because this is Hope Mississippi, and one thing we want folks
that are struggling withdisabilities to know is that the
Department of RehabilitationServices is here to walk
alongside you and give you hope,and that is such a wonderful
thing that our state isproviding.
(04:32):
So hooray for Mississippi andthe wonderful work that y'all do
.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
We selfishly brag that we are the best kept secret
in Mississippi government.
Mississippi government agenciesdo a lot of great things, but
as far as putting hope and helpright to the ground, where it
needs to be, our agency, in myopinion, does it as good as
anybody.
You know it is a lot of thepeople that work here at our
(05:00):
agency consider it a missionmore than a job.
You know we, a lot of our folksat our agency, have been
touched by disability, whetherit's individually or somebody in
their family, and it is a it'smore of a passion project than
it is employment.
And I'm not saying that youknow we don't have the headache
every now and then, but themission here is to give that
(05:26):
little bit of help that maybethat person that's struggled
with disability or, you know,has battled with it.
Just that little bit, give themthat little bit of something
they need to be independent,whether that's going to work or
whether that is, you know,living in the home versus being
in a nursing facility, orwhether that's getting old.
You know, getting your caseapproved through the Social
(05:47):
Security Administration andgetting on a disability check
through SSI.
We do many, many things and Ispent about nine or so years in
the vocational program as thebusiness development director
and was asked to come over toABLE due to a financial
background that I had prior tocoming to state government and
(06:09):
my development background aswell.
And the goal now to having meas director is to really get the
word out about the program,turn it into a more proactive
approach of education andoutreach and to really tap into
as many folks as we can thatmight can benefit from what ABLE
(06:29):
can do for them, which is savemoney and to be independent.
As much as I hate to say it andI mentioned this on a radio
show the other day sadly moneyis a part of independence and we
have to give our folks who needthis service.
We want them to have theability to save money so that
(06:50):
they can also work and beindependent or SSI when you've
not paid enough into the system.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But talk about some of the financial restraints that
folks have and why it's soimportant that there be an
opportunity to save money.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
A lot of folks who are on SSI.
There are asset limitations tothose programs and as an
individual you can have Ibelieve it's up to $2,000 in
their name of assets.
And, like I mentioned before, Ibelieve that $2,000 number came
into concrete effect.
I believe it was 1989.
(07:36):
I could be off on that just alittle bit.
Money went a lot further in1989 than it does in 2025.
I use the example I had to puttires on my truck a few months
ago and after I left the tireplace I think it was over $2,000
.
The number has not been costadjusted since the 80s.
What it has done, in my personalopinion, is it has really
(07:59):
discouraged people from workingnumber one because they can't
have assets.
And on top of that it kind ofcreates folks who can kind of
accidentally become addicted toour system.
We don't want to see that andsometimes it's necessary.
But sometimes people get onthese benefits too.
For the medical side of things,you know they can't afford to
(08:20):
lose it.
When I was in the VR program,we always used to encourage
people to go to work, go earnmoney.
You can do better than thecheck by earning money.
But sometimes the medical sidethey need the medical side as
much as they need the monetarythings.
$2,000 really limits theirability in what they can do and
they honestly live handcuffedbecause if they get a little bit
(08:42):
more than $2,000 in savingsthen they panic oh, I've got to
spend money.
I've got to spend money.
Well, what can I buy?
I don't know, I just need tobuy something.
And they'll go buy somethingerroneous to spend their money
down.
So they're kind of held down bythis limitation.
Able is there to allow them tosave money in their name.
(09:03):
Is there to allow them to savemoney in their name and monies
that go into an ABLE account.
It's like SSA the SocialSecurity Administration doesn't
see it.
They can save up to $19,000 ayear into an ABLE account and
still maintain their benefitstatus.
They can save up to $100,000 inan ABLE account and still
maintain their benefit statuswith SSI.
(09:24):
If they don't have SSI, theycan put up to $235,000 in the
account, and so what it does isit allows these individuals to
put money away to save for arainy day, to save for that air
conditioner going out, like minealmost did the other day, or to
save for those tires, or tosave for that air conditioner
(09:46):
going out like mine almost didthe other day, or to save for
those tires, or to save for aneducation, or maybe it's doctor
bills, whatever it may be whatwe call qualified disability
expenses.
