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National Disability Institute
ABLE National Resource Center
ABLE Program Spotlight: STABLE Program
Tuesday
March 21, 2023
1:30 PM‑3:00 PM EST
	
	[Captioner standing by] 
	 
	[Recording in Progress] 
	
	>> MIRANDA KENNEDY: Hello, everyone, and thank you so much for joining us today for The ABLE National Resource Center's ABLE Program Spotlight on the STABLE Program. 
	We're very excited to be giving you this spotlight today and thank you, again, so much for joining us. 
	We are going to be getting started here, we have folks rolling in, as we get started, we would like to welcome all of you, including those of you who may be joining us on our Facebook livestream. 
	Let's go ahead and get started. 
	I'm going to hand things over just for a few logistical slides from our Project Coordinator, Cheyenne Rivers. 
	So, Cheyenne, why don't you walk us through how folks can be accessing and engaging in today's presentation?  
	>> CHEYENNE RIVERS: Thank you so much, Miranda. And welcome, everyone! 
	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 speaker are turned on or your headphones are plugged in. 
	If you do not have sound capabilities on your computer or prefer to listen by phone, dial: 1‑929‑205‑6099, the Webinar ID: 890 8303 4513. 
	Captioning: Realtime captions 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 the captions after clicking the button, please alert the Host via the chat box. 
	Submitting questions: If your questions does not get answered during the presentation or in the Q&A, you can submit it in the post‑event survey or e‑mail it to: Ablenrc.org. 
	You can use the Q&A box to submit questions during the webinar. Please do not use the chat box. 
	We invite you to explore The ABLE National Resource Center website for answers to your questions and additional information within our On‑Demand Webinars, resources, and newsletters at ablenrc.org. 
	For technical assistance: If you experience technical difficulties, please use the chat box to send a message to the NDI Host, that's me, Cheyenne, or you may e‑mail info@ablenrcc.org, Subject Line: Webinar Help. 
	Please note, this webinar is being recorded and the materials will be placed on The ABLE National Resource Center website, along with all other ABLE Webinars. 
	>> MIRANDA KENNEDY: Thank you so much, Cheyenne. 
	My name is a Miranda Kennedy, I'm the Director of the ABLE National Resource Center, which is operated and managed by National Disability Institute and I'll be facilitating, but really I'm just giving the introduction and sharing some information from our Center and we'll hand it over to our STABLE Team. 
	Towards that end, let's talk about the agenda. We have a little bit of information in the beginning about our resources we have available to you. Many you may be very familiar with what we have to offer and how we can support you in this space. 
	For those of you who are joining us for the first time, we have great information for you and resources. 
	So we're just going to touch base on that real quick and then talk about our ABLE Spotlight Series and hand it over to the STABLE Team for their presentation on their STABLE Program, where you're going to learn about the STABLE Account Program features, you will hear what STABLE Account Owners have to say, you will learn how parents, Authorized Legal Representatives, or ALR, and others can manage STABLE Accounts. They will be talking about their organization partnerships. And we hope to have a little bit of time for questions and answers from the Team as well to talk specifically about their STABLE Program. 
	Let's go ahead and tell you a little bit about who we are at The ABLE National Resource Center, or ABLE NRC. 
	We are 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. 
	We provide education and outreach, it really is our mission to promote and support the positive impact that ABLE can make on the lives of millions of Americans with Disabilities and their families. And we have a great deal of subject matter expertise on our Team and in our partnerships with other national disability organizations. 
	It is important to note that we do not own or manage or operate any of the ABLE Programs or ABLE Accounts, but we do provide information on best practices and strategies and great resources in terms of opening and managing and making the most of ABLE Accounts. 
	Our website is ablenrc.org and we invite you to check it out. Here we have on this next slide the website. There's some links here. I know Cheyenne has shared in the chat box for folks to download today's presentation. These resources are all hyperlinked so you can get right there. 
	We have FAQs on ABLE. 
	We have stories from ABLE Account Owners and family members, including the outcomes they are looking to achieve and in some cases have already achieved with their ABLE savings and investments. 
	We can outline some strategies you'll want to check out and use. 
	We have podcasts and webinars, both upcoming and on‑demand you can check out. 
	Program Spotlights, such as what we are doing here today. 
	You can sign up for our AchievABLE Newsletter that comes out. 
	And Decision Guides. 
