>> Hello, everyone! And welcome to our webinar today, the ABLE National Resource Center. We are bringing you our webinar, A New Year, a New You, Strategies to Increase Your Financial Fitness with an ABLE Account in 2020. Thank you so much, everyone, for joining us. And thank you to Credential and our other sponsors at the ABLE National Resource Center for supporting our work that we're doing here. My name is Miranda Kennedy and I'm the director of the ABLE National Resource Center. And we're going to go ahead and get started. So, if we can go to the next slide? I'm going to share with you, in case you're joining us for the first time would like a reminder of who we are and what we're doing here. The ABLE National Resource Center, also known as ABLE NRC is the leading comprehensive source of objective, independent information about federal and state-related ABLE programs and activities, including guidance on tax-advantaged ABLE savings accounts. Our mission is to educate, promote, and support the positive impact that ABLE can make on the lives of millions of Americans with disabilities and their families. We imagine that's why you're here joining us today. Our pioneering work in this area and our subject matter expertise make us the most -- the foremost authority on topics related to the achieving of better life experience are ABLE Act, ABLE accounts, state ABLE programs, ABLE-related policy developments, and comprehensive integration of ABLE financial and capability strategies for people with disabilities and to public service delivery systems. Our website address is ablenrc.org. Let's go ahead and move forward. I'm going to hand things off to my colleague, Al Amilioto, who's going to be sharing with us some of the logistics around accessing today's webinar. Before I introduce you to my co-presenter and we can go ahead and get started. So, Al, the floor is yours. >> Thanks, Miranda. Listening to the webinar. The audio for today's meeting can be accessed using computer audio or by calling in by phone. If you select computer audio, please make sure your speakers are turned on or headphones are plugged in. If you do not have sound capabilities on your computer or if you prefer to listen by phone, please dial 1-929-205-6099. The meeting code is 492-114-655. Captioning. Real-time captioning is provided during this webinar. The captions can be found by clicking on the closed captions icon in your zoom controls at the bottom of the screen. If you do not see captions after clicking the button, please alert us via the chatbox. You may also view captions in your browser at the following web address streamtext.net/player?event=NDI. Submitting questions, please use the Q&A box to submit any questions you have during the webinar and we'll try our best to get to all of those questions. If your question that's not answered in the webinar or if you're listening by phone and not logged in, you can visit www.ablenrc.org, and hopefully you'll find answers to any questions you might have there. Technical assistance. If you experience any technical difficulties during the webinar, please use the chatbox to send a message to me, the host of today's event. Or you may email me directly and my email address is amilioto@ablenrc.org. Please note, this webinar is being recorded and the materials will be placed on the ABLE National Resource Center website along with all of our other ABLE webinars at ablenrc.org/resources/webinars. And with that, I return things over to Miranda. >> Thank you, Al. And thank you, everyone, again for being here with us. My name is Miranda Kennedy. I'm the director of the ABLE National Resource Center and my colleague Marlene Ulisky is a manager of Financial Empowerment and the National Disability Institute. And we're going to be providing the presentation today. We are also supported by our team Al Amilioto, who's going to be supporting us in the background as well as Laurie Schaller, who will be responding to questions in the Q&A and chat. She's a subject matter expert as well. So, we hope you have the support you need to glean the most you can from today's presentation. Also, please do note to download the PowerPoint. Because the resources, the guidance it's all on there for you. We've put all our cards on the table here at ABLE National Resource Center. So, with that, let's go ahead and take a look at the objectives for today. So, our objectives here are to really help everyone get on the same page and learn how to begin to incorporate the New Year's resolutions into ABLE savings goals and build the process to take control of your finances. That can be daunting so we're going to help break it down with some tips. We're also going to be talking about links between health, fitness, and healthy financers and providing some really some tips and promising practices to strengthen your core with ABLE fundamentals for 2020 success. I hope you'll find workout bodies to help you reach for ABLE goals through your ABLE circle of support, help increase your flexibility by using various ABLE financial tools, build that financial endurance by delaying disbursements and learning about compounded interest, and maintaining a well-balanced ABLE account in 2020 with options to fund your account that you may not know about. So, this is what we're hoping to achieve in our hour together here today. Let's go ahead and take a look at resolutions for health and wealth and talk about New Year's resolutions because we're tying this to the New Year. It's a new year, it's a new decade. It's really a new start and it's a great time to start fresh and think about what you will do, what you're going to change and do better in the coming year. You know, those New Year's resolutions are really meant to help, you know, it's when you make up your mind to do something that's important to you. And a recent survey found that 67% of respondents said that saving more money and saving for retirement were among there New Year's resolutions. In addition to, of course, staying healthy or starting healthy habits, that's also one of the really popular New Year's resolutions. So, let's go ahead and do a quick poll here just to see where we're at. We want to get a little bit of engagement from our group. And we want to ask you some questions. And Al is going to help guide is with on how to take this poll. It's going to pop up here on this screen. But the questions -- and I'm going to read those aloud. The poll question we have for you is if you made a New Year's resolution, what was it? And you can select one or more of the following. Saving for a big-ticket item like a vehicle or assistive technology. Saving for long-term goals, homeownership, education or retirement. Eliminating or reducing debt and/or developing a financial emergency fund. Focusing on physical, mental, emotional health and adopting healthy habits. Spending more time with family or your circle of support. Traveling to new places or other. So, Al, can you support folks in helping them