It allows them to save moniesfor that without having to give
up those benefits that a lot ofthem so desperately need.
And so it's kind of a have yourcake and eat it too kind of
(10:06):
thing.
And what we're trying to do, orone thing we've noticed with
ABLE, is that well and not justindividuals with disabilities
but people don't like to talkabout money.
You know money is a sensitivesubject.
It's kind of like talking aboutreligion.
You know, people get a littleon edge when you start talking
about the good Lord and abouttheir pocketbook Even more so, I
(10:27):
would say, in the disabilitycommunity.
When you talk about money, theyborderline, have a panic attack
.
It's taken a lot of educationand a lot of massaging and a lot
of outreach to try to getpeople comfortable enough to
realize that this isn't a gotchathing.
This is a real deal.
Forty-nine states have an ABLEprogram within their state and
(10:51):
people are utilizing it tobetter their livelihoods and to
make themselves more independent, which I keep drumming on that
word, but that's our key word.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Well, that's so important for folks to know is
that we want every Mississippianto have a maximum life benefit.
You know, to I'm not hesitantto talk about religion, but all
that the good lord planned onthem having, and so the idea of
rehabilitation services it's letus help you improve your life,
(11:26):
and this is one way that we doit.
I would say a lot of disabilitycommunity that I am aware
around.
They're so dependent on medicalbenefits and things that they
can work as hard as they can,but a lot of their medical
issues are there to stay.
You know, if you don't haveeyesight, then short of a
(11:47):
miracle it's going to be likethat.
But that doesn't mean that theycan't maximize their enjoyment
of life and their ability toimprove their life.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
The other thing about ABLE, too, is it doesn't have
to be monies that are input bythemselves, is it doesn't have
to be monies that are input bythemselves.
Able is built.
If you're familiar withfinancial programs and different
savings tools, able is builtoff a 529 platform, which is
originally a college savingsplan, and in that 529 platform
(12:18):
it allows for giving into theaccounts of these people.
So you can have a parent whoopens an ABLE account for a
child.
You can have an ABLE accountopened on behalf of a person by
a grandparent or an uncle or achurch.
Even a third party individualat a nursing facility could open
(12:41):
an ABLE account on behalf ofsomebody.
It allows them to give, which alot of people want to do.
You know, one thing we hear alot in the disability community
is what's going to happen to myXYZ person?
What's going to happen to mychild when I'm gone?
You know we see a lot of thatand what it allows them to do is
(13:02):
to go ahead and start savingthose monies.
The money stays in the name ofthe person.
That's one of the otherbeauties I see with ABLE is that
when it comes to saving moneyand being on public benefits,
you have a couple of avenues,just a couple.
Traditionally it's always beenthe special needs trust.
The special needs trust isthere, obviously, obviously to
(13:26):
help with those disabilityexpenses.
But the problem it's not aproblem, it's just the way that
it is is that you still have atrustee over the trust and so
the money truly is not in it'sin that person's name, but it is
not truly in control by thebeneficiary.
With ABLE, if they have theability, the money is in their
(13:50):
name and it is their account tomake their decisions with.
There's no trustee to gothrough.
There's no, you know.
It's.
It's much simpler, it's muchcleaner, it's very it's a lot
cheaper to get into an ABLEaccount.
I think the you know minimuminvestment to open an ABLE
account is $25, you know, and soit allows them to have money in
(14:11):
their name.
They have that independence ofbeing able to get that debit
card and go to the Walgreens orgo to the doctor's office or go
to the grocery store or go tothe gym or whatever it may be,
and if they don't need to usethe money for everyday expenses,
they can set it back into aninvestment option and let it
grow over time.
It really is a tool that theycan use, in conjunction with a
(14:33):
special needs trust, if need be,to allow them to have
independence physical andfinancial independence, I guess,
is what we're trying to say.
The big consideration, I guess,or to qualify for an ABLE
account, is as simple ascurrently you have to have had
your disability by the age of 26.
You could be as I like to say,you could be Methuselah, you
(14:55):
could be 157 years old, but aslong as you had your disability
before the age of 26, youqualify for ABLE.
The second piece of that is,obviously, that you have a
disability.
You either meet the SocialSecurity Administration's
definition of disability or it'sas simple as going to your
doctor and getting them to writea note saying that you have in
(15:17):
fact have a disability first ofnext year.
