>> Hello, everyone and welcome to our ABLE to Save Month, an orientation to what you need to know about ABLE. Thank you for being here with us at the top of the hour. We're going to be getting started now. And we really appreciate your joining us today. We'll go ahead and go to the next slide. My name is Miranda Kennedy and I'm the Director of the ABLE National Resource Center. For those of you who may be joining us for the first time, who may not have been on any of our webinars before or accessed our center, I wanted to let you all know that -- give you a little bit of background. The ABLE National Resource Center, or ABLE NRC as we call it, 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 ABLE can make on the lives of millions of Americans with disabilities and their families. Our pioneering work in this area and subject matter expertise makes us the foremost authority on topics related to the achieving a better life experience or ABLE Act, ABLE accounts, state ABLE programs, ABLE-related policy developments and comprehensive integration of ABLE and financial capability strategies for people with disabilities into public service delivery systems. Our email address is ablenrc.org. Go ahead and go to the next slide. As we get started here with our welcome to ABLE to Save month, and we'll be talking more about that, I'd first like to start off by thanking our ABLE to Save sponsors. We have our gold sponsor Prudential, who sponsors the ABLE National Resource Center more broadly in our work, along with a number of other sponsors. In addition to that, we have our weekly sponsors for weeks one through four of ABLE to Save month. Those are going to be Ascensus, TIAA Bank, Fidelity Investments, and Fifth Third Bank. And we certainly appreciate their support and sponsorship for our work and the information we're going to be sharing with you throughout the month of August. So, before we really dive in deeper, we want to go ahead and make sure we're covering some logistics. And for that I'm going to hand things over to Al. So, Al Milioto, who is our project coordinator with the ABLE National Resource Center, I'll let you share some information about the logistics for today's webinar.

>> Great. Thank you so much, Miranda, and thanks again for joining us today, everyone. I'm just going to go through a couple of housekeeping slides to make sure nobody has any issues when trying to connect or listen to the webinar. Listening to the webinar. The audio for today's webinar can be accessed using computer audio or by dialing 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 you prefer to listen by phone, you can dial in to 1-929-205-6099. The meeting code is 561 206 029. Next slide, please. Captioning. Real-time captioning is provided during this webinar. The captions can be found by clicking on the closed icon in your Zoom controls at the bottom of the screen. If you do not see the captions after clicking the button, please alert the host, which would be me at this point, via the chat box. You may also view the captions in your browser at the following address, which is streamtext.net/player?event=NDI. That link will also let you play around with caption preferences, change font size, and do whatever you need to do. For submitting questions, please use the Q and A box to submit any questions you have during the webinar. We will try to answer any and all questions that come in. Please explore the ABLE National Resource Center website for answers to all of your questions and for additional information within our archived webinars, research, and newsletters. Our address is www.ablenrc.org. Technical assistance. If you experience any technical difficulties during the webinar, please use the chat box to send us a message. Or you can email me directly and my email address is amilioto@ablenrc.org. Please note the 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/webinars. And with that, I think we can go back to Miranda, Director of the ABLE National Resource Center.