to take the poll that's up on the screen in front of them? Is there any other guidance you have for them? You might be on mute. So, there it is. >> Yep, just go ahead and start answering the poll question. >> Maybe just use your mouse to click on the screen and then Al will give everyone just like a minute to go ahead and take a look. And it sounds like you can select more than one, right, Al? >> Yes. >> Okay. Are we starting to see any frontrunners here, Al? >> I see leading the pack right now is focusing on physical, mental, and emotional health and adopting healthy habits. >> Alright. Looks like we've got some folks who are probably contributing also to the chat. If you can do it on the screen, that'd be great too. But maybe we could take a look at the chat numbers too. It seems like D is leading on there as well. Okay. Let's go ahead and wrap up. And, Al, can you share what are our top leaders and in what order? Okay. We can see on the screen in front of us. Thanks, Al. So, it looks like, yeah, 52% says focusing on physical, mental, emotional health and adopting healthy habits. Next up we've got eliminating, reducing debt. And saving for long-term goals. So, those are our top three. It looks like all of them were important and some of you certainly may have chosen multiple among those. Okay. Thank you, everyone. That's helpful to know. And I think today's presentation will tie into and support all of that. So, let's go ahead and go to the next slide and talk about. Funny enough, it's like we knew you were going to answer that way. So, let's talk about the links between financial health and physical and mental and emotional health. So, this will probably not come as much of a surprise to anyone joining us here today. But financial stress causes stress on a body and can natively impact physical and mental health. And that stress can trigger unhealthy habits. So, what can we do when this happens? We made up strategies that benefit us financially as well as physically. And among these can include budgeting for a healthy lifestyle that helps your pocketbook. Eating out and eating fast food can be expensive and unhealthy. Another would be regular exercise, promotes a healthy body to keep you strong to prevent illness and injury along with a healthy mind which promotes good decision-making. So, exercise also helps you to connect with your body and can improve your confidence to help you reach your goals. So, those are some strategies. Other things to consider, you know, explore other opportunities to become physically and financially fit. Planning to be healthy is very similar to planning to be wealthy. There's good close science to this. And both take discipline and commitment. So, let's go ahead and go to the next slide. We just want to give an example of the link between -- of a very direct link between healthy living and ABLE accounts, right here at the beginning. And you'll see on the right-hand side a great picture of our 2019 ABLE National Resource Center ambassador Taylor Carty. She's a young woman in her early 20s. And she participated in the program we're going to be talking about here, the Accessible Wellness and Empowerment Program. And you can see her here with her trainer, Rachel Kahn in front of the swimming pool. And Rachael's sitting there. She's in her accessible wheelchair and with the thumbs up with Rachel. And the Accessible Wellness and Empowerment Program at UC Berkeley it's 501C3 non-profit that provides increased access to recreational sports facilities, equipment, and one on one training at no extra cost for students with mobility, vision, hearing or invisible disabilities. So, something to consider here and why we're using this as an example the accessible Wellness and Empowerment Program as this example is funded through June of 2020 and it's free to participants. However, this program and others like it, often struggle with funding. Rachel is an integral part of this. Sorry. Well, Rachel is an integral part of this but Taylor, who's our ambassador, had participated in this program and shared with us, you know, the struggle they had with the funding for this. And something to keep in mind because this is free and no cost to participants but costs that are associated with fitness programs, those can be a perfect use of ABLE funds as a qualified disability expense that increases health, independence, and quality of life. So, for programs like this, ABLE account funds can be used to support those programs. Additionally, we do encourage folks, you know, check out these kinds of programs that may exist in your community as well as exploring your local YMCA to do so. So, let's go ahead and take a look at just this next slide that's talking about financial fitness and physical fitness resolutions. You know, while it may seem like a slow start, making small changes can make it easier to stick to your new habits and increase the likelihood of long-term success. So, think about making that commitment today. If you haven't already. This may line up with the commitments you've already made. But choosing your priorities and setting short-term and long-term goals but being realistic. Reassessing regularly, planning accordingly as needed, and going for it. So, making those adjustments. We do have a goalsetting worksheet to help you get started. There's a link here as well as one of our final slides with resources from ABLE National Resource Center on how to manage your account, how to set those financial goals. And keep in mind, progress it's made by small gains over a long period of time. Whether it's physical fitness or financial fitness. They are very aligned. And don't expect instant results. It's a marathon, not a sprint. And sometimes you need help to stay motivated, to learn, and get on the right pathway. And don't be afraid to seek help when needed. We're going to be talking about that circle of support around that. And keeping in mind that if you've got a setback, getting back on track, identifying and addressing any barriers, you know, do the best you can right now today for a better future. And every day along those lines, just keep moving forward. And tying these two things together can make a whole lot of sense in doing so. You do want to stick to those new habits and create that long-term success. So, when we think about that, one of the first things we're going to be talking about is strengthening your core and financial fundamentals for success. Some real tools to do so. And that's going to take us into the next discussion around planning ahead, goal setting. Let's find this in detail because there's more to it than just a lot of nice, fancy, you know, go get them kind of cheerleading from me. So, Marlene is going to take us in this next section, through some processes, through some strategies, share some tools with you to get started with strengthening your core, your financial core. Marlene. >> Okay. Thanks, Miranda. And thank you all for taking the time this afternoon to be