That 26 goes to the age of 46.
There's going to be a lot morepeople who qualify for ABLE that
maybe acquired a disabilitylater in life, especially
veterans we talk about soldiersand all of that who maybe they
(15:39):
acquired a disability in themilitary and what a funny story
to that.
I was talking to a friend theother day and my friend is
visually impaired and we weretalking about ABLE and talking
about me coming into this role ahandful of months ago and I
asked him if he had an ABLEaccount.
He said no, I don't.
And I was like how do you nothave an ABLE account?
(15:59):
Well, come to find out he didnot acquire his disability until
he was in his thirties.
As of today he does not qualify, but on January 1st of next
year he qualifies and he will bethe first phone call I make
next January to help get himsigned up, because he sees the
(16:20):
benefit of all of this and wantsto be able to save and needs to
keep all of many pieces of hispuzzle together and this is just
one of those things that helpshim be more independent of his
puzzle together, and this isjust one of those things that
helps him be more independent.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So attorneys out there that are working with
families need to be aware of theopportunity that ABLE provides.
Families can give money andthat it can go into this ABLE
account and that gives thatindividual financial security
and independence.
If they are not mentallyimpaired, they can themselves
manage their own funds.
So that's a great new avenuefor families to care for their
(16:56):
loved ones and also, if theyinherit money or things like
that, that could also go inthese ABLE accounts.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
We have bumped up against that a few times already
, or I have.
I had an individual or a familycall, had an individual with a
disability who was thebeneficiary of a life insurance
policy that was being paid out.
The number was greater than the$19,000 that we could put into
the account annually, and so thesolution for this family was
(17:26):
obviously to oh, we could do twothings.
You can take 19 of it and putit into an account today and
meet, you know, maximize yourcontribution for the year, and
then the rest would have to gointo a special needs trust.
Or if you could talk to theinsurance company, whoever it
may be, and get a structuredsettlement going, they could
(17:55):
maybe write it to a way whereit's not dropping that allotted
amount of money into the accountevery year over a period of
time.
Absolutely, they can.
It's not a dig by any means, butthe financial advisor from the
past in me wishes you could justput a lump sum of money into an
ABLE account.
That's the one thing that itcannot do, but we do have the
ability to put portions of moneyat times in there.
(18:15):
So, as attorneys out there, ifyou have the ability to
structure settlements, maybethat's a good way to do it or go
about doing it.
And you have families too thatif they need to give or they
have income tax things they needto work on, this is a great way
to give and to get that incometax deduction on the state level
.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Absolutely, and there are lots of us that are
suffering from disabilities ofone sort or another, and so it's
so important to know about theDepartment of Rehabilitation
Services, about this unique waythat you can help folks with
disabilities to haveindependence by managing their
(18:55):
own money.
Josh, how would folks go aboutgetting information from the
Department of RehabilitationServices in general, as well as
specifically about ABLE?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Sure.
So the easiest way, I'll startwith ABLE.
The easiest way to getinformation about ABLE honestly
is to go online and type inwwwmississippiablecom and it's
going to pop up a website thereand pretty much any link you
click about contact me is goingto end up in my lab, which is
awesome, or you can reach out toour website, which is mdrsmsgov
(19:32):
.
The other way to do that isobviously to call our agency.
Now, I will say this becauseanother role I get to hold at
the agency is being thedevelopment director for the
agency as a whole to helppromote and to help educate and
to connect individuals toservices they may need.
(19:53):
We have anybody out there that'slistening that needs our agency
or has questions about theservices of our agency.
I would love for them to reachout to me directly and I can
navigate them through towherever that person, that
expert, may be for them.
The easiest way to do that, myoffice number is 601-853-5257.
(20:16):
My email address is jwoodwardat mdrsmsgov.
If it's just a question aboutvoc rehab services, or if it's a
question about our independentliving program, or maybe they
have a question about applyingfor disability and what that
looks like, or maybe it's aquestion about you know, reach
(20:39):
out and we would love to.
I'd love to direct them or makesure that they get the right
person on the phone for them tomake sure their you know their
needs are met as quickly and, asyou know, it's as good of an
experience as they can expect ismy goal.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Wow, it's so inspiring to hear you and I know
there are lots of folks outthere that are working for our
state doing good and spreadinghope.