>> Thank you, Al. And again, thank you, everyone for joining us today. I'm going to be the facilitator for today's presentation and also presenting some pieces of it. I will also be jointed in terms of our presenters with our -- my colleague Marlene Ulisky who is Manager of Financial Empowerment with National Disability Institute and brings with her 35 years of experience in depth with Social Security Administration around disability and benefits, and is an expert on the topic of ABLE accounts. We access her regularly. And you'll be hearing her throughout the month as we have our weekly webinars this month. She will be joining me. You will also be hearing from some of our 2019 ABLE National Resource Center ambassadors who are ABLE account owners and family members. And four of them are joining us here today. We have Davinna Christian, who is the parent of an ABLE account owner, Taylor Carty, who is a student and working-age ABLE account owner, Denise Gheringer, who is the parent of an ABLE account owner, and Hector Ramirez, who is a working-age ABLE account owner. Go to the next slide. Our agenda for today, what we will be covering. We will be first starting off talking about what is ABLE to SAVE month. We will then be touching on why ABLE and giving a bit of background on that. Then talking about five steps to ABLE. Marlene will be walking us through that. And then we're going to have an opportunity to meet those ABLE account owners I just referenced on the previous slide, Taylor, and Davinna, and Denise, and Hector, and hear what their ABLE goals are, either for themselves or what their family member's goals are from that perspective, as well. And then we'll be talking about next steps. So, this is the information that we're going to be covering here in our hour together today. So, let's start off talking about what is ABLE to Save month? ABLE to Save month is a nationwide awareness campaign that's taking place throughout the month of August. Our goal here is to provide information about achieving a better life experience or ABLE accounts, so that individuals with disabilities and their families can become more knowledgeable and comfortable enough to open an ABLE account through the state program of their choice. This year, we also promoted our #ABLE to Save video contest in the month of July as part of our national campaign. And our winners will be announced at the end of the month. And we're going to be able to hear their ABLE goals and the top three are going to be receiving cash prizes into the ABLE accounts to help them achieve their ABLE goals. So, we're going to be doing that. That's at the end of our month, what we will be talking about and sharing then. So, let's go ahead and go to the next slide. As I mentioned, we're going to be having weekly webinars throughout the month of August. There will also be information going out throughout each of those weeks on the topic of the week, which we'll touch base on here shortly. But those webinars will be taking place on Thursdays in August from 2 to 3 p.m. eastern time. Please make sure to translate the time zone if you need to. And we're going to be providing ABLE information and resources to target audiences. So, that includes eligible individuals who receive benefits, along with those eligible individuals who do not receive benefits, as well as their families and their supporters. We're spreading information about our campaign via Twitter and Facebook to maximize the nationwide reach of this campaign and we'll be sharing some information on how all of you can help us spread the word to others at the end of our webinar today, if you should choose to do so, and we'd appreciate it if you would. So, with that, let's go to the next slide. And here you can see the webinars that we have coming up. This is our inaugural webinar. It's not a full week but we wanted to kick off with August first, which is a Thursday. We have four more Thursdays in the month of August. Next week, which is the first full week of August, on week one, we will have -- on August 8, our opening an ABLE account, key decisions for success. So, please, consider joining us for that webinar. You can register via the link there. Next up, the following week we're going to be targeting ABLE best practices and action steps for family members and supporters, wo we also refer to as the circle of support around an ABLE account owner. So, if that would be a population you would fall into or information you'd be interested in during week two, please, consider registering for that webinar. During week three, and our webinar will be on August 22 of week three, we're going to be focusing on ABLE best practices for working-age adults. Working-age adults who receive benefits and working-age adults who are not receiving benefits but who are eligible for ABLE accounts. And finally, week four, rounding out our month will be August 29, we'll hold a webinar on celebrating all the ways that you are ABLE, announcing winners from the #ABLE to SAVE video contest and Next Steps. And we'll have an opportunity to hear those goals of those winners and contributing into their ABLE accounts with those cash prizes and continuing forth with this work. So, with that let's go ahead and dive into why ABLE? I thought it would be helpful, just the next couple of slides to provide some background in terms of data before we talk about why ABLE. This data is eye opening. Americans with disabilities make up an estimated 20 percent of the U.S. population or 40 to 57 million people. One in five families have a family member who has a disability and there's 22 million working-age adults who have disabilities. More than 6 million children receive special education services annually. Additionally, as many of you know having lived this or being supporters of individuals who are living with disability, and it's not going to be a surprise to anyone, many people with disabilities live at or near the poverty level. Working-age adults with disabilities are twice as likely to live in poverty than those without disabilities, 28 percent versus 13 percent, who do not have disabilities who are living in poverty. And despite significant reductions in poverty for women and people of color over the past five years, individuals with disabilities have seen no such reductions. Poverty rates are even higher for people with disabilities of color and those with lower levels of education and women. And people with disabilities, they make up over 40 percent of the population of those living in long-term poverty. On our next slide, we're sharing some graphs here and some visuals in terms of the financial stress that's experienced among people with disabilities and how that plays out. And before we talk about ABLE, and it's going to get better from here, but I wanted to lay this out. It's very stark. You know, people with disabilities are almost three times more likely to have extreme difficulty paying bills, 23 percent versus 9 percent of those without disabilities who experience that extreme difficulty. People with disabilities are almost two times more likely to skip medical treatments because of the cost. So, 46 percent of people with disabilities will skip those treatments versus 25 percent without. And you can imagine a person with disability, the importance of attending needed medical appointments and getting those treatments. People with disabilities are also more likely to report that they could not come up with $2,000 if an unexpected need arose. That doesn't mean, you know, taking the time to cash something out or request a loan from a family or a friend, or anything like that. That means not being able to come up with that, having no mechanism or means to do that, not just having liquid ready cash or something that you can cash out. So, that's really a stark contrast. And towards that end people with disabilities are more likely to be late on mortgage payments, overdrawn checking accounts, and take loans from retirement accounts. And this all has a very significant impact on the finances of individuals with disabilities. So, let's talk next about -- I'm going to hand things over to Marlene to share some of the basics about ABLE accounts. And we're going to go back and forth here but I'm going to hand things over to Marlene to talk about what is an ABLE account and start covering some of the basics. So, Marlene.

>> Okay, thanks, Miranda. And on the last slide, we heard Miranda talk about some of the things that caused financial stress. And as she was going through each of the items on the graphic, I was thinking about some of them and in my mind I was thinking, well, yes, many of those are actually qualified disability expenses in an ABLE account. And I just want to remind you all that on a future webinar, in two weeks, we will be talking about qualified disability expenses. So, you may want to register for that and stay tuned. Right now, though, as Miranda said, we're going to talk about the basics first. An ABLE account is an account. It's established under section 529A of the IRS tax code. And it's a tax-free savings or investment account. It's owned by a person who has a qualifying disability. So, you may be asking now well, what do we mean by a qualifying disability? And who actually is eligible for an ABLE account. Well, the definition actually has what I call prongs. The first is an age requirement and the second is a disability requirement or rule, I guess you can say. First, the person must have a disability and it must have begun before the age of 26. And if they meet that first requirement, then they must meet the second requirement. And the second is that individual must be either receiving a disability-based benefit from Social Security. And that would be something like Social Security disability insurance benefit, or supplemental security income benefit, or a benefit as a disabled adult child, and so on. And if the person actually is not receiving a disability-based benefit from Social Security but their disability did begin before the age of 26, they may still qualify, too. If they don't receive the benefit, if they go their physician, their MD or their DO, and they obtain a disability certification that gives their diagnosis and it shows that they have either a physical and/or mental disability or they're blind and it results in marked or severe limitations, they call them functional limitations, and have lasted or can be expected to last for 12 months or more, they qualify for an ABLE account. And with that definition of who qualifies, I just want to make one thing perfectly clear, that just because someone has not received a diagnosis by the time they're 26, or just because someone now is age 40, or maybe even age 50, it doesn't mean that they cannot open an ABLE account and they would not qualify. The main criteria is disability must have had an onset before the age of 26 and then they must meet the second prong and they would be eligible. So, Miranda, now that we know what an ABLE account is and who is eligible, why would someone even consider opening an account or need an ABLE account?