with us to listen to this presentation. So, let's talk about planning ahead by setting goals. And setting short-term and long-term goals creates a roadmap for your success. For those who aren't really familiar with setting goals, it's common to have both a short-term goal and a long-term goal. And short-term goals are those achieved rather quickly, perhaps in a year or less. And long-term goals take a longer period of time to accomplish. And that may be something like five years or more. It could be something like the purchase of a home, saving for an accessible vehicle and so on. Now, these goals, they'll give you direction and a destination. It will help you to take control of your life and your future. And this perspective will help you with decision making. Now, the goals give you hope and they give you something to aspire to. And they can be very motivating. Although they're challenging, they give you a sense too of personal satisfaction. And setting and reaching your goals builds confidence and gives you a sense of personal pride. Now, once you have identified your goals, consider using the STAR method of setting goals and you'll see that on the right side of this slide. And this method actually gives you some structure to goal setting with each letter of the word STAR representing a step which defines your goal and makes it clearer. So, S stands for specific, it defines what you want to achieve. It helps if you would write down that goal. Try to remember that if circumstances changed, that goal may change also. You may need to amend it. So, it is rather flexible. T stands for timeline, that's your timeline. It's your target date for achieving that goal. And once again, if your goal changes along the way because of circumstances, that timeline may change also. A stands for action-oriented. That's how you will achieve that goal. Stretch yourself. But don't set goals that are so difficult for you to achieve that you can't attain them. R stands for realistic. The goal is attainable in the light of any obstacles. Now, to learn more about goal setting or to download a worksheet with the STAR method of setting goals, this is the ABLE National Resource Center website where you'll find a video too on setting goals. On the next slide, and on this side you'll see examples of short-term and long-term goals. And that's the why of saving. Now, as you move along, as you identify savings opportunities, you'll be identifying both your short-term goals and your long-term goals. Remember, you'll have more than one goal. Now, this graphic provides a really good example it's important when you are setting these goals to remember to save for items or services that are qualified disability expenses, those are acceptable expenses or disbursements from your ABLE account and they must be expenses which enhance your health, your independence or your quality of life as we heard a little bit earlier. Now, this webinar won't be discussing qualified disability expenses. But if you need more information, visit our website. We have one full webinar, it's about an hour and a half on qualified disability expenses. Now, short-term goals, they can include things like the purchase of a new computer or perhaps medical expenses or saving in an emergency fund, for example, such as perhaps car repairs or home repairs. And as we move from shorter-term to longer-term goals, you may be saving for an assistive technology purchase or education not paid for through other channels or perhaps that vehicle purchase. Now, when you are purchasing a vehicle, I just want to throw one thing out there, if it's a second vehicle it could affect your benefits. Now, at the right of your screen, you'll see the home purchase, modifications, and retirement as longer-term goals. On the next slide, so for all of -- everything we'll be talking about today we'll be giving you some tips and some promising practices. And on this slide, we're talking about financial fundamental tips and practices and promising practices. So, remind yourself often of your goals. Write them down and put them where you'll see them every day. You may perhaps want to place them on post-its or even on sticky notes where you can see them often. The more you're reminded of the goals, the more you'll likely stick to your pathway in achieving those goals. Remember that your goals are fluid. They may change based upon time, situations or even life events. You may have to reassess and change your goals. It depends upon life events if they're not working for you. Perhaps you had an unexpected emergency expense and you couldn't save in your ABLE account for a period of time or perhaps you were laid off from your job. These are all good reasons to reassess your goals. Now, always be realistic. Aim higher than you think you can achieve and you'll usually surprise yourself. Make sure you understand the price of reaching your goals, it's not always easy. Then recognize obstacles and work to avoid or eliminate them. And the next slide, additional financial fundamentals. If you're not working but you would like to work, employment is the single best way to save more to achieve your financial goals. If you are receiving disability-based benefits from social security, you're eligible for free services under the Ticket to Work Program. So, check out the link on our slide that's choosework.ssa.gov/findhelp. Consider a savings and spending plan to help you to gain control of your day to day expenses and identify money that you can set aside in your ABLE accounts. In our resources at the end of the presentation, there's a savings and a spending plan link to our parent company website, the National Disability Institute. And while you can use that one here at the ABLE National Resource Center, we're continually in the process of developing new tools to help you to save. And we're in the process of developing a tool we'll be posting to the ABLE National Resource Center website soon. So, please check out our website periodically for new materials that you can use. Now, if you have a special needs trust, consider discussing your goal with the trustee whether the trust will contribute to your ABLE account so that you can achieve your goals sooner versus later. And some individuals will achieve a goal on their own while others may need support or guidance to help them to achieve their goal. So, don't be afraid to ask for help. And that's our next topic. On the next slide, we'll find ABLE workout buddies with a circle of support, as Miranda referred to a little earlier. On the next slide if you have a difficult time understanding ABLE accounts, developing a savings or a spending plan or managing your money, consider a circle of support. Now, you've probably heard this advice a million times or more but the buddy system actually works. And having a solid support system can help you to understand and to stay motivated. A circle of support, it's merely a group of people committed to helping you to achieve a better future