Thank you so much, Josh, forsharing about ABLE and for all
the work you're doing to thinkoutside the box to help those in
the disability community.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Thank you, ms Dawn.
I appreciate it very much, hope.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Hi, my name is Josh Woodward.
I am the ABLE Director at theMississippi Department of
Rehabilitation Services and Iwanted to remind you that August
is ABLE to Save Month and forthe first 20 accounts that are
open in the month of August wewill contribute a hundred
dollars to the account when itopens.
So sign up and with anyquestions, please reach out.
(21:55):
You can get me at mdrsmsgov orat 601-853-5257.
Thank you very much.
Hope.
Mississippi is your salvation.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hi, my name is Josh Woodward.
I am the ABLE Director at theMississippi Department of
Rehabilitation Services and Iwanted to remind you that August
is ABLE to Save Month and forthe first 20 accounts that are
open in the month of August wewill contribute $100 to the
account when it opens.
So sign up and with anyquestions please reach out.
(00:26):
You can get me at mdrsmsgov orat 601-853-5257.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
When you need some hope and inspiration to build
collaboration hope.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Mississippi is your salvation.
One in four kids live inpoverty.
One in five are food deprived.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Build collaborations and build hope with those who
are struggling.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Hope, mississippi, hope, mississippi.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Hello and welcome to another edition of Hope
Mississippi, and I am thrilledto have Joshua Woodward.
I'm going to call him Josh.
Hi, josh.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Hey, how are you doing today?
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, I'm so glad to have you and you are the
director of Mississippi ABLEwith the Department of
Rehabilitation Services.
Can you tell us a little bitabout?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
ABLE.
That's a whole mouthful ofwords.
You know we us in government,we love our acronyms and all of
that.
But yeah, able is a financialaccount for individuals with
disabilities and what it helpsthem do is it helps them save
money in their name without itaffecting their public benefits,
(01:54):
which some of these individualsneed so much.
Specifically, you know, ssi,ssdi, medicaid.
What I do here at MDRS is workto help promote the ABLE program
.
I work to help connect andeducate.
Well, I guess the first step isdefinitely to educate all of
(02:15):
our interested parties on whatABLE is and how the benefit of
ABLE and why it's important forMississippians with disabilities
.
And then, once we get thosefolks to help spread the word,
you know, once we have peoplecoming to us wanting to sign up,
I help them get everythingsquared away, get signed up,
answer questions and justprovide that added bit of
(02:36):
customer support that they need.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Let's back up just a little bit and have a overall
view of exactly.
First, what does theMississippi Department of
Rehabilitation Services do?
A lot of folks.
Unless you need this service,you don't know the great things
that y'all do.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
That is one of the best questions that oftentimes
never gets asked.
You know, when people see ourname, they constantly think you
know the go-to.
The go-to thoughts are oh,they're the physical therapy or
they're, you know, drug andalcohol rehab, and both of those
(03:15):
are not wrong, but both ofthose are not right either.
What mdrs is is the stateagency that helps mississippians
with disabilities liveindependently.
That's the.
That is the state agency thathelps Mississippians with
disabilities live independently.
That is the overarching missionof our agency.
Through that mission, though,we have, I'm going to say, 3.5
major programs, one of thosebeing our vocational
(03:38):
rehabilitation program.
It is exactly like it sounds.
We help Mississippians withdisabilities get back to work or
stay work.
So if you acquire a disabilityand you need to work you want to
work well, then VR is going tohelp you do that.
If you are, maybe you're ayoung person and you're in
(03:59):
school and you have a disabilityand you're trying to get to
work one day, if you have theability, we're going to work
with you to help you overcomethose trying to get to work one
day.
If you have the ability, we'regoing to work with you to help
you overcome those hurdles toget to work, the second major
program we have.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Wait, I'm going to kind of interrupt you there,
because this is Hope Mississippi, and one thing we want folks
that are struggling withdisabilities to know is that the
Department of RehabilitationServices is here to walk
alongside you and give you hope,and that is such a wonderful
thing that our state isproviding.
(04:32):
So hooray for Mississippi andthe wonderful work that y'all do
.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
We selfishly brag that we are the best kept secret
in Mississippi government.
Mississippi government agenciesdo a lot of great things, but
as far as putting hope and helpright to the ground, where it
needs to be, our agency, in myopinion, does it as good as
anybody.