>> Thank you, let's go ahead and go to the next slide. Thank you. Well, in terms of what Marlene was just talking about, around what an ABLE account is, we thought that it would be helpful for you to know just the very basics. We're going to dive further into that in this call and also in future webinars we're holding. But, I think, the data really shows very clearly on those first few slides that I shared, that -- and what has been seen is that millions of individuals with disabilities and their families, they do depend on a variety of public benefits for income, for healthcare, for food, and housing assistance. And in order to qualify for those benefits and the financial constraints that are held within receiving those benefits, those programs that offer them, they do have income and/or resource limits. So, those programs, again, you know, it's anything from Medicaid programs, Medicaid waivers, Medicare savings programs, Medicare subsidy or extra help, supplemental nutrition assistance programs, low-income heating and energy assistance programs, housing assistance, and as Marlene mentioned before, those Social Security programs, as well. So, in recognizing and looking at the dire financial circumstance that many individuals with disability, with the onset of disability experience, Congress recognized and took action and for the very first time in public policy, there was bipartisan support that took place in December 2014, to pass the ABLE Act, the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act. And it was supported across the aisle, in heavy numbers, and the ABLE Act, it really does recognize the extra and significant costs of living with a disability. And it allows, as Marlene touched base on, those eligible individuals and their families to establish tax advantage ABLE savings account, that'll largely not effect their eligibility for federally funded, means-tested benefits through those programs that I just listed, as well as others. So, Marlene, can you help me spell out for folks, you know, you touched on qualified disability expenses and how that can help to alleviate and address some of those concerns we talked about on those earlier slides. Can you tell us a little bit more about why the need for ABLE and what funds an ABLE account can be used for in terms of those qualified disability expenses? I know we're going to go deeper later but I'll hand it over to you to touch further on that here.

>> Okay. Thanks, Miranda. With the funds in an ABLE account, as we said a little earlier, can be used or may be used for qualified disability expenses. And qualified disability expenses are actually outlined by the IRS and their notice of proposed [inaudible] making. And they fall into various buckets or categories. And we'll be going over those in a future webinar specifically discussing what is a qualified disability expense. And maybe what may not be a qualified disability expense. But the bottom line is that qualified disability expenses will supplement and they will not supplant or replace benefits provided by other sources. They -- the other sources could be things like private insurance, Medicaid, the supplemental security income benefits program, the beneficiary employment. And with that one, I want to say, we will be holding a future webinar for ABLE to Save month toward the end of the month on employment and ABLE and from other sources. I'll be talking more about our roadmap to enrollment in step number three on the five steps roadmap a little bit later in the presentation. But meanwhile, if you'd like to learn more about qualified disability expenses and you don't want to wait until later this month, even though you are participating or plan to participate in our ABLE to Save webinar covering this, there are two resources listed on your screen. The first in the bottom -- in the bottom two bullets. The first one is step three on the roadmap to enrollment, what can funds be used for? And that can be accessed at http://ablenrc.org/step-3-what-can-funds-be-used. Or the second is qualified disability expense fundamentals webinar and a case summary. And that one is accessed at http://ablenrc.org/events/qualified-disability-expense-fundamentals. So, on the next slide the Why Save in an ABLE account versus perhaps another type of account? Perhaps at your local bank or maybe your financial institution? A little bit earlier, Miranda was talking about why the need for an ABLE account. And she referred to resource limits on most federally funded, means-tested benefit programs. And she named a whole lot of the federally funded, means-tested benefit programs. And, in fact, there is a resource limit, or some folks call it an asset limit of $2,000 for most means-tested benefits. An example of programs with a $2,000 resource limit are actually a supplemental security income benefits program and Medicaid. But with an ABLE account, you can maintain eligibility for supplemental security income for Medicaid and for other federally-funded public benefits. ABLE savings of any amount will not affect Medicaid eligibility. And we have posted on our ABLE National Resource Center website a wonderful resource. It's actually from the Center for Medicaid, Medicare services and it is their policy on the affects of an ABLE account on Medicaid. And so, if you need that, that is available to you on our website. But ABLE savings of up to $100,000 do not impact supplemental security income eligibility or monthly payments. And what we're saying there, in that bullet, is that the first $100,000 is totally disregarded or it's not counted by the supplemental security income benefits program. That's a huge, huge step forward for individuals with disabilities who choose to save money for future need to meet certain goals or to even make large purchases or to provide for their future. With ABLE accounts, there are outstanding tax advantages, too. The account income grows tax free and you can qualify for tax credit for savings. And in addition to the federal tax credit for saving money, you may also qualify for a state tax deduction if your account is established in a state where those deductions and you need the state rules. Now, I hope that convinces you that ABLE can help you or provide for a more secure future. It can provide for not only your future, it can provide for your peace of mind and the peace of mind of your family. So, on the next slide, opening an account. So, how do you open an account? And when we look at this slide, we see the roadmap to enrollment infographic. And the infographic is accessed through the link on this slide and it takes you to our website. The roadmap helps you to learn more about ABLE accounts and it helps you to become more comfortable with opening the account. Each of the five steps shown on the infographic provides great information. At each step you'll find a video and it's usually brief video because I know everyone is so busy today. But the brief video provides concise, accurate information, it's on that topic shown, either what is ABLE, who is eligible, and so on. But there's also some questions and answers at each step and there's additional resources for more information. So, on the next slide. Continuing on this slide, I've listed each of the five steps on the road map along with the link to that specific page. And at our weekly webinars for ABLE to Save month, one of the steps will be covered in each of the webinars each week. So, it's really important that you register for the webinar and you may also want to review the material posted on our website for additional answers to any questions you have. Again, you'll find great information on what is ABLE, who is eligible, how can the funds be used, how can you manage your account, and finally, how do you enroll? And focusing on that very last step, so many individuals and family have written in to the ABLE National Resource Center and have asked us to open up an account for them or to send them the link to our website to open up the account. And I just want to be clear from the very beginning that all ABLE accounts are opened through the state in which you choose to establish your ABLE account. And we'll be talking more about that next week in the next webinar. But how do you find your state program or another state program? On the next slide, we've made it a little easier for you. And we show you on this map all of the ABLE programs, which are open across the country. And you'll see that most states and the District of Columbia have up and running ABLE programs. If you visit the map on our website, you can click on any of the states and you can view the state program and information about that state program. We also, when you click on the state, include a link to that state program website. If you need more information, if you'd like to email them, or perhaps, you'd like to call that state, or if you'd like to enroll or enroll for an ABLE account in that particular program. Now, you can open up an account in any state so long as you meet the residence requirement if they have one. And most state programs don't require you to live in their state. So, you can shop around and see which program meets your needs. And with so many programs open, the task may be a daunting but we've tried to make it a little easier for you by providing you with a tool that compares state programs and you can access it from this website on the link with an app. Now, if you really want to take a deeper dive, you can do that, too, and you can download all of the data from all of the states into a spreadsheet and compare the data. We'll be talking more about opening an account in the next webinar. So, please register early for the next webinar. Now with that, I know that tens of thousands of individuals across the country have already opened ABLE accounts. And I am proud to say that my family member is one of those individuals. And personally, our family saw a need. We saw the benefit of an ABLE account and although my family member does not have current needs and he's not spending the money, he contributes monthly to the account and the money that we as his family members contribute to the account monthly, is providing for his future, for his future need. It actually provides our family with peace of mind in knowing that in the future his needs will be met. So, with that, Miranda, I'm going to turn it back over to you and I think you want to spend some time talking to our ABLE ambassadors, who are also account owners for their family member, so the folks listening today really understand ABLE. So, back to you, Miranda.