and meet your goals. This circle can be small, it can be large, and it can be comprised of anyone you know well and who can support you. If they are a family member, a brother, a sister, a representative payee, a friend, a professional, clergy, employer or others. There are no rules as to who can be in an individual circle of support. But when you're building that circle, the most important thing is to include only individuals you know and you trust. And it's also important to always be cautious when you're sharing your financial information with individuals that you've only known for a short time or those that you don't know well. And the next slide. Some tips and promising practices related to a circle of support. A circle of support it's just like having a group of friends that can help you to sort things out, they'll help you to explore and prioritize savings and investment goals. They'll help you even to formulate goals, they'll clarify ideas about the future to get to know your circle of support and ask for advice or ask for support with problems and talk about your goals. Your circle of support will likely ask a lot of questions because they are there to help you to reach your goals, your dreams, and your aspirations. Now, always remember though as an ABLE account owner, you are in charge, you make the decisions, and you set the goals for what you want in life while being supported. Now, if you are working or you're planning to work, consider adding a Certified Work Incentives Coordinator or a CWIC to your circle of support to help you to find available resources in your community so that you can work to your fullest capability and use the work support that helps leverage and come to increase your savings. Now, to learn more how to do the circle of support, visit our website again at the ABLE National Resource Center at the link shared. So, at this point, Miranda, I think I'm going to turn it back over to you to tell us about increasing your flexibility with some ABLE financial tools. >> Great. Thank you so much, Marlene. Yes, and just as increasing your flexibility is important in terms of your mental health and your physical health and being able to be as flexible as you can be with supports or not. To be able to be financially flexible is important as well. We want to make sure you all know, be aware of, we may be reminding you or introducing you for the first time to some tools and tips, things to consider and remember about ABLE to help you be flexible and know that you're not locked in, it's not, you know, here's where I'm at and I can't move around anymore. So, the ABLE National Resource and on our website we have tools to meet your needs so that you can compare ABLE programs. So, we've got a three-state comparison tool that is available at ablenrc.org/compare-states/. We also have our ABLE Program Features Tool which is ablenrc.org/state-plan-search. And the results page of this tool allows you to download files for all states or for selected states to assist you in comparison. We also have our map of the USA tools. So, for that, there is the ablenrc.org/select-a-state-program. And that's going to show you a map and you can click on that map and find information. So, these are some tools to help you compare ABLE programs. And why would you need to do that? Well, we're going to talk about that in our tips and tools. But before we get to that, talk about other ABLE tools that can help you. I know that there have been some questions coming in on the chat about where are the webinars and resources available at. We do want to let you know that we have ABLE programs Spotlight webinars that we hold throughout the year. We have archives are also located on our websites. And this is for specific state programs or multistate collaborations. And that's located ablenrc.org/resources/webinars/programs-highlights. We also have our ABLE accounts, special needs, and pool trust comparison charts. And that resource is available at ablenrc.org/wpcontents/uploads/2019/08/ableaccountspecialneedsandpooltrustcomparisonchart.pdf. Another tip I have for you for all of this, our search button in our upper right-hand corner of our website if you were to type in ABLE accounts special needs pooled trust comparison chart or even ABLE accounts special needs trust. It'll bring you right there. We also have a resource and other tool choosing the right ABLE program. And so there's a lot of really good tools that we have here. And you could type into the search function choosing the right ABLE program. It's a PDF we have from 2018. We keep these things updated. And other tools along these lines are being developed daily. Do go to our website and check back often. We're in the process of updating our special needs and pooled trust comparison chart right now. We worked on that with the Special Needs Alliance and even we have new tools in our ABLE employer toolkit. It's new and got launched earlier this month. So, we're constantly evolving these types of tools. But these tools in particular for your financial flexibility, we think they'll be very supportive of you. So, if we go to the next slide and talk about just some tips and promising practices, we've got one or two slides here. We do encourage you to research programs using those ABLE National Resource Center tools that I just referenced because some states provide state tax credits while other states do not. You should always check out your own home state first and continue to check out your home state in case they make changes that might make it, you know, worth looking into and considering going there. There are also other programs outside your home state that might be a good fit as well. Do keep in mind ABLE account limits vary from state to state and they often coincide with the state 529 account limit for those college savings accounts under 529. The range is 235,000 to 529,000 dollars in terms of the limit of the amount that you can have in an ABLE account. Do keep in mind ABLE account fees vary from state to state. Those comparison charts will help you to take a look at that. Also, program options and fees for checking accounts, debit cards, money market accounts, and so on, they do vary from state to state. Most states and the districts of Columbia allow non-residents to enroll in their state program. There are some states that are limited to the in-state resident only. So, be sure to check that out, those comparison tools on our site will indicate whether it's opened for non-residents. Keep in mind that fund "hold times" they vary. So, do read through the program's disclosure documents and contact your specific state ABLE program to ask questions about hold times on funds that are in your ABLE account. That's important for you to know because it will help you in terms of how flexible do I need to be, you know, what is the constant that you can take into consideration. And let's go ahead and take a look at the next final slide on our ABLE financial tips in terms of