Hope Mississippi
A bimonthly podcast educating Mississippians about the needs of fellow citizens, encouraging residents to work together to change the trajectory of our families and children, and sharing success stories.
Hope Mississippi
ABLE Accounts: Your Path to Financial Independence
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.
Hope. Mississippi is your salvation.
Speaker 2:Hi, my name is Josh Woodward. I am the ABLE Director at the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services and I wanted to remind you that August is ABLE to Save Month and for the first 20 accounts that are open in the month of August we will contribute $100 to the account when it opens. So sign up and with any questions please reach out. You can get me at mdrsmsgov or at 601-853-5257. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:When you need some hope and inspiration to build collaboration hope.
Speaker 2:Mississippi is your salvation. One in four kids live in poverty. One in five are food deprived.
Speaker 1:Build collaborations and build hope with those who are struggling.
Speaker 2:Hope, mississippi, hope, mississippi.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to another edition of Hope Mississippi, and I am thrilled to have Joshua Woodward. I'm going to call him Josh. Hi, josh.
Speaker 2:Hey, how are you doing today? Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm so glad to have you and you are the director of Mississippi ABLE with the Department of Rehabilitation Services. Can you tell us a little bit about?
Speaker 2:ABLE. That's a whole mouthful of words. You know we us in government, we love our acronyms and all of that. But yeah, able is a financial account for individuals with disabilities and what it helps them do is it helps them save money in their name without it affecting their public benefits, which some of these individuals need so much. Specifically, you know, ssi, ssdi, medicaid. What I do here at MDRS is work to help promote the ABLE program. I work to help connect and educate. Well, I guess the first step is definitely to educate all of our interested parties on what ABLE is and how the benefit of ABLE and why it's important for Mississippians with disabilities. And then, once we get those folks to help spread the word, you know, once we have people coming to us wanting to sign up, I help them get everything squared away, get signed up, answer questions and just provide that added bit of customer support that they need.
Speaker 1:Let's back up just a little bit and have a overall view of exactly. First, what does the Mississippi 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:That is one of the best questions that oftentimes never gets asked. You know, when people see our name, 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 and alcohol rehab, and both of those are not wrong, but both of those are not right either. What mdrs is is the state agency that helps mississippians with disabilities live independently. That's the. That is the state agency that helps Mississippians with disabilities live independently. That is the overarching mission of our agency. Through that mission, though, we have, I'm going to say, 3.5 major programs, one of those being our vocational rehabilitation program.
Speaker 2:It is exactly like it sounds. We help Mississippians with disabilities get back to work or stay work. So if you acquire a disability and you need to work you want to work well, then VR is going to help you do that. If you are, maybe you're a young person and you're in school and you have a disability and you're trying to get to work one day, if you have the ability, we're going to work with you to help you overcome those trying to get to work one day. If you have the ability, we're going to work with you to help you overcome those hurdles to get to work, the second major program we have.
Speaker 1:Wait, I'm going to kind of interrupt you there, because this is Hope Mississippi, and one thing we want folks that are struggling with disabilities to know is that the Department of Rehabilitation Services is here to walk alongside you and give you hope, and that is such a wonderful thing that our state is providing. So hooray for Mississippi and the wonderful work that y'all do.
Speaker 2:We selfishly brag that we are the best kept secret in Mississippi government. Mississippi government agencies do a lot of great things, but as far as putting hope and help right to the ground, where it needs to be, our agency, in my opinion, does it as good as anybody. You know it is a lot of the people that work here at our agency consider it a mission more than a job. You know we, a lot of our folks at our agency, have been touched by disability, whether it's individually or somebody in their family, and it is a it's more of a passion project than it is employment. And I'm not saying that you know we don't have the headache every now and then, but the mission here is to give that little bit of help that maybe that person that's struggled with disability or, you know, has battled with it. Just that little bit, give them that 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, or whether that's getting old. You know, getting your case approved through the Social Security Administration and getting on a disability check through SSI.
Speaker 2:We do many, many things and I spent about nine or so years in the vocational program as the business development director and was asked to come over to ABLE due to a financial background that I had prior to coming to state government and my development background as well. And the goal now to having me as director is to really get the word out about the program, turn it into a more proactive approach of education and outreach and to really tap into as many folks as we can that might can benefit from what ABLE can do for them, which is save money and to be independent. As much as I hate to say it and I mentioned this on a radio show the other day sadly money is a part of independence and we have to give our folks who need this service. We want them to have the ability to save money so that they can also work and be independent or SSI when you've not paid enough into the system.
Speaker 1:But talk about some of the financial restraints that folks have and why it's so important that there be an opportunity to save money.