>> Great, thank you so much, Marlene. Yes, we're going to be talking to our account owners now who serve as our ABLE National Resource Center ambassadors. This is the second year we've had ambassadors at the ABLE National Resource Center and we have our ambassadors. We have nine individuals this year who are currently with us. We had nine last year who continue as our alumni. And their stories are powerful and we use those stories to share with all of you and we're going to be sharing a few of them right now. They also help to teach us what's happening out there, how they're using these accounts. We explore best practices and a number of things. So, these are some of the folks who first forayed into the field and some of the pioneers, some of these individuals, or maybe the first to open ABLE accounts in their state. And they've got some dynamic stories to share. So, with that, we're going to go ahead and start off with Davinna -- who we would like you to meet our ABLE account owner Dushon Christians' mom, Davinna, and hear some of Dushon's ABLE story. And just to give you some background before I have two questions for Davinna to dive in and give us some information about from her perspective. But Dushon is 20 now and just graduated from high school in June. And everyone can see a picture on the screen of Dushon's graduation announcement, with him smiling in his cap and gown. And his -- details about, as well, you can see the graduation announcement with details that Davinna has included, including the link to Dushon's ABLE account, so that individuals can deposit into that ABLE account to celebrate that significant milestone that Dushon achieved. So, Dushon's ABLE goals, you know, Dushon's goals are to save for a communication device, durable medical equipment and an accessible vehicle. I'm also including here and I will for the other slides, as well, I've pulled out some of my favorite quotes from my interactions and our highlights from our ambassadors. But Davinna you shared that ABLE has helped to solve five of the six most pressing problems that you faced. And it's allowed you to relax and not worry about how saving money will impact benefits that Dushon needs and that his ABLE account will take care of whatever needs he has and now you can relax and take a deep breath. And that's real. So, my first question to you, Davinna, is your son Dushon established an ABLE account in Michigan in November 2016, as we mentioned, you were a very early adopter of ABLE. Can you tell us how you learned about and researched ABLE accounts and how an ABLE account -- opening that ABLE account is going to make a difference in Dushon's life and in yours? And Davinna, you might be on mute. So, I just want to check and see if you can take off mute.

>> Okay. Can you hear me now?

>> I can hear you now. Hi, Davinna.

>> Okay. Hi.

>> The floor is yours.

>> So, I'm going to say it had to be 2015, I was at a doctor's appointment just a regular appointment for myself. I had picked up a magazine. In the magazine there was information about new legislation that was being worked on for individuals with disabilities. And from what the article read -- and it was a short article, we qualified. Because ABLE was not in the state of Michigan, as of yet. There was a email -- you replied to this email address with your email address and they would send you updates. So, I did it just to see what it was about and to get additional information. And every month they did send updates about the ABLE Act and whether it was being passed and where it was, and how fast it was going to get to the state of Michigan. Well, I want to say October, I received an email that stated ABLE is now in Michigan. You can sign up. Here's the website. Go on the website and get additional information. So, I did it. And when I did it, I realized it not only gave you additional information, it was very easy. Everything had a link that you click to give you additional information and once you got the additional information, you keep clicking links and it just gave you the entire roadmap, basically. And that's how we established his ABLE account.