our flexibility here. So, if you find an ABLE program with options that are more suited to your needs after you've opened your account, you're not locked in. You can directly rollover your ABLE account balance form one program to another one time per year. So, you're not restricted to an account, it's only in your state of residence. Some but not all states again provide that state tax credit for residents who have established an account in their home state. Research it if it's important to you. There may be a fee to roll over from one 529A program to another, that information will be in the disclosure documents. Two other things that are important to keep in mind. A 529 college savings account balance of up to $15,000 per year can be directly rolled over into an ABLE account each calendar year. And also, we've referenced this before when we talked about special needs trust. But be aware that a special needs trust or a pooled trust can contribute into an ABLE account up to the annual contribution limit without an effect on means-tested benefits. So, you can review a webinar we held on this on ABLE accounts and special needs trust. It's on our website, I know they've been posting where the link is to all of our webinars over on the right-hand side. But the special needs trust funds, it's ablenrc.org/able-accounts-and-special-needs-trust. So, those are some great resources for you there. And they will all hopefully help to assist in your financial flexibility that will, of course, impact and support your physical and mental and emotional health as well and flexibility there. So, let's go ahead and talk about building financial endurance. Now, I'm going to hand this over to Marlene because this is another, you know, when we talk about flexibility, we talk about endurance, you know, we're in this for a long game. Marlene, can you tell us a little bit about how we can continue to make the most of our ABLE accounts? >> Okay. Thanks, Miranda. And one of the ways you can build financial endurance is to learn about the savings products offered by the state and the district of Columbia ABLE programs. And the products offered is something we actually haven't talked about very much in the past webinars. And there are four shown on your screen, the FDIC insured savings account, a checking account, an investment account, and prepaid debit cards. And those are what we call the financial products. Now, FDIC insured savings account. Saving money in that type of account is insured. FDIC insures Financial -- it's insured by the FDIC up to about $250,000 per insured bank. Not all savings and investing methods are equal. If you're worried about safety, you may want to save in this type of savings account. In addition, if you're saving for short-term goals, you may also wish to consider saving in this type of account. Now, alternatively, if you're using or if you generally will use your savings as a transactional type account, you may wish to consider a checking account option. There's also -- those securities are not insured by the FDIC. There are varying degrees of risk involved, including the possible loss of principal invested but in general when they have a higher rate of return, and when there's a higher rate return, there's a higher risk. Now, if your savings are going to grow over time, more risk may be acceptable to you. There are also prepaid debit cards and that may be something that you want to consider. Now, just remember, all of the products or all of the programs rather don't offer all of the production on your screen. But again, you would use the ABLE National Resource Center comparison tools that Miranda talked about a couple of slides ago if you want to compare or contrast options. And those comparison tools would show you which products are offered by the program. You can also review the disclosure documents which also would contain that information. If you would like to get to the state or the District of Columbia disclosure document, you can visit our site and use the comparison tools. And there's a link to the disclosure documents. Now, you can choose one option or you can diversify with more than one option. But you can only have one ABLE account at any given time. So, on the next slide, we're still building financial endurance. So, to build financial endurance, always have a goal and learn how your money can grow. It can grow in a number of ways if you delay disbursements. You let the money sit there and gain interest longer. You can investigate alternative funding sources for qualified disability expenses. That means not using your ABLE account for those expenses if they're covered by other programs. And some of the other programs you may want to look at are vocational rehabilitation in your state or Division of Blind Services in your state if that's applicable. Medicare, Medicaid or Medicaid waivers, a special needs trust, the American Jobs Centers, services from an employment network under the Ticket to Work Program. A plan to achieve self-support which is a social security work support or also called the work incentive or your state assistive technology center. You can find your state assistive technology center if you visit www.a3center.net/stateprogram. Also, build your knowledge base, learn about compounded interest. And compounded interest is interest calculated on the initial principal that includes all of the accumulated interest. And again, that's something we haven't touched upon before in prior webinars that we're going to talk about that for a slide or two. So, on the next slide, we're looking at compounded interest. And this chart shows years of savings on the left-hand side of the chart and along the top, there are columns and they're labeled principal amount interest earned and new principal balance. And it's kind of a simple example of compounded interest. So, if you go across the lines horizontally, you'll see in year one $100 is saved and this bank account pays 5% interest. The principal on the interest equals $105 at the end of the year. You'll see on the next line, in year two principal amount it's now $105. And as you can see the interest earned that's slightly higher because it was based on $105 in that account versus $100 initially deposited. Now, at the end of year two, you'll see the new principal balance, it's now $110 and 25 cents. And the third year the principal balance $110 and 25 cents. And as you can see that amount earns even more interest even though the interest rate remains the same at 5%. And you'll see at the end during year five, the account balance is up to $127 and 63 cents on an initial $100 deposit. So, obviously, if this account owner is also saving money periodically, their account balance could grow even faster. Now, on the next slide, the impact of compounding. So, with compounding, there's a couple of rules. It says higher the interest rate, the more money you'll earn, the more interest you'll learn. We saw in the previous example the longer the time