	And in case you have a lot of questions, the Decision Guide can really help you out. We are not getting into the details today, but I wanted to highlight this for you. 
	ABLE Decision Guides, we work with our ABLE Account Owners and families members who we work with as Ambassadors and we keep covering topics in the Decision Guides. 
	They are step‑by‑step guides on key ABLE topic that is provide key outcomes to pathways depending on where you are at. You can start where it makes the most sense for you and go where it makes the most sense for you and your family. 
	These guides are designed to increase your ABLE understanding and confidence and comfort level as you make those decisions that will be the most beneficial to you and your family. 
	The topics include: 
	Am I ABLE eligible?  
	Selecting and opening an ABLE Account. 
	Understanding ABLE Account savings and public benefits. 
	How to manage the ABLE Account or helping someone manage their ABLE Account. 
	Finding funds to save in an ABLE Account. There are lots of great strategies and decisions in that Decision Guide. 
	Many have questions about determining whether something is a qualified disability expense. You can check out that Decision Guide. 
	We also have ABLE Accounts who are working and who support them into transitioning into work or maintaining work and into retirement. 
	So the ABLE Accounts and ABLE to Work and save. 
	And this past January, with the Special Needs Alliance, we co‑developed and presented and we have now our published understanding ABLE Accounts and Special Needs Trusts and pool trust Decision Guide. So do check those out. 
	So what is our Spotlight Series?  I'm going to tell you a little bit about this. Really this is intended for those who do have a basic understanding of ABLE, know what ABLE Accounts are, who they help, why they are important, how they work, and those resources. 
	This is really where we dive into and we feature those ABLE Programs that are nationally open. They may be part of a multi‑state collaboration, for instance, or an individual State Program that is open to their State residents, as well as others across the country who might be considering opening an ABLE Program. 
	What the Spotlight Series do and what today is going to do, it covers program details, so not ABLE basics and a lot of the questions we just talked about in the previous slide, but it's meant for general guidance and best practices within that ABLE Program and using that specific ABLE Account. 
	And it provides an overview of savings and investing within an ABLE Account to help current and prospective ABLE Account Owners understand. 
	We do have our ABLE Program Spotlight Webinars on‑demand, we do these about every other month. You can check out other programs by checking out the on‑demand link we have on the slide. 
	And at the end of today's presentation, we will talk about May 11th, we have next ABLE Program Spotlight with the New York ABLE Program that is able nationally. So we have room on the other side of the presentation for that. 
	I want to point out that there 45 State ABLE Programs from which to choose. I think we have 46 states and 49 programs within those states. It's growing and expanding all the time, which is wonderful, that means there's a lot of opportunity and choice here for you. 
	If you are ABLE eligible, you can open one ABLE Account in any state that has an ABLE Program that accepts outside residents or certainly within your home state. 
	The one piece of guidance we always provide is if you have ‑‑ if you live within a state that has an ABLE Program, an ABLE Account, check out that home state first just in case there are some State‑level incentives, potentially legislation is passed that might encourage you to check out your home state. Other than that, there's a wide range of opportunity and we do have comparison tools here that are available on our website. They will help you make sure that you open the ABLE Program that you mean to open. 
	If you Google it, you might end up with another program that's open nationally. So be sure to use our tools to compare, to check out your home state, to check out others. You might be within the grouping of states that the STABLE Program has, but even if you're not, there might be some really great opportunities there and it's worthwhile to check out the ABLE Programs. And we are glad that you are here and you are checking these out today. 
	I know STABLE, it's the first ABLE Program that opened in the country. They started with that and they have really grown and expanded. They have wonderful options and features and I'm so happy that they have joined us here today because I'm going to hand it over now to the STABLE Program, the STABLE Team, and let them introduce themselves and start sharing the wonderful features and opportunities they have for you with the STABLE Account. 
	So with that, I'll hand it to Alaina and Kenyatta and Tom and let you introduce yourselves and get started. And thank you, again, for being here. 
	>> ALAINA BOWERS: Awesome. Thank you, Miranda. My name is Alaina Bowers. I am the External Affairs Manager for the STABLE Account Team. 
	>> KENYATTA CHANDLER: Good afternoon, everyone much once again, thank you, Miranda. My name is Kenyatta Chandler and I'm the Director of the STABLE Account. 
	>> THOMAS HATCH: And my name is Thomas Hatch, I'm the Operations Manager for STABLE Account. 