>> Well, thank you, Davinna. And that's really helpful information to give to others. I have another question for you, as well. Because as a parent, and a very involved parent, there is nothing more valuable as we know, the role of the parent, and peace of mind in knowing that your child's future needs can be met. And now that -- do you have any advice to the parents that are listening today related to ABLE accounts because you are a very savvy ABLE account user, an advocate and you've used those various features including the debit card you just mentioned, and [inaudible] savings, and investment elections. So, how each do you find it to understand and use the ABLE account?

>> So, using the ABLE account is really, really easy. Everything is self-explanatory and if it's not, there's a link that you can click to get additional information. So, basically, Michigan I can speak of firsthand. It's a roadmap but if you follow the links and you follow the directions, it will walk you through hassle free. Now, Michigan just recently -- not recently, about a year ago, they started with a debit card that you can request to have immediate access to funds, instead of waiting for them to be deposited into bank account. I applied for that. Again, it was a link I clicked and there was a disclaimer. You click -- check a box and the debit card came in the mail. In Michigan, you can also switch from savings to investment and it's a graph that you can use or a percentage chart that you can use to decide which percentages you want to invest. Again, all of the information is laid out for you. All you have to do is read the screen, basically and click your selection. What I like best about the ABLE account for the state of Michigan is if you change an election and 10 minutes later you decide that might not have been a good idea and I'm going to log out of the account, before you log out of the account there is a box that asks you, are you sure you want to make these changes. And you get to click yes or no. So, even if you go through the account and you make changes and you think about it and you're not really sure or you want to take some additional time and think about it, you can click the no button, everything will stay the same. And you can log in at a later time to make those changes if that's what you wish to do. And that's something I love about the ABLE account, is that anything that you do in that account, you can always change back, you can always switch it whenever you want to.

>> Thank you, Davinna. I think that's, you know, a lot of these state ABLE programs, so many of them have many different features, like the ones you're mentioning that help to provide safeguards, and you know, double check on things. And there's flexibility in here. And a lot of it is also very intuitive and supportive to those who are opening and managing these ABLE accounts. So, thank you, for sharing your story and for being one of our ambassadors, Davinna. With that, we'll go ahead and -- let's go ahead and meet Taylor Carty. And I want to tell you a little bit about Taylor before asking Taylor a question to share with all of you her perspective on. But Taylor is -- Taylor is a student. Taylor is in her early 20s. I think you just had a birthday, Taylor. But I would like to introduce you. She's a student and she just graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts degree in molecular and cellular biology with plans to attend medical school next year. Now, a quick side note. You can see Taylor studying for her MCAT in one of the pictures. She may be embarrassed to have me share this. But you should know, she scored in the 92nd percentile on her MCAT this spring. And Taylor also has her cerebral palsy and opened her ABLE account in November of 2017. So, since these still are fairly new the first one opening in mid-2016, that can still be considered fairly early adopter. But you can see here that Taylor's ABLE goals are to save for a house, a comfortable retirement, emergencies, and medical school tuition. And one of the quotes that really spoke to me when Taylor and I have been speaking and highlights have gone out on her, she shared that she was ecstatic when she first learned about the ABLE Act and the financial freedom that it offered, and how it was an immense relief knowing that she could save for medical school while not having to worry about losing her Medi-Cal coverage living in California. And because of her ABLE account, she'll be able to have a better and more financially secure future. So, the question I have for you, Taylor, for you to share with others, is that like so many of those listening today, both individuals who receive benefits and those who do not receive benefits, you've got goals that you're saving for. Those goals that we just mentioned. So, can you tell us, Taylor, about how ABLE has transformed your life and how it fits into your future. And as well, how you educated yourself about ABLE accounts and the research and preparation you did before opening your account?

>> Thanks, Miranda. I think the biggest benefit my ABLE account has provided me is just so much flexibility and the freedom to make plans for the future. It's also been an immense relief just knowing that in the future, like, I won't have to put this burden on my parents, especially considering that I am planning on going to med school. And I will -- I mean, I will have to pay for med school tuition, just my ABLE account has allowed me to save for that. So, when I first opened my ABLE account, I had recently graduated from college and I was starting to make plans for med school. However, I knew that I also couldn't save -- I couldn't have more than $2,000 in my bank account due to risking losing my eligibility for Medi-Cal. I was at a standstill like a lot of people on means-tested benefit programs. And, honestly, the benefits have saved me for a brighter future didn't [inaudible] losing my eligibility for Medi-Cal [inaudible] especially because at the time I was going through some costly medical treatment and I just -- I couldn't do it. So, I started to research how I could possibly make this goal come true. And I read blogs and I actually had heard of ABLE accounts before. But it wasn't until I went on to the ABLE NRC website and started to look at the webinars and sign up for the newsletters and everything, that I started to get a real understanding of what ABLE accounts could provide for me. And that was definitely an immense relief knowing that I could have that financial freedom. And because of my ABLE account, like, I know I will have a better -- more financially secure future.

>> Thank you for sharing, Taylor. And I know as you get into your medical profession, you're moving into medical school, and move into that field, you've expressed interest, as well, in being able to share this information with folks you'll come across in your profession, who could also benefit from ABLE accounts. So, ABLE is something to be shared with many of the others but you'll come across who can also benefit. And we've talked about that, as well.

>> Definitely.