period, the more money you earn because the interest is based on that higher principal amount. And the more frequent the compounding period, the more money you earn like in the prior example, the compounding occurred only once per year. But if it's more often than that, their money will grow faster. Now, there is rather a quick and easy way to find out how long it'll take to double your money and that's by using what's called the rule of 72. So, simply divide the number 72 by the investment's expected rate of return. And so, for example, if you have an investment with an expected rate of return of say 3%, it will take approximately 24 years for it to double. So, the formula is 72 divided by the rate equals the time it takes to double years. So, it's 72 divided by years equals the yield. So, in this example, $5000 say at 10% interest equals $10,000 in seven years and two months. Now, on that prior example with $100, by using the rule of 72, it would take 14.4 years to double the money and that's at 5% interest. So, on the next slide, we're still talking about making your money grow and there are a lot of ways to save more and allow your money to grow and we've provided some examples on this slide. And one of the best ways to save more money and allow your money to grow is to become employed or to become self-employed and use the social security work supports if you receive disability-based benefits from social security and that would be social security disability insurance benefits or supplemental security income benefits. You can find the work supports in the red book and we've provided you with the link to the red book, it's www.ssa.gov/redbook/. You can also use automatic transfers from your earnings to your ABLE account so that you really don't miss the money that you saved. Another way is to identify savings opportunities and allow your money to work for you. Record your spending patterns and make a savings and a spending plan that we talked about a little bit earlier. Leave your credit card home and manage or pay down your debt. And that's a goal a lot of you have because we took the poll a little bit earlier and many of you indicated that that is one of your goals for this year. Now, if your expenses will not allow you to save, you may wish to look for what I call daily spending leaks. And these would be things like magazines or newspapers or bottled water, entertainment, cigarettes, alcohol or frequent dining out. Now, if you don't want to eliminate any of these, just cut down a little and save. I personally was surprised at how much money I could save when I eliminated trips to the local coffee shop and I eliminated the magazines I would always throw in my cart at the grocery checkout counter. Another way to save is to review your home telephone, your internet, your cell phone, your cable or your satellite service and compare bundling. Also, another way I learned is reviewing any insurance you have periodically whether that's homeowner insurance or perhaps car insurance. And you may be able to save by changing providers. Also, review gas and electric from different suppliers and compare costs to save. So, on the next slide, let's talk about some -- about financial endurance with some tips and promising practices. And some of those are saving even small amounts of money today can add up to a significant amount of savings over the years. Explore your options and diversify your savings to earn even more. And if you're employed, consider automatic transfers to your ABLE account. Because when you transfer that money automatically, you're less apt to miss it. Consider making additional contributions to your ABLE account if you or your employer have not contributed to a workplace retirement plan in the calendar year. And we talk a little more about this on a future slide. And that's under the ABLE to work provision and it allows eligible account owners to contribute as much as $12,490 more in their account each calendar year. Now, residents of Alaska have a higher limit, it's $15,600 extra. And those who live in Hawaii that's up to $14,380 additional. And that's an additional to the $15,000 contribution limit for a calendar year. Another way, a tip and promising practice of a better way to save this is to consider filing for the earned income tax credit. And next month, our webinar will be focused on taxes and tax credits. So, you may want to register early to secure your spot. On the next slide, we're still talking a little bit more about financial endurance, some tips, some promising practices, learn and save. Again, saving even small amounts today and compounded interest can add up to a significant amount over the years. And we saw that a little earlier. Explore financial product options to explore diversifying your savings and investments. So, instead of keeping all of your money in one product in a savings account, you may want to diversify and perhaps provide another amount in an investment account or other types of accounts. If you need to take a disbursement for a qualified disability expense, always investigate whether some or all of the costs are covered by any other public benefit program instead of using your ABLE savings because that allows your ABLE savings to grow for a longer period of time. And explore tax credits that can help you to save even more for your future and again, Laurie Schaller and Miranda Kennedy will be discussing that in the February webinar. So, Miranda, I think I'm going to turn it back over to you to talk about increasing your health and your wealth. >> Wonderful. Thank you, Marlene. So, yes, first of all, we would say meet yourself halfway. You know, we know, many of us know that in terms of health, learning more about managing your food portions and increasing your exercise are really essential to health. And, of course, if you can't afford a fitness center membership, simply walk is a great suggestion. Although you can use -- certainly use your ABLE account funds to support your physical health and membership at the fitness center, as we've discussed earlier at the top. But those are some things, you know, it's pretty commonly understood in terms of health, you know, watching your intake in calories and your expenditure in terms of exercise. And it's a very similar thing in terms of your finances, right. Thinking about cutting back, right, not so many calories in, but cutting back on those unnecessary spendings, the things that Marlene has just referenced to increase your ability to save more regularly and also save that money, you know, maybe put it straight into your ABLE accounts so you don't know you're missing it like Marlene mentioned earlier. And that can really help to begin to reduce that cellulite from your debt load. And you can do both, you know, these things are very connected. So, think about discretionary spending leaks for items like leaking out, you know. Marlene mentioned her expenditures at the coffee shops and finally, she had an impact on the little