	>> ALAINA BOWERS: Awesome. Wonderful. So we'll get started now. 
	Thank you, again, to Miranda and her Team and everyone at NRC for the partnership. We are really excited to be here today. Our last webinar was a few years ago, so there's been some changes to the STABLE Account Program, but ABLE across the board has been so impactful for thousands of individuals and families and we're really proud to be able to feature what STABLE Account is and be able to give more information on enrollment, eligibility, and, of course, some of the great programs features that a STABLE Account can provide to you. 
	If you are currently a STABLE Account Owner and joining in, welcome. If you are here to learn more about what STABLE Account is, welcome as well. We're really excited to get started. 
	So before we learn about what STABLE is, it's important to understand what ABLE is. And as Miranda mentioned and all of the resources online on their website about the different ABLE Programs across the country, it's important to learn about how we got here and kind of what ABLE is. 
	So ABLE stands for the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act. It was passed nationally in 2014 and that was a way that ‑‑ it was created to ‑‑ as a savings and investments accounts for individuals with disabilities. 
	So ABLE is truly meant to empower individuals and allow them to save to cover expenses or costs associated with living and possibly working with a disability. 
	It's so important to understand why this came to be and it's truly a way to empower individuals to save and invest for a financial future. 
	That goes hand in hand with empowering somebody to also be able to have their funds without it impacting eligibility for certain means‑tested benefits. We feature the two here because those are the most common that individuals might be receiving, SSI is Supplemental Security Income, and also Medicaid. 
	So if an individual is working or not working and they are receiving benefits and they might have other funds that they want to put their funds ‑‑ or account their funds into, their benefits will not be impacted by that. 
	And then next slide, please. 
	In addition to STABLE Account, another thing to remember about ABLE is that it's very similar to other accounts that are kind of aimed towards savings and investments. 
	ABLE Accounts have a hybrid functionality, meaning that in addition to long‑term savings and investments, individuals can easily access their funds at any time. We like to mention that they are similar to the three you'll see here, the 529 College Savings Plan, a normal Checking Account or a Savings Account, and in addition, a Special Needs Trust. 
	So as families have children with disabilities, they might look into other options of accounts for long‑term planning. We'd like to mention the 529 College Savings Plan because that is something that is commonly known across the country and sometimes families might create a 529 College Savings Plan for their child. Down the road they might feel that a STABLE Account or another ABLE Account might be better suited for their situation for long‑term financial planning, so they can actually roll over those funds into a STABLE Account or another ABLE Account, which we will talk about a little later on. 
	In order to kind of understand what this type of account is, we like to mention these are very similar to the other products as well. 
	So moving on from what ABLE is, we'll talk more about what STABLE is. So as Miranda mentioned, STABLE is a National ABLE Plan. It's unique to the State of Ohio. 
	So it was created in 2016. We were the first State to utilize an ABLE Program and we named it STABLE. A lot of empowerment behind that name as you can imagine and it was launched in 2016. And as of today, we have over 33,000 individual accounts. And that is not just in Ohio, that's national. 
	When this was created in 2016, there were so many individuals that wanted to, you know, start saving at an early age, so they joined our program, which is why we have individuals across the country. 
	We lead 13 State partnerships as well, so we are really proud of that. We feel that as this program is growing across the country, we can really just find new ways for outreach and being able to empower families and individuals to know what STABLE is and to really see the benefits behind it on a long‑term financial planning way. 
	But it also is a way for us to connect with individuals, groups, organizations, schools across the State of Ohio that are working every day with individuals, even families as well that are, you know, wanting to find a way to have kind of a plan, a long‑term plan for their child. 
	We really are excited to find new ways for outreach, so we'll talk a little bit about that. 
	But today this is what you are going to be learning about, you are going to be learning about what STABLE is, the enrollment process, eligibility, how to use your funds, and then some other ‑‑ some facts about kind of the investment side of the STABLE Account and we'll get to that later on with Kenyatta and Tom. 
	But going on to the next slide, just a little bit more about what our program is. This is our Team, we have a small Team, which is, you know, we have our Operation, our Outreach, and, you know, our most important part of this program is Advocacy. 