Speaker 2:A lot of folks who are on SSI. There are asset limitations to those programs and as an individual you can have I believe it's up to $2,000 in their name of assets. And, like I mentioned before, I believe that $2,000 number came into concrete effect. I believe it was 1989. I could be off on that just a little bit. Money went a lot further in 1989 than it does in 2025. I use the example I had to put tires on my truck a few months ago and after I left the tire place I think it was over $2,000. The number has not been cost adjusted since the 80s.
Speaker 2:What it has done, in my personal opinion, is it has really discouraged people from working number one because they can't have assets. And on top of that it kind of creates folks who can kind of accidentally become addicted to our system. We don't want to see that and sometimes it's necessary. But sometimes people get on these benefits too. For the medical side of things, you know they can't afford to lose it. When I was in the VR program, we always used to encourage people to go to work, go earn money. You can do better than the check by earning money. But sometimes the medical side they need the medical side as much as they need the monetary things. $2,000 really limits their ability in what they can do and they honestly live handcuffed because if they get a little bit more than $2,000 in savings then 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 to buy something. And they'll go buy something erroneous to spend their money down. So they're kind of held down by this limitation.
Speaker 2:Able is there to allow them to save money in their name. Is there to allow them to save money in their name and monies that go into an ABLE account. It's like SSA the Social Security Administration doesn't see it. They can save up to $19,000 a year into an ABLE account and still maintain their benefit status. They can save up to $100,000 in an ABLE account and still maintain their benefit status with SSI. If they don't have SSI, they can put up to $235,000 in the account, and so what it does is it allows these individuals to put money away to save for a rainy day, to save for that air conditioner going out, like mine almost did the other day, or to save for those tires, or to save for that air conditioner going out like mine almost did the other day, or to save for those tires, or to save for an education, or maybe it's doctor bills, whatever it may be what we call qualified disability expenses. It allows them to save monies for that without having to give up those benefits that a lot of them so desperately need. And so it's kind of a have your cake and eat it too kind of thing.
Speaker 2:And what we're trying to do, or one thing we've noticed with ABLE, is that well and not just individuals with disabilities but people don't like to talk about money. You know money is a sensitive subject. It's kind of like talking about religion. You know, people get a little on edge when you start talking about the good Lord and about their pocketbook Even more so, I would say, in the disability community. When you talk about money, they borderline, have a panic attack. It's taken a lot of education and a lot of massaging and a lot of outreach to try to get people comfortable enough to realize that this isn't a gotcha thing. This is a real deal. Forty-nine states have an ABLE program within their state and people are utilizing it to better their livelihoods and to make themselves more independent, which I keep drumming on that word, but that's our key word.
Speaker 1:Well, that's so important for folks to know is that we want every Mississippian to have a maximum life benefit. You know, to I'm not hesitant to talk about religion, but all that the good lord planned on them having, and so the idea of rehabilitation services it's let us help you improve your life, and this is one way that we do it. I would say a lot of disability community that I am aware around. They're so dependent on medical benefits 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 have eyesight, then short of a miracle it's going to be like that. But that doesn't mean that they can't maximize their enjoyment of life and their ability to improve their life.
Speaker 2:The other thing about ABLE, too, is it doesn't have to be monies that are input by themselves, is it doesn't have to be monies that are input by themselves. Able is built. If you're familiar with financial programs and different savings tools, able is built off a 529 platform, which is originally a college savings plan, and in that 529 platform it allows for giving into the accounts of these people. So you can have a parent who opens an ABLE account for a child. You can have an ABLE account opened on behalf of a person by a grandparent or an uncle or a church. Even a third party individual at a nursing facility could open an ABLE account on behalf of somebody. It allows them to give, which a lot of people want to do.
Speaker 2:You know, one thing we hear a lot in the disability community is what's going to happen to my XYZ person? What's going to happen to my child when I'm gone? You know we see a lot of that and what it allows them to do is to go ahead and start saving those monies. The money stays in the name of the person. That's one of the other beauties I see with ABLE is that when it comes to saving money and being on public benefits, you have a couple of avenues, just a couple. Traditionally it's always been the special needs trust. The special needs trust is there, obviously, obviously to help with those disability expenses. But the problem it's not a problem, it's just the way that it is is that you still have a trustee over the trust and so the money truly is not in it's in that person's name, but it is not truly in control by the beneficiary.
Speaker 2:With ABLE, if they have the ability, the money is in their name and it is their account to make their decisions with. There's no trustee to go through. There's no, you know. It's. It's much simpler, it's much cleaner, it's very it's a lot cheaper to get into an ABLE account. I think the you know minimum investment to open an ABLE account is $25, you know, and so it allows them to have money in their name. They have that independence of being able to get that debit card and go to the Walgreens or go to the doctor's office or go to the grocery store or go to the gym or whatever it may be, and if they don't need to use the money for everyday expenses, they can set it back into an investment option and let it grow over time.