coffee machine here, you know. Those types of things, they make a real difference, you know. Instead of buying magazines, go to the library. You know, where can you reduce your spending and save more? If you want to eat out, lunch is a lot cheaper to eat out than dinner, things like that. So, also, you know, weighing your needs versus your wants. And tracking your spending, you know, to increase your health and wealth, the two are very combined. Now, how do you track your habits? Well, in terms of health, one of the ways we track habits on the next slide is we track the number of steps that you walk each day by using a fit bit or a pedometer, you know, you track the foods that you're eating, and the calories consumed, and use the nutrition labels. In terms of fitness, that's tracking your income, your expenses and saving and we've got some tools we've referenced here today. And tracking and monitoring those household expenses regularly to make adjustments as needed. And you can do both for eating and spending. Ask yourself is there any emotional triggers related to current habits and make changes. Small changes really do add up. And we all have our kind of emotional financial scripts that we come with. You know, so examining those. And being gentle with yourself. And congratulating yourself on taking steps towards improving your physical, emotional, and financial health. And just taking those steps. So, what are the guidelines? How do we learn about those guidelines? Well, with health, we know you compare food portion sizes to objects and you downsize portions accordingly. It really helps me to fit in my current wardrobe and not have to buy a new wardrobe, the fact that, you know, I eat my food, not on a dinner plate but on a salad plate. And you might pack it but you don't go back for a second. Things like that, right, those portion sizes. So, similarly, guidelines in terms of finances might be, you know, establishing an emergency fund that's three to six months of expenses. Have use of knowing what would three to six months of expenses look like for me realistically really knowing that. Knowledge is power. And how to start saving for retirement and come up with at least 80% of the pre-retirement amount. It's guidance that are given on finance, you know, when you're thinking about those guidelines, you know, kind of keeping on track with our connection here. Increasing the muscle of your savings and investments by maximizing savings to the extent that's possible. That chart that Marlene showed, you know, how does your money make money for you. ABLE is a new place that's allowing that for people who previously didn't have that option, certainly for folks who are on benefits who have, you know, very expensive, you know, expenditures related to living and accommodating a disability. So, keeping in mind the total annual contribution, the one that is 15,000 from all sources. But as Marlene mentioned earlier, in employed ABLE accounts, an owner can contribute more under ABLE to work. So, really making the most of that. And I say we hear from ABLE account owners who are able to do so that the biggest tip they have are ambassadors that they share with others is, you know, that delaying disbursements that Marlene mentioned earlier or in more plain speak. If you can put your money in your ABLE account, if it's possible to not spend it, you know, that is a great option for you. Certainly, people want to be able to access that. And different people have different situations they're living in. But if you can leave the funds in an ABLE account and expend funds elsewhere, ABLE can grow and that's really going to be building that muscle of savings and investments and maximizing these of your ABLE account which really -- okay. Now the next slide. Let's talk about third parties because you're not doing this alone, right. And when we're talking about increasing the muscle of your savings, you can have third-parties contributing into an ABLE account and that can be hugely helpful. So, examples of third parties can include family, friends, employers, a special needs trusted pool trust which is not counted as a resource or an estate. It also includes a 521 or a 529A rollover. Third-party contributions into the ABLE account do not count as income to a beneficiary who receives means-tested benefits. So, this is really helpful. You're not doing it alone. Also, in terms of being an account owner, for earned or unearned income may be contributing into the ABLE account from that account owner themselves. There's no change in the way means-tested benefits programs count earned and unearned income contributed to an ABLE account. So, keep that in mind. And the total annual contribution limit for 2020 is $15,000 from all sources. And keeping in mind an employed ABLE account owner can contribute more under ABLE to work, as Marlene mentioned earlier and with those different rates for Hawaii and Alaska. So, finally, on the next slide Marlene had shared this that certain employed ABLE account owners can contribute above $15,000 under the ABLE to Work Act. So, an account owner may be eligible if he or she and their employer has not contributed to a 401A, a 403A, a 403B or a 457B retirement account in a calendar year. So, that's some of the specificities that Marlene mentioned that we're alluding to here. And that's additional on top of the $15,000. And it's whichever is less. Their gross income for that taxable year or the $12,490 for the 48 contiguous states. For Alaska, that's $15,600 or Hawaii 14,380. Finally, let's talk about employment and benefits planning. If you're working or planning to become employed and receive disability-based benefits from social security, seek guidance from a community work incentive coordinator, a CWIC, to understand how working affects all public benefits you receive. CWIC provides free benefits counseling services to help you understand how working affects benefits and how you can make good decisions for yourself. And the CWIC can help you use the work supports, the social security offers to help you become employed to work at higher levels or to transition off of benefits if that's your goal. And there's that Choose Work! website, choosework.ssa.gov/findhelp, Marlene had mentioned earlier. Finally, let's do a very quick poll here. Just please tell us which of the following things you learned about during today's webinar. And then we'll be sharing just a few final resources and next steps for you. So, Al is going to throw it onto the screen and I'll read it behind everyone. So, Al, can you go ahead and throw it up on the screen, the poll for today and I'll read this aloud for folks? So, let us know and you can select one or more in terms of things that you learned more about today. The link between financial health and physical and mental health. Where to find the tools to compare ABLE programs? Setting goals. How a circle of support can help? Various financial tools and finally compounding and making