You know it is a lot of thepeople that work here at our
(05:00):
agency consider it a missionmore than a job.
You know we, a lot of our folksat our agency, have been
touched by disability, whetherit's individually or somebody in
their family, and it is a it'smore of a passion project than
it is employment.
And I'm not saying that youknow we don't have the headache
every now and then, but themission here is to give that
(05:26):
little bit of help that maybethat person that's struggled
with disability or, you know,has battled with it.
Just that little bit, give themthat little bit of something
they need to be independent,whether that's going to work or
whether that is, you know,living in the home versus being
in a nursing facility, orwhether that's getting old.
You know, getting your caseapproved through the Social
(05:47):
Security Administration andgetting on a disability check
through SSI.
We do many, many things and Ispent about nine or so years in
the vocational program as thebusiness development director
and was asked to come over toABLE due to a financial
background that I had prior tocoming to state government and
(06:09):
my development background aswell.
And the goal now to having meas director is to really get the
word out about the program,turn it into a more proactive
approach of education andoutreach and to really tap into
as many folks as we can thatmight can benefit from what ABLE
(06:29):
can do for them, which is savemoney and to be independent.
As much as I hate to say it andI mentioned this on a radio
show the other day sadly moneyis a part of independence and we
have to give our folks who needthis service.
We want them to have theability to save money so that
(06:50):
they can also work and beindependent or SSI when you've
not paid enough into the system.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But talk about some of the financial restraints that
folks have and why it's soimportant that there be an
opportunity to save money.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
A lot of folks who are on SSI.
There are asset limitations tothose programs and as an
individual you can have Ibelieve it's up to $2,000 in
their name of assets.
And, like I mentioned before, Ibelieve that $2,000 number came
into concrete effect.
I believe it was 1989.
(07:36):
I could be off on that just alittle bit.
Money went a lot further in1989 than it does in 2025.
I use the example I had to puttires on my truck a few months
ago and after I left the tireplace I think it was over $2,000
.
The number has not been costadjusted since the 80s.
What it has done, in my personalopinion, is it has really
(07:59):
discouraged people from workingnumber one because they can't
have assets.
And on top of that it kind ofcreates folks who can kind of
accidentally become addicted toour system.
We don't want to see that andsometimes it's necessary.
But sometimes people get onthese benefits too.
For the medical side of things,you know they can't afford to
(08:20):
lose it.
When I was in the VR program,we always used to encourage
people to go to work, go earnmoney.
You can do better than thecheck by earning money.
But sometimes the medical sidethey need the medical side as
much as they need the monetarythings.
$2,000 really limits theirability in what they can do and
they honestly live handcuffedbecause if they get a little bit
(08:42):
more than $2,000 in savingsthen they panic oh, I've got to
spend money.
I've got to spend money.
Well, what can I buy?
I don't know, I just need tobuy something.
And they'll go buy somethingerroneous to spend their money
down.
So they're kind of held down bythis limitation.
Able is there to allow them tosave money in their name.
(09:03):
Is there to allow them to savemoney in their name and monies
that go into an ABLE account.
It's like SSA the SocialSecurity Administration doesn't
see it.
They can save up to $19,000 ayear into an ABLE account and
still maintain their benefitstatus.
They can save up to $100,000 inan ABLE account and still
maintain their benefit statuswith SSI.
(09:24):
If they don't have SSI, theycan put up to $235,000 in the
account, and so what it does isit allows these individuals to
put money away to save for arainy day, to save for that air
conditioner going out, like minealmost did the other day, or to
save for those tires, or tosave for that air conditioner
(09:46):
going out like mine almost didthe other day, or to save for
those tires, or to save for aneducation, or maybe it's doctor
bills, whatever it may be whatwe call qualified disability
expenses.
It allows them to save moniesfor that without having to give
up those benefits that a lot ofthem so desperately need.
And so it's kind of a have yourcake and eat it too kind of
(10:06):
thing.
And what we're trying to do, orone thing we've noticed with
ABLE, is that well and not justindividuals with disabilities
but people don't like to talkabout money.
You know money is a sensitivesubject.
It's kind of like talking aboutreligion.
You know, people get a littleon edge when you start talking
about the good Lord and abouttheir pocketbook Even more so, I
(10:27):
would say, in the disabilitycommunity.
When you talk about money, theyborderline, have a panic attack
.