Speaker 2:It really is a tool that they can use, in conjunction with a special needs trust, if need be, to allow them to have independence physical and financial 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 as currently 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 could be 157 years old, but as long as you had your disability before the age of 26, you qualify for ABLE. The second piece of that is, obviously, that you have a disability. You either meet the Social Security Administration's definition of disability or it's as simple as going to your doctor and getting them to write a note saying that you have in fact have a disability first of next year.
Speaker 2:That 26 goes to the age of 46.
Speaker 2:There's going to be a lot more people who qualify for ABLE that maybe acquired a disability later in life, especially veterans we talk about soldiers and all of that who maybe they acquired a disability in the military and what a funny story to that.
Speaker 2:I was talking to a friend the other day and my friend is visually impaired and we were talking about ABLE and talking about me coming into this role a handful of months ago and I asked him if he had an ABLE account. He said no, I don't. And I was like how do you not have an ABLE account? Well, come to find out he did not 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 be the first phone call I make next January to help get him signed up, because he sees the benefit of all of this and wants to be able to save and needs to keep all of many pieces of his puzzle together and this is just one of those things that helps him be more independent of his puzzle together, and this is just one of those things that helps him be more independent.
Speaker 1:So attorneys out there that are working with families need to be aware of the opportunity that ABLE provides. Families can give money and that it can go into this ABLE account and that gives that individual financial security and independence. If they are not mentally impaired, they can themselves manage their own funds. So that's a great new avenue for families to care for their loved ones and also, if they inherit money or things like that, that could also go in these ABLE accounts. Is that right?
Speaker 2:We have bumped up against that a few times already, or I have. I had an individual or a family call, had an individual with a disability who was the beneficiary 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 the solution for this family was obviously to oh, we could do two things. You can take 19 of it and put it into an account today and meet, you know, maximize your contribution for the year, and then the rest would have to go into a special needs trust. Or if you could talk to the insurance company, whoever it may be, and get a structured settlement going, they could maybe write it to a way where it's not dropping that allotted amount of money into the account every year over a period of time. Absolutely, they can.
Speaker 2:It's not a dig by any means, but the financial advisor from the past in me wishes you could just put a lump sum of money into an ABLE account. That's the one thing that it cannot do, but we do have the ability to put portions of money at times in there. So, as attorneys out there, if you have the ability to structure settlements, maybe that's a good way to do it or go about doing it. And you have families too that if they need to give or they have income tax things they need to work on, this is a great way to give and to get that income tax deduction on the state level.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and there are lots of us that are suffering from disabilities of one sort or another, and so it's so important to know about the Department of Rehabilitation Services, about this unique way that you can help folks with disabilities to have independence by managing their own money. Josh, how would folks go about getting information from the Department of Rehabilitation Services in general, as well as specifically about ABLE?
Speaker 2:Sure. So the easiest way, I'll start with ABLE. The easiest way to get information about ABLE honestly is to go online and type in wwwmississippiablecom and it's going to pop up a website there and pretty much any link you click about contact me is going to end up in my lab, which is awesome, or you can reach out to our website, which is mdrsmsgov. The other way to do that is obviously to call our agency. Now, I will say this because another role I get to hold at the agency is being the development director for the agency as a whole to help promote and to help educate and to connect individuals to services they may need.
Speaker 2:We have anybody out there that's listening that needs our agency or has questions about the services of our agency. I would love for them to reach out to me directly and I can navigate them through to wherever that person, that expert, may be for them. The easiest way to do that, my office number is 601-853-5257. My email address is jwoodward at mdrsmsgov. If it's just a question about voc rehab services, or if it's a question about our independent living program, or maybe they have a question about applying for disability and what that looks like, or maybe it's a question about you know, reach out and we would love to. I'd love to direct them or make sure that they get the right person on the phone for them to make sure their you know their needs are met as quickly and, as you know, it's as good of an experience as they can expect is my goal.
Speaker 1:Wow, it's so inspiring to hear you and I know there are lots of folks out there that are working for our state doing good and spreading hope. Thank you so much, Josh, for sharing about ABLE and for all the work you're doing to think outside the box to help those in the disability community.
Speaker 2:Thank you, ms Dawn. I appreciate it very much, hope.
Speaker 1:Mississippi.
Speaker 2:Hi, my name is Josh Woodward. I am the ABLE Director at the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services and I wanted to remind you that August is ABLE to Save Month and for the first 20 accounts that are open in the month of August we will contribute a hundred dollars to the account when it opens. So sign up and with any questions, please reach out. You can get me at mdrsmsgov or at 601-853-5257. Thank you very much.
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