	The more I have been in this role, the more I have been able to connect with young adults who are working, who want to make sure their funds are protected for long‑term planning, that are receiving benefits and they are worried about losing their benefits if they might exceed a certain limit of working, we love being able to tell them, there's a way you can save your money. There's a way you can continue to work, continue to have a financially independent live just like anyone else can. That's what our role is. 
	When we launched this program, because we were the first state, our outreach was boots on the ground, grassroots, there's 88 Counties in Ohio, we were going to every County, talking to all of the County Board of DD groups, finding advocacy groups, families, school districts, and we really wanted to let everyone know about this incredible program. 
	Fast forward to 2023, we are still doing that. There are still groups that have never heard of what STABLE is and when we let them know about this, they are so excited. 
	We were at a Transition Fair last week and we were connecting with some individuals who were there for some interviews and kind of looking at next steps for what they're going to do after graduation, so these were individuals who were excited to work, excited to be independent. Of course, their families were with them as well and they were coming up to our table and learning about it. We really try to find new ways for engagement and letting people know how important STABLE Account is for long‑term planning. 
	So part of that in my role is just being able to engage with families and groups across Ohio. If anyone is on this webinar and they live in the State of Ohio, you have the luxury of possibly meeting with us in‑person if you are a part of a school district or an organization or even a County Board of DD that you do support with, shoot us an e‑mail, we would love to meet you in‑person and be able to present more to you. 
	During our outreach, we do more in‑person presentations than virtual presentations that go into exactly what we are doing today of the details and the enrollment process, so we're going to get to that in a little bit, but I think it's just important to highlight that, you know, we have such a personal touch on this program. 
	And when we are out on the field and we are meeting individuals and families, it makes it so rewarding. So we love being here, that's why we're here, so thank you so much for joining us. 
	Moving on to the next slide, in kind of conclusion of my portion of the benefits of the ABLE Accounts and including STABLE Accounts is ownership. Every account owner has their own funds. It's their funds they can use on their medical expenses, living expenses, transportation. We'll get into a little bit more detail as to what those expenses look like. It's financial independence, empowerment. They want to have short‑term and long‑term savings. 
	And there's also tax benefits which we will talk about in a little bit as well. 
	There's just so many great benefits to ABLE Accounts and the STABLE Account is unique to the State of Ohio and we'll talk about the enrollment process, eligibility, and investment options as well. 
	Like I said, I'm the Outreach External Affairs individual for the program. We're really excited to continue to talk about this great program. 
	I'm going to have Kenyatta move on to the enrollment process and talk a little bit more about what's on our website and some great tools that you will find there as well. 
	Thank you. 
	>> KENYATTA CHANDLER: Well, great, thank you, Alaina. Great introduction to both ABLE and STABLE and some of the focus that we have in our outreach and advocacy efforts. 
	So, yes, I'd really like to start with, you know, what I receive most often is, am I eligible?  Can I have a STABLE Account?  
	And the answer is, you know, we have a great website that actually walks you through what we call our Eligibility Quiz. And that can be accessed through stableaccount.com. I will tell you throughout our presentation, we will mention our website because it's a great tool and resource and all of what we are saying today and presenting to you today is available there. 
	So ‑‑ but from a general perspective, the eligibility starts with if an individual with a disability that has occurred prior to the age of 26, plus one of the following: 
	Eligible for to receive Supplemental Security Insurance ‑‑ I'm sorry, Income, or Social Security Disability Insurance, or the condition listed on the Administration's list of compassionate allowances conditions, or self‑certification. 
	And I want to talk a little bit about the self‑certification. The self‑certification needs diagnosis of a physical or mental impairment that causes marked and severe functional limitations. 
	The condition has lasted or is expected to last for at least one year. 
	You don't need to have the written diagnosis provided to STABLE Account, but you must have a signed doctor's diagnosis on‑hand if requested. 
	So these are the general eligibility requirements and particularly the age of 26 of the disability onset. 
	I want to focus on that because we did receive some great news recently. A part of the Secure 2.0 package and the ABLE Age Adjustment Act that was passed in December of 2022, we now have learned that that age of 26 will increase to the age of 46 starting January ‘26. So that's very great news on the opportunities for expansion and opportunities for individuals with disabilities to be eligible for an ABLE or STABLE Account. 
	Which leads us into, how does an individual enroll in a STABLE Account?  So we'll go to the next slide for that detail. 
	So once again, you will hear this continuously, stableaccount.com. It is free to enroll through enrollment at stableaccount.com. 