>> Thank you, so much, Taylor. Alright, well, let's go next to hear from and meet ABLE account owner Jacob Gehringer's mom, Denise. And we'd like to hear a little bit about Jacob's ABLE story from Denise. You'll see pictures of Jacob over on the right-hand side. We're going to be talking about Jacob. He's a young man with -- 23, who has Down Syndrome and is working as an office assistant with Little Leaf Learning Center, where he works 15 hours a week. And with the first paycheck, having recently started there, being deposited into his ABLE account. And I know Jacob in previous work enrolled, he's had -- has also deposited into his ABLE account. And his goals for ABLE are on-the-job supports that are needed, as well as a bike with adaptations for transportation to work and around town, and you see Jacob riding his adaptive bike in the picture over here on the right-hand side. He's also saving for his own home with a yard for his black lab, his dog, who's name is Miller. And you see a picture of them together with Miller wearing sunglasses here. So, Jacob was the first ABLE account owner in Nebraska, opening his account in June 2016. Again, another early adopter and the sooner you open an ABLE account, the sooner those funds can grow if you're using the investment option. And having opened that account with the help from his mother Denise, who is here with us today. So, the question that we have for Denise, and before I get to the question, I've got this great quote from you I'm going to share and then we'll get to your question. But Denise you shared that as a parent, you want to make sure that the resources are available for Jacob to live as independently as possible. And when the time comes, when his siblings will be his primary support, you and your husband want to make preparations so their lives will not be burdened financially. And I know there are probably many others with us here and who will be joining us when you join us again for the family member focus webinar, who can really appreciate and -- that experience and who having that themselves. So, Denise, as someone who grew up in a family with a long history of prioritizing service to the community, you consulted in the early stages of the ABLE development and planning in Nebraska and throughout that process of launching the Nebraska program. And more recently you've worked to try to improve ABLE through state legislation in Nebraska. And you've talked with hundreds of parents in over the past year. Can you please tell us how ABLE has impacted Jacob's lives and the lives of so many other individuals with disabilities in their families that you have interacted with in your role?

>> Sure. Thank you so much, Miranda. Good afternoon, everybody. Much like many of the other parents of people with disabilities, early on, from the first days when my son was born 23 1/2 years ago. He'd be very proud to know that I mentioned the half part of those 23 years. That we should never save for our family [inaudible] disabilities because it would get in the way of those means-based supports that they would need as adults. And, you know, when he was younger and didn't understand particularly what those supports were but we knew from other people that we interacted with who had children that were older that we just shouldn't save. And it was very scary because it was very hard to understand and try to plan how we would manage to do -- to save for him so when we were no longer able to his siblings wouldn't be financially burdened and he would also have the resources he needed to continue with his life. So, just a little bit about Jacob. He was fully included in both place and curriculum while he was in school. We were -- in addition to academics, he learned a lot of things to help him navigate life, basic computer skills, social skills, time management skills, and things like that. He was very engaged, involved in his high school community, played in the marching band, traveled with the band to competitions. He was even elected as homecoming king by his peers, was on the bowling team. He [inaudible] high school with potential to contribute to society. He now works as an office assistant and that took three or four years to really get him situated. As many of you know, employment for individuals with disabilities is a difficult path. But he really wants to have meaningful work and he really wants to be a value to his community. And he also wants to earn money. And, you know, before the ABLE Act was passed in 2014, we weren't sure if we were going to be stuffing his earnings under a mattress. [Laughs]. I'm kidding. But, you know, you just didn't know how we were going to navigate that type of thing. So, he's very determined to save. And his first paycheck from this current job went straight into his ABLE account and his following one, which he received yesterday, has already been slated to go into his ABLE account, as well. He wants to save. He wants to live independently. And he wants to be a person who can be self-determined and make his own decisions. And so, a couple of thoughts, as you were talking, Miranda, when I'm talking to the wider community and also to legislators, they're always asking things like why do people with disabilities who are able to work, still need to qualify for SSI and Medicaid? They don't seem to understand how those two go hand in hand. So, I go on usually to explain to them that the benefits and supports for adults with disabilities can mean a lot of different things. Oftentimes, our friends and family members with intellectual disabilities needs some job coaching, job development, those types of things to take the burden off the employer. If there's any additional trainings or any additional supervision that's needed. And those things can be paid for by Medicaid, so we don't want to lose those benefits. It can mean additional instruction, continuing education type classes. It can mean independent living support, so the individual can live independently in their own home, to provide transportation, or working with a budget, meal planning, paying bills, those types of supports that our individuals with disabilities might need in order to live independently in their communities. And a lot of times people will say, well, can't the family do that? And I usually respond with, if you have a 23-year-old, how much do they want you helping them? And the answer is usually not very often. And so, just like a typical 23-year-old, Jacob doesn't particular want to have to continue to lean on his parents. He wants to be able to seek out the support he needs in the community and have access to those direct support professionals that can help him, so that he can navigate his life and be as independent as possible. So, the families that I've heard from, who are in very similar situations as we are, the one thing that they want to share with families who have younger children who are not yet adults navigating the community as a person with a disability is to -- if you can, start saving now. We would have loved to have had this savings tool available for us when our kids were younger. We didn't have a lot of extra money to put away then because there were a lot of expenses. But even if you can do a minimal amount into an ABLE account each month, that would have been price -- well, it would have been very valuable to have that tool available so that we could have [inaudible] these years. And so that's basically what the disability community that I'm involved with says. They wish they would have had this tool when their children were younger. They're thrilled that we have the tool now so that our family members can save for future needs and current needs, and then also for when their parents are no longer available to assist them.