It's taken a lot of educationand a lot of massaging and a lot
of outreach to try to getpeople comfortable enough to
realize that this isn't a gotchathing.
This is a real deal.
Forty-nine states have an ABLEprogram within their state and
(10:51):
people are utilizing it tobetter their livelihoods and to
make themselves more independent, which I keep drumming on that
word, but that's our key word.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Well, that's so important for folks to know is
that we want every Mississippianto have a maximum life benefit.
You know, to I'm not hesitantto talk about religion, but all
that the good lord planned onthem having, and so the idea of
rehabilitation services it's letus help you improve your life,
(11:26):
and this is one way that we doit.
I would say a lot of disabilitycommunity that I am aware
around.
They're so dependent on medicalbenefits and things that they
can work as hard as they can,but a lot of their medical
issues are there to stay.
You know, if you don't haveeyesight, then short of a
(11:47):
miracle it's going to be likethat.
But that doesn't mean that theycan't maximize their enjoyment
of life and their ability toimprove their life.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
The other thing about ABLE, too, is it doesn't have
to be monies that are input bythemselves, is it doesn't have
to be monies that are input bythemselves.
Able is built.
If you're familiar withfinancial programs and different
savings tools, able is builtoff a 529 platform, which is
originally a college savingsplan, and in that 529 platform
(12:18):
it allows for giving into theaccounts of these people.
So you can have a parent whoopens an ABLE account for a
child.
You can have an ABLE accountopened on behalf of a person by
a grandparent or an uncle or achurch.
Even a third party individualat a nursing facility could open
(12:41):
an ABLE account on behalf ofsomebody.
It allows them to give, which alot of people want to do.
You know, one thing we hear alot in the disability community
is what's going to happen to myXYZ person?
What's going to happen to mychild when I'm gone?
You know we see a lot of thatand what it allows them to do is
(13:02):
to go ahead and start savingthose monies.
The money stays in the name ofthe person.
That's one of the otherbeauties I see with ABLE is that
when it comes to saving moneyand being on public benefits,
you have a couple of avenues,just a couple.
Traditionally it's always beenthe special needs trust.
The special needs trust isthere, obviously, obviously to
(13:26):
help with those disabilityexpenses.
But the problem it's not aproblem, it's just the way that
it is is that you still have atrustee over the trust and so
the money truly is not in it'sin that person's name, but it is
not truly in control by thebeneficiary.
With ABLE, if they have theability, the money is in their
(13:50):
name and it is their account tomake their decisions with.
There's no trustee to gothrough.
There's no, you know.
It's.
It's much simpler, it's muchcleaner, it's very it's a lot
cheaper to get into an ABLEaccount.
I think the you know minimuminvestment to open an ABLE
account is $25, you know, and soit allows them to have money in
(14:11):
their name.
They have that independence ofbeing able to get that debit
card and go to the Walgreens orgo to the doctor's office or go
to the grocery store or go tothe gym or whatever it may be,
and if they don't need to usethe money for everyday expenses,
they can set it back into aninvestment option and let it
grow over time.
It really is a tool that theycan use, in conjunction with a
(14:33):
special needs trust, if need be,to allow them to have
independence physical andfinancial independence, I guess,
is what we're trying to say.
The big consideration, I guess,or to qualify for an ABLE
account, is as simple ascurrently you have to have had
your disability by the age of 26.
You could be as I like to say,you could be Methuselah, you
(14:55):
could be 157 years old, but aslong as you had your disability
before the age of 26, youqualify for ABLE.
The second piece of that is,obviously, that you have a
disability.
You either meet the SocialSecurity Administration's
definition of disability or it'sas simple as going to your
doctor and getting them to writea note saying that you have in
(15:17):
fact have a disability first ofnext year.
That 26 goes to the age of 46.
There's going to be a lot morepeople who qualify for ABLE that
maybe acquired a disabilitylater in life, especially
veterans we talk about soldiersand all of that who maybe they
(15:39):
acquired a disability in themilitary and what a funny story
to that.
I was talking to a friend theother day and my friend is
visually impaired and we weretalking about ABLE and talking
about me coming into this role ahandful of months ago and I
asked him if he had an ABLEaccount.
He said no, I don't.
And I was like how do you nothave an ABLE account?
(15:59):
Well, come to find out he didnot acquire his disability until
he was in his thirties.