	The process, I have not put a stopwatch on it, but I have heard as quick and easy as 20 minutes. A very intuitive process, very easy to use, very detailed on what's required through the enrollment process. And we have listened to account owners and programs that are part of our STABLE Account partnership and we also looked at opportunities for even enhancing that even more to help with the enrollment process. 
	There is no fee to enroll in a STABLE Account, but there is a $25 minimum opening deposit and that really activates the account. And then going forward, a minimum of $1 contribution going forward. 
	So, you know, obviously this is an online enrollment, but we never want to have a disincentive for any potential enrollee into a STABLE Account, so we do have paper forms that you can mail in to enroll in a STABLE Account. 
	So we'll go to the next enrollment slide here. 
	So once again, once the individual has identified they are eligible for an account, that individual, or account owner, can manage that account, or, they can designate what's called an Authorized Legal Representative to open and manage that account on their behalf. 
	We have great resources, once again through stableaccount.com to manage that account. It's a great portal and you'll hear a little more details about the functionality from Tom a little later in the presentation. 
	So ‑‑ and also, we'll talk more of the details of the Authorized Legal Representative, but for the most part you can see the list of if the individual is unable or unwilling to manage the account, there is the opportunity to have another individual, whether it's an Agent under a Power of Attorney, a Legal Guardian that has financial responsibility, spouse, parent, sibling, grandparent, or Representative Payee. Those are the individuals who have the authority to be able to manage the account on behalf of an ABLE or STABLE Account Owner. 
	We'll go to the next slide here. 
	Once you have identified that you are eligible, you have enrolled into the account and you deposited that first $25 and now I just want to kind of walk through how to fund the account. 
	So there's three options of funding the account. 
	One, through an Electronic Funds Transfer, which will allow you to transfer funds from an existing checking or savings account directly into a STABLE Account. 
	Also, you can fund the account with a paper check. Once again, no disincentive for any individual to enroll in a STABLE Account. So being able to submit the enrollment through paper form and actually mailing in a paper check to fund the account. 
	And as you manage the account, that can happen throughout your management of that account going forward. 
	And then the next way to fund the account is through payroll direct deposit. And I really wanted to highlight this is a little because it's something here in Ohio that we've made a really concerted effort to work with our State and local Governments and businesses across the state to collaborate, to both introduce STABLE Account and also introduce the option of having individuals that are working to be able to have their payroll, or a portion of their payroll, directly deposited into a STABLE Account, which is a great way to help with contributions and then also manage the process of funding the account. 
	So we have over 20 organizations we've worked with thus far, both public sector and State and Local Government and also businesses we have partnered with in this payroll direct deposit function. 
	So a little more information on the funding of the account. And this gets into the contribution limits. I know Miranda mentioned this earlier on in the presentation, so I just want to go through some of the details of those limits. 
	So currently, if you are not employed you can contribute up to $17,000 annually into a STABLE Account. 
	If you employed, you can contribute an additional $13,590 into a STABLE Account, which is a total amount of $30,590. And I know our audience may be broad today so I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity, there are a couple of states that have larger contribution limits if employed. In the State of Alaska, that amount is $16,990 and Hawaii is $15,650. I just wanted to give you some perspective of that additional contribution amount if employed. 
	And that great function of an ABLE Program is called ABLE to Work. 
	There is an also a lifetime balance limit and that contribution limit is ‑‑ which would be great ‑‑ $523,000. Now the nice thing about our program is we do have the ability to automatically stop any excess contributions, so you won't have to concern yourself as an account owner that you are going to exceed your contribution limits through the system. 
	We have that ability to provide that information through our system so there will not be any excess. 
	Before I move on to the next slide, I just wanted to give just a brief story here and it's really focused on contribution and the gentleman that is actually here in the picture. He has been a great advocate and he's had a STABLE Account from the very beginning. 
	And one of the things that I love to talk about is this gentleman reached out to our STABLE Account Team back in the fall and requested a withdrawal, a fairly sizable amount of withdrawal from his STABLE Account, although there is ‑‑ it's a self‑service, individuals can withdraw funds themselves, and we'll talk a little bit about that later, this gentleman wanted to just let us know that based upon his long time ‑‑ or long‑term savings and investing, he was going to withdrawal funds to put down a bid on a piece of land with the ultimate goal of building his house that fits his accommodation. 