>> Wonderful. Thank you so much, Denise, for sharing your family's story and Jacob's story with us. We really appreciate that. And I'm sure the folks on the call, as well. You're seeing the diversity of the different goals and angles and things to consider. So, let's go ahead and talk to and introduce our final ABLE account owner that we're introducing here today. I believe and to just get a quick confirmation that Hector has joined the call. Hector, real quick, can I just okay, a quick verbal to make sure you are on the line and able to unmute.

>> Yes, I'm right here, Miranda.

>> Wonderful. Great. Thank you, Hector. Alright. So, everybody, before we hear from Hector, I want to give you a little background on Hector. So, Hector Ramirez is -- who you see here in the pictures on the righthand side, is a Latino Chautauqua-Apache, two spirits, member of the LGBTQ community. And opened her ABLE account on the first day of the Cal ABLE program went live in California. And just earlier this year, Hector was working and living in a one-bedroom apartment, sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the dining room, so that Hector's mom could have the bedroom. And as an individual with autism and bi-polar disorder who is also working age and working, and a disability advocate, and heavily involved in this community, Hector has been using the ABLE account to provide that safety net while working to become self sufficient and for a down payment on a home. So, you see those goals here and how Hector will speak to you, how those goals had been achieved. But the quote here is by the time Hector had turned 44, Hector, you moved to over 40 different times, having lived in nice big houses, in a closet and a car on the street. And that the main reason that you wanted to open an ABLE account is so that you can finally have a place to call home. My question for Hector and for the audience is, you know, to share a little bit about achieving your goals, but also how easy is it -- it's easy to see how meeting your ABLE goal transformed your life in terms of being able to put a down payment on a home and purchasing that home and moving in just this past May. But can you talk to us about how that has changed your future life trajectory and how it has enabled you to become more of a part of a community. You've just lived into this goal. This is so recent. This is a month and a half ago. So, Hector, I'm going to give you the floor.

>> Thank you, Miranda. [Foreign language]. My name is Hector Ramirez. I learned about ABLE as people were advocating and [inaudible] when it was passed. And then when I heard, like, California was going to be opening it, I got on board really to support it. And initially I wanted to have -- I opened my ABLE account because I wanted to have money as a safety net in case I lose my benefits. Oftentimes, benefits -- something would happen, paperwork, or if I make enough, a certain amount of money that would definitely offset it. And getting back on the benefits, like, to get my medication, sometimes can take years and I throughout my life have experienced this over and over. And as a result, I have experienced [inaudible] and ended up homeless, trying to get my benefits. So, when I heard about the ABLE account, I was really looking at a safety net. And I didn't really think that I was going to be able to use it in the way that I did until I started learning more about it. My birthday was in March. And I always get a lot of little gifts sometimes from people and sometimes I can't have money because -- I can't keep money. I wasn't able to keep money in my bank because before. But because of this year's, the opportunity, I was able to, kind of, take a different approach and I only live once. So, I said, oh, let's -- I'm just going to put it up there. Let's see if I can raise some money and maybe use it as a down payment. And I contacted old acquaintances and friends from social media and by email. And I told them that I had just found this mobile home. That it cost $90,000 here in L.A. County, where housing is so expensive. And so I had this really neat opportunity, -- nice, for me, it's the last time to get a home. And I put it to that way to my friends and family. And I was able to raise enough money for my birthday as gifts for my ABLE account to be able to put a down payment on a house. Some thing that I had kind of given up at this point in my life. I had been a person with disability, that I had been living with a disability, and society promotes in my life. And I never really thought I would have my own home. I went from a one-bedroom apartment with my Mom, she's old and disabled. She used to take care of the bills and as a disabled man it was pretty difficult to kind of reconcile that. But now that I have my home with two bedrooms with my Mom, it's kind of interesting. I think I have grown about two inches and I feel a lot taller. And it's just really, really interesting to be part of a community again. I have neighbors. I have a mailbox. I have a bedroom door. [Laughs]. Which is something that I haven't had in a long, long time. So, to be able -- and it's interesting that's the name of the bill, ABLE. To be able to kind of get back my life, it's not something I was expecting. As a person with a disability, and a [inaudible] disability as we get older, you know, historically we're more likely to end up homeless, in an institution, in jail, or in a hospital. And many of us as we get older, we lose our homes because we can't keep them or we can't afford them. And I seem to be going in an opposite trend that I never really thought I was going to be able to do. As I'm getting older, I don't have to worry about what's going to happen to me or my Mom as we get older. Who is going to take care of us? Where are we going to live? I know that I have more security. And that I have noticed in the past couple of months has significantly impacted for the better part of my mental health. I feel less anxious. I feel less stress. I've lost weight because I'm better able to take care of myself. And I didn't realize that it seems more often than not when we take care of our most fundamental need, which is housing, you know, just how much of an impact it has on people. I was just trying to survive, make sure that I had medication and food. I never really thought that housing was just so fundamental. I remember when I first left the institution when I was a little kid, that was one of the best days of my life. When I got the key to my house, that was the second best time of my -- the second best moment of my life. It has been really, really interesting. I'm very fortunate in California that we have this particular program and then the other states. When I opened it, I did it on my -- by myself. I just jumped in and the system, as people have said, was very easy to walk through. It was just this map to follow through. And the one question that I had, I just called the ABLE account and emailed for information. And I was able to really get [inaudible] information answered and explained to me in a way that made sense to me. Because I had to ask them to explain things a couple of times and they were very patient. They walked me through it. And the folks really made sure that I understood what they were saying. Now, I preach about this. [Laughs]. You know, I just -- I want all of our disabled folks, I want all of our families and caretakers to know about this great, great tool. If we could put the ABLE account in like a pill, I think a lot of folks would be so much better. [Laughter]. You know, because it has that kind of health benefit, both on myself but on my family. My family came over to my house this weekend, well, the past couple of weekends when we had the Fourth of July. And before they didn't because we didn't have room in my home, in our one-bedroom apartment. And we had a barbecue. And I haven't had that experience in over 19 years because I really hadn't had a place to call home. And so, I have been able to kind of regain my humanity, my identity as a person, as a member of my family. And that, I think, has been a very normalizing experience. It still is. I wake up sometimes and I can't believe it. And it takes me awhile but it is and I shake my keychain because I have but one key, you know. [Laughs]. I have the key to my front door. And I just go back to sleep, you know. So, for me, my ABLE account has been transformative in a variety of different ways. It has given me a peace of mind that I had given up on.