As of today he does not qualify, but on January 1st of next
year he qualifies and he will bethe first phone call I make
next January to help get himsigned up, because he sees the
(16:20):
benefit of all of this and wantsto be able to save and needs to
keep all of many pieces of hispuzzle together and this is just
one of those things that helpshim be more independent of his
puzzle together, and this isjust one of those things that
helps him be more independent.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So attorneys out there that are working with
families need to be aware of theopportunity that ABLE provides.
Families can give money andthat it can go into this ABLE
account and that gives thatindividual financial security
and independence.
If they are not mentallyimpaired, they can themselves
manage their own funds.
So that's a great new avenuefor families to care for their
(16:56):
loved ones and also, if theyinherit money or things like
that, that could also go inthese ABLE accounts.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
We have bumped up against that a few times already
, or I have.
I had an individual or a familycall, had an individual with a
disability who was thebeneficiary of a life insurance
policy that was being paid out.
The number was greater than the$19,000 that we could put into
the account annually, and so thesolution for this family was
(17:26):
obviously to oh, we could do twothings.
You can take 19 of it and putit into an account today and
meet, you know, maximize yourcontribution for the year, and
then the rest would have to gointo a special needs trust.
Or if you could talk to theinsurance company, whoever it
may be, and get a structuredsettlement going, they could
(17:55):
maybe write it to a way whereit's not dropping that allotted
amount of money into the accountevery year over a period of
time.
Absolutely, they can.
It's not a dig by any means, butthe financial advisor from the
past in me wishes you could justput a lump sum of money into an
ABLE account.
That's the one thing that itcannot do, but we do have the
ability to put portions of moneyat times in there.
(18:15):
So, as attorneys out there, ifyou have the ability to
structure settlements, maybethat's a good way to do it or go
about doing it.
And you have families too thatif they need to give or they
have income tax things they needto work on, this is a great way
to give and to get that incometax deduction on the state level
.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Absolutely, and there are lots of us that are
suffering from disabilities ofone sort or another, and so it's
so important to know about theDepartment of Rehabilitation
Services, about this unique waythat you can help folks with
disabilities to haveindependence by managing their
(18:55):
own money.
Josh, how would folks go aboutgetting information from the
Department of RehabilitationServices in general, as well as
specifically about ABLE?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Sure.
So the easiest way, I'll startwith ABLE.
The easiest way to getinformation about ABLE honestly
is to go online and type inwwwmississippiablecom and it's
going to pop up a website thereand pretty much any link you
click about contact me is goingto end up in my lab, which is
awesome, or you can reach out toour website, which is mdrsmsgov
(19:32):
.
The other way to do that isobviously to call our agency.
Now, I will say this becauseanother role I get to hold at
the agency is being thedevelopment director for the
agency as a whole to helppromote and to help educate and
to connect individuals toservices they may need.
(19:53):
We have anybody out there that'slistening that needs our agency
or has questions about theservices of our agency.
I would love for them to reachout to me directly and I can
navigate them through towherever that person, that
expert, may be for them.
The easiest way to do that, myoffice number is 601-853-5257.
(20:16):
My email address is jwoodwardat mdrsmsgov.
If it's just a question aboutvoc rehab services, or if it's a
question about our independentliving program, or maybe they
have a question about applyingfor disability and what that
looks like, or maybe it's aquestion about you know, reach
(20:39):
out and we would love to.
I'd love to direct them or makesure that they get the right
person on the phone for them tomake sure their you know their
needs are met as quickly and, asyou know, it's as good of an
experience as they can expect ismy goal.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Wow, it's so inspiring to hear you and I know
there are lots of folks outthere that are working for our
state doing good and spreadinghope.
Thank you so much, Josh, forsharing about ABLE and for all
the work you're doing to thinkoutside the box to help those in
the disability community.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Thank you, ms Dawn.
I appreciate it very much, hope.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Hi, my name is Josh Woodward.
I am the ABLE Director at theMississippi Department of
Rehabilitation Services and Iwanted to remind you that August
is ABLE to Save Month and forthe first 20 accounts that are
open in the month of August wewill contribute a hundred
dollars to the account when itopens.
So sign up and with anyquestions, please reach out.
(21:55):
You can get me at mdrsmsgov orat 601-853-5257.
Thank you very much.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.