	So if you remember the picture earlier in the presentation during Alaina's portion, I was actually talking to the gentleman about the status and he let me know that the house is almost finished. And he is very excited. And I told him, you know, I want to be one of the first for an invitation just to see that house build. 
	So giving you an example of the benefit of what having a STABLE Account can do and this is a magnificent way to express one of the benefits, so I just wanted to share that story with the audience. 
	So next I would like to go to another way to fund the account and it's what we call The Gifting Page. I like to use the example of GoFundMe, but it allows for anyone to provide a financial gift into a STABLE Account, whether it's a co‑worker, whether it's friends, whether it's neighbors, whether it's for birthdays or graduations, it allows for an accountholder to provide a link for a co‑workers, family, friends to contribute directly into a STABLE Account. 
	It has been used, frequently I've heard of great stories of contributions for birthdays and being able to utilize those funds right away. 
	So another great functionality of having a STABLE Account. 
	And I just wanted to highlight, also, as we talked about the contributions and funding the account, this does not count as a resource or income. And that's a question that we get frequently and I just wanted to highlight it here as we talked about the contributions and funding. 
	So now we'll go over to the next slide and really just give highlights as we've talked about throughout the presentation, this, an ABLE Account and STABLE Account is an investment account. It is not a checking or savings account. It is an investment account. 
	And with STABLE Account, you have an opportunity, and this is the accountholder and they make the decisions, you have an opportunity to select where you want your funds to be invested. 
	So with STABLE Account, we have four Vanguard mutual funds ranging from aggressive to conservative. And as STABLE Account Team, we do not provide investment advice, but what we have had discussions with and provided information is we've let the account owner know that these decisions could be made for your short‑term investment needs or long‑term investment needs. 
	But once again, the determination of where those funds reside is totally up to that individual account owner. 
	Also, we have one principal‑protected FDIC‑insured option, and what we like to affectionately call the super savings. And the interesting thing about that is currently we have about two‑thirds of our accounts funds are held within the BankSafe option. So that's two‑thirds of all. And there's reasons behind it. Like I said, it is that determination of that individual to make these decisions. 
	It has been a great opportunity, like I said, to work with families and individuals and giving them the options ‑‑ them the options because once again as Alaina said earlier, this is that opportunity for financial empowerment and financial independence. So it was great to be able for me to go through my portion of the presentation. Now I would like to hand it over to Thomas Hatch and he will finish up the rest of the presentation today. 
	>> THOMAS HATCH: Thank you, Kenyatta. And thanks, everyone, for being on with us. 
	You know, I get to go over some exciting stuff and that is after you've saved all of this money and put it aside, how can you spend it?  
	I have been monitoring the question and answer chat as well, so I think I saw one in there that I'll hopefully address during this particular slide. 
	So in this particular program, the definition is pretty broad and here's how we'll explain it. Ideally what you want to do is spend your funds on what we call qualified disability expenses. That is defined simply as expenses that are used for the benefit of the individual with the disability and anything that helps maintain or improve that person's health, independence, or quality of life. 
	We have listed a few general categories here on the screen for you, things like housing and rent, basic living expenses, transportation, education, Assistive Technology, Financial Management, health and wellness, and legal fees. This is by no means an exhaustive list. 
	And I think the question in the previous Q&A was: Do we have an exhaustive list?  I'm not aware of any location where you can find an exhaustive list of what this means because it means different things to different people. 
	So I would say when you are looking at the individual who is going to spend these funds, just bring it back down to that basic question of: Is the money going to be used to support them with their disability and is it going to help maintain or improve their health, independence, and quality of life?  And if you can justify that within that definition, it will be a qualified expense. 
	And we'll go into now how we spend specifically in our particular program. So on the next slide we have three different ways in which you can pull that money out of the account and use it. 
	I do also want to specify here at the beginning that similar to other types of programs, documentation is important. Our program will never ask you to submit any kind of documentation on how you are spending those funds, but we always highly recommend as a best practice for you to keep that documentation on‑hand in case it's ever needed. 
	And I have listed these here in order of sort of the least amount of documentation that our system provides to probably the best amount of documentation. And I'll explain that here in a second. 
	So the first way you can spend from the account is if you have a personal checking or savings account linked to your STABLE Account. You can move money electronically back and forth. 