money grow. You can get shares of things that, you know, maybe you've learned all of those things, the thing that maybe struck out to you the most. We know we've got a varied audience here. So, some of you may have known quite a bit of this. And there might be things that are new to you though. Can you let us know? We'll be quiet for a moment. You take that poll. Okay. Al, can you share with us the results from the poll from our audience? Okay. It looks like in the lead we would have where to find tools to compare ABLE programs. Okay. Well, we're glad that that's new information for you. We're glad you've learned it. We hope you'll check those out. And then finally various financial tools and compounding and making money grow being some of the leads there. It actually looks like a bit of a tie between a lot of these. Okay. Great. Thanks, everyone, for participating in our poll. It's nice to know where you're at. In our final moments here, we want to share with you a few things to take away. Okay. So, we want to introduce you to our 2020 ABLE NRC ambassadors that are going to be focusing on financial fitness with us here in 2020. And we're going to be talking about the next steps and resources here in our final few moments together. So, if we go to the next slide, and I know that my team is going to be sharing in the right-hand corner the webpage where you're going to be able to start tracking as we share their stories, information on our 2020 ABLE National Resource Center ambassadors. Our ambassadors were selected after a nationwide search during which we were privileged to hear really so many powerful and compelling ABLE stories. The application was open to parents and guardians of children with ABLE accounts and the working-age adults with an ABLE account. We have a mixture. This is our third group of ABLE account owners. So, now we will have had a comradery of 27 ABLE account owners and family members who have served as ambassadors with us. You know, really this group represents such diversity in terms of different types of disability, different geographic locations, ages, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, different state ABLE programs, and a wide range of ABLE goals. And many of them have already lived into their goals. Things like homeownership, purchasing a vehicle, you know, saving for education and other things. And these folks are teaching us and serving as an advisory board as well. And you'll be hearing more of their stories in our webinars, in our newsletter. We hope that you'll find out more in upcoming podcasts. So, please check it out because this is where it's at. It's where the rubber meets the road. Alright. So, if we go to the next slide, we want you to keep in mind, you know, like all participants today are ABLE ambassadors. They're really unique. The group is comprised of parents. You know, they've got those hopes and dreams and goals and needs that are maybe similar to yours. So, please do track that, follow their stories along with us. Each of them is going to have different goals. And they'll have tips and strategies for you. So, you can be hearing directly from others who are kind of pushing the envelope and checking out new things. I'll just mention, you know, one of our account owners from last year, a young woman who you've heard from the top helps to encourage the free application for federal student aid to include, you know, excluding ABLE accounts from being looked at for that. It was one of the first we heard from for that and we were able to take that forward. So, these scripts can be very influential and supportive of needs that will be reflective of all of you out there. They're teaching us new things all the time and we're taking that forward. One final thing in terms of the next steps. We encourage you to open an ABLE account early, that's something our ambassadors would tell all of you to, one, open it early. Learn the rules of the program as you go. Reassess periodically. You know, there's flexibility here. So, you're not locked in and it's not much to get started. The charge for opening it is fairly low compared to other vehicles. You know, keeping in mind establishing those goals, developing that budget, using those tools we're providing you here. Connecting with that benefits counselor and making wise decisions and maintaining good records and receipts, you know. You need to gather a lot of information and really these resources are key. So, keep this in mind. In terms of resources the next couple of slides are going to have a number of resources, we hope you'll take away. Most of them are on the ABLE NRC website. Information on, you know, how to enroll, the roadmap to independence. How to start financial goals? The STAR method Marlene mentioned. How to build that circle of support. ABLE best practices and action steps, we've got an NDI financial education toolkit. Please, take these slides with you. I know that my team will be posting them in the chatbox as well as these links. There are multiple of them in here. And as we're wrapping up our time if we can go to the help spread the word page, please do. Sign up and join our ABLE -- our achievable newsletter. Subscribe to that and you'll be getting great information there. You can also connect with us on social media, on Facebook and Twitter. And do participate in our upcoming ABLE to save webinars. I'm going to be sharing with you on the next slide the WRA webinar registration information. And if my team can post that in the chat on the right-hand side, it is going to be taking place on February 13th. We're going to be having ABLE, the RIS and tax advantages. What you need to know. And we'll be having an introduction from our contact at the RIS who will be setting us up and Laurie Schaller who you all have been supported by. Today in the chat will be presenting and I will be supporting her. We look forward to having you all join us. This will be an important webinar. If you have an ABLE account or you're going to maybe set one up after today for yourself or help a family member, member of your circle of support, do so. Again, February 13th, 2 o'clock eastern. And that will help you in terms of, you know, that April 15th tax deadline. We'll give you plenty of time and ideas and tips. It will be very helpful. Please, do join us. And I'd like to just finally thank my colleague Marlene, the team today who supported the webinar. And I'd like to thank all of you for joining us here at the ABLE National Resource Center. I would really also like to again thank our sponsors, Credential and our other sponsors who support our work here at ABLE NRC. And getting the word out about ABLE accounts to all of you. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day. And please do take a few moments to complete the post-training survey at the end. That's really helpful information for us in terms of what we include in our webinars and our materials that we develop and get out to the public. Thank you, everyone.