>> Well, thank you, so much Hector. And you can see everyone who is joining us here, the stories, and hearing it straight from other ABLE account owners who have moved into the space, the impact it's had and the opportunities it's presented and the change and the life trajectory. So, thank you, all four of you for sharing your stories. In our last few moments here, I want to just wrap up and give people some information as we continue to move forward and ABLE to Save and I can't thank you enough to our ABLE account owners who were with us today. You will be hearing them again, as well as some of our other ABLE account owners and their stories on our upcoming webinars. But as you can see, ABLE is flexible. And this is just demonstrated from these four stories. And our ABLE account owners are a very diverse group. They have diverse saving goals for those qualified disability expenses that Marlene talked about. And how ABLE accounts have really helped and continue to help these account owners meet their needs, their goals, and their dreams. And our question to all of you joining us is can this -- can ABLE help meet yours, your goals, your dreams? Are you ABLE ready? And if we can go to the next slide. You know, we do. We all have unique and different needs, goals, and dreams. And these webinars we're sharing with you, this is meant to share that information. So, you can learn how an ABLE account has helped others and can help you to increase your health, independence, and quality of life, and help you to make your goals and dreams a reality. And we will also be sharing how to learn how to choose that state program, open your account, fund your account, use your account for those qualified disability expenses, which are very broad and we have some very good best strategies on how to use in order to maximize those accounts. Let's go to the next slide. We want to ask, you know, in terms of when to open that account? I think you've heard from our account owners. Do you want to do that one day? Maybe you've heard about this before or do you want to make today the day. Maybe you've heard about ABLE accounts before and thought it would be good -- too good to be true. Or, you know, you didn't know if what you heard was true, or if it could change your life. I think you're hearing some of that from some of your peers here. And do give some thought to what's important in your life, what your dream life looks like, and whether you can get there by taking small steps starting now. Additionally, as you're getting older and thinking about getting things in order to provide for a more secure future for a family member, an ABLE account might make sense to look into, as we heard from our two parents who joined us today, Davinna and Denise. And we do want you, you know, we thought it was very important and impactful to hear and listen to family members and account owners who learned that it doesn't matter where you are, you're nowhere compared to where you can go with an ABLE account. And towards that end, on our next slide, you'll see, next steps. So, here, again, are the webinars for the next few weeks. Week one, opening that ABLE account, those key decisions for success. We encourage you to register for that. Week two, on August 15, we're going to be talking about ABLE best practices and action steps for family members and supporters. Those kinds of strategies, some more details that you would have heard here and been interested in from Davinna and Denise. Week three on August 22, more information about ABLE best practices for working-age adults, such as Hector and Taylor. And week four, we'll be celebrating all those ways that you're ABLE and announcing those winners from the ABLE to Save video contest, as well as other important next steps and things to take forward. And so, please, bring any questions you may have to the next webinar in order to get your questions answered. We've been answering those along the line in the chat, as well. And please, help us spread the message. If you go to the next slide, you will see -- well, first of all, you'll see an addition to the roadmap to enrollment in our tool that compares state ABLE programs. There are a variety of resources that are available to you 24/7, on the ABLE National Resource Center website and will have more website -- we'll have a new website coming this fall. But if we go to the next slide, help us spread the word. If you're interested in this, if you know others may be interested in this information, as well, they can certainly access the archive of today's presentation or they can just jump in at any point, on any of the webinars, or all of them, that makes sense to them, this month during #ABLE to Save month on Thursdays. So, please, help us spread the word, share this information with -- about ABLE accounts with friends, families, your community groups, add this into your conversations, help inform others. This is very much, you know, word of mouth is big with this. And in terms of, also, the beliefs around this and living into this as we've shown here today. Do think about opening that ABLE account or assist someone else in opening their ABLE account. And as Marlene mentioned earlier, sign up and subscribe to our achievable newsletter. You can also connect with us on social media via our Facebook and Twitter accounts and participate in those ABLE to Save webinars and check in with us to stay tuned. And with that, we have just gone a little bit past the end of our hour. We'd like to again, thank our sponsors. Prudential, who sponsors the ABLE National Resource Center and our weekly sponsors for the four weeks of ABLE to Save month, Ascensus, TIAA Bank, Fidelity Investments, and Fifth Third Bank. And we'd like to thank all of you for being here with us on this journey. We hope to see you again on next week's webinar and the future Thursday webinars this month. And hope you all have a great afternoon we'll be seeing you soon. And with that, we'll go ahead and finish our webinar for today. Thank you, everyone.