	That we say is the least amount of documentation because once the funds leave the STABLE Account to your personal account, there is no tracking of those funds on the STABLE Account site. Then all of the tracking would be up to you once those are spent from your personal account. 
	The next question we have is ‑‑ or the next option we have is a check withdrawal. So we have a feature, at no cost to the participant, that through the system they can request a check be written and sent either to themselves or to a third‑party. Third‑party meaning a vendor, a family member, anybody you want that to be. 
	We often see this most often used for paying rent maybe to a landlord or a mortgage payment to a mortgage company. It could be sent to utility companies to pay utility bills. But it's a physical check that is written from your account and sent. 
	In this case, there is some documentation the system does for you. It will have the check that was sent, where it was sent, the amount of money that was sent, so there's some documentation that the system provides, so that's why we say it's a little better than just transferring it to your checking or savings as far as documentation is concerned. 
	And the final option we have in the program is a STABLE Visa Card. On the next slide we will go to, we will highlight this card specifically. 
	So we are proud of having this card. It is a great option and benefit for those who can utilize it. There's a picture of the card there at the top of the slide. This is a product offered by True Link who is one of the national leaders in the loadable card space. It is a separate enrollment process from opening an account and I'll address that also a little bit later in the presentation as well. 
	But it is a card that can be loaded with funds from your STABLE Account and then accepted anywhere where a Visa Card can be used. 
	There are a lot of benefits and features and I can't go over all of them in the time we have today, but I will highlight a couple of things in relation to documentation. 
	When the card is used, there is an immediate notation of that expense on the website where the STABLE Card can be managed. You will have the location where it was spent, amount was spent, date, time, all of that. You can log on and add notes for that particular transition, you can upload receipts for that transaction, you can tag it as being a qualified or non‑qualified expense, and all of that detail can be printed out through specialized reports. 
	By far, from a documentation standpoint, this has a lot of the feature that is can do a lot of that for you. 
	It also has some great alert features where you can set alert that is can either text you or send you an e‑mail when account balance is getting below a certain level or when a particular transaction has been either accepted or rejected or when you actually use the card, so there's a lot of different features there. A great, great option for those who really would like to use that. 
	And these are the primary ways in which we can spend from the account. 
	From here on out, I'm going to go into a variety of sort of one‑off‑topics on a variety of different things that we think you should know. 
	So on the next slide, we want to talk about SSI considerations, or Supplemental Security Income. There was actually, I think, a question earlier in the question and answer section so I'll address that briefly. 
	Three things to know and this is universal no matter what program you are. 
	The first is if the balance in your account is over $100,000, it can count as a resource and affect your SSI benefits temporarily, they will be suspended. This is one I would suggest to you, if you are fortunate to be in the circumstance where your balance is getting that high, as it approaches $100,000, I would recommend for you to get with an Administrative Representative and ask them and better understand how it's going to affect your SSI payments if your account goes over that dollar amount. 
	The next one, which relates to the previous question is, is the Social Security Administration has a rule that if you withdrawal money to use for housing expenditures, it needs to be used in the same month it was withdrawn. If it is carried over to another month, they could count that as a resource into the next month, which could obviously jeopardize your benefits possibly. 
	I know the question that had come up is if your rent payment is due or your mortgage payment is due on the first of the month, how do you handle that?  
	I might suggest either see if they would be willing to accept it a few days earlier and make sure you time out your withdrawal and payment to make sure it gets there a few days early, or, definitely if you have move today from a personal ‑‑ to a personal checking or savings account, see if there can be an electronic transfer that might be able to hit the day before, something like that. 
	But this is a particular rule. All of these rules, by the way, are administered by the Social Security Administration. They are nothing we have any control over. 
	The final one and also really, really important is for SSI in particular and potentially other benefit programs, in addition to having limits on how much you can have and own, which we call an asset, they also have limits on how much income you can make. 
	Once again, in that particular case, I would highly recommend that if you are working and also receiving SSI that you talk to your Benefit Specialist and ask them questions around, how much can I earn without affecting my SSI benefits?  And get all of those answers from them. 
	But understand these ABLE Accounts or your STABLE Account, it protects from you the asset limit, but it does not protect you from the income limit. 
	Next we'll go to what our program has for account cost. So for Ohio residents, it was a $27 per year account fee. That is charged quarterly at $6.75 per quarter. 
	And for all other states, because we are a national program, that would be $39 per year or $9.75 per quarter. This is a fee that will show up on your quarterly account statement so it will be listed there. 
	The other side of it is asset‑based fee. This is essentially a fee that the investment company charges us to use their investment products. 
	And so that particular fee is a range because it's based upon the amount of money you have in the account. And that range is .19% to .33% in Ohio or any of our Partner States. Or .45% and .59% for other states. That fee is one that is taken directly out of the investments so it will not show up on account statement. You will not be able to track in the same fashion exactly what amount of that fee is, the Investment Manager takes it directly out of the investment earnings and it is not reported on any quarterly statement. 
	From there, we will go on to our next slide and that will be covering the difference between ABLE Accounts and Special Needs Trusts. 
	So here the one thing I really wanted to specify is that prior to ABLE and STABLE becoming an option, Special Needs Trusts were really one of the only ways you could shelter your assets and have them protected from these benefit programs. Now you have two options. 
	And I really want to specify that we are not competing with each other and, in fact, ABLE Accounts and Special Needs Trusts work really, really well together. They are both options. Whichever option works for you, I would recommend you looking into and using that option. There's benefits and not so ‑‑ pros and cons you could say to either one. 
	A couple that you might realize just at a larger level is that Special Needs Trusts can receive any amount of monies. They are not limited to the $17,000 per year that an ABLE Account is. So in cases where you might have a legal judgment or an insurance payout or an inheritance that is very large, a Special Needs Trust may make more sense. 
	On the other side, ABLE Accounts are really, really easy to spend from, as we went through some of those spending options, and a lot more convenient. 
	One of the ways we see these work together most often is people that have a Special Needs Trust might withdraw money from that annually, put it into their ABLE Account and use the ABLE Account as their vehicle to spend, where they have access to the check feature or the STABLE Visa Card or being able to transfer money in other ways and do that in a quick and easy way. And you actually have broader spending power because it also includes food and housing, which are often things that are limit from a Special Needs Trust. 
	I also want to highlight in states where applicable, ABLE Accounts can have a State income tax deduction or credit. I would check the state you live in, your particular program, to see if that is applicable. In the State of Ohio we do have an income tax deduction for individuals who contribute to STABLE Account in Ohio. 
	Next we wanted to also highlight the fact that we have a convenient way to manage multiple accounts. Now what I wanted to really specify here and make sure that you understand is this does not mean that you can have more than one ABLE Account. There is a hard and fast rule that you can only have one ABLE Account per beneficiary at any point in time. 
	What this really means is if you, for example, are a parent who has multiple children that qualify, or, if you are working as a Representative Payee and maybe you manage that relationship for a broad range of people, then we have a system in which you can create one single username and one single password to log into an account and then manage all of those additional accounts all under that one login. 
	We especially find this helpful for companies or organizations or entities that are in that space of maybe they work as an Organizational Representative Payee for a large group of individuals and they can set up one of these under what we call an Entity ARL structure or Entity Authorized Legal Representative and they can manage them all under one login. There's some great and beneficial features. 
	There's extra reporting features and this is one thing we really, really appreciate having from Vestwell, our Program Manager, the opportunity to manage these accounts more efficiently for the people and organizations that applies to. 
	The official one I wanted to do is highlight what it looks like when you log into your account and give you a couple other upcoming features to get you excited about some things that STABLE Account is doing behind the scenes. 
	So on our last slide here, we have a screenshot of what it looks like when you log into your account. And so this one is an account for Jane Doe. When she logs in, she can see in this tile format a variety of different pieces of information. 
	I'll go through them quickly. On the overview page, you always see your total balance. That will be the balance of the previous day as mutual funds set their prices once a day, so that will be the balance as of the previous day. 
	You also have your contribution limits. You will be able to see how much you have contributed, both either in the standard contribution or the ABLE to Work contribution and what the limits are so you can keep track of where you are in those limits to make sure, you know, if you are getting close, you know you are getting close to those. 
	We also have where you can set up a goal. 
	And this tracker will actually track how much progress are you making toward that is goal. We have often found in the financial side of things that if people set goals they are bound to save more, so this is a unique way in which you can set a goal on the system and it will track your progress toward that is goal so you can see how you're doing. 
	Sort of on the bottom left, we'll always have a tile there that shows the investments are you invested in and what your performance is from the point that you open the account to the date you login. 
	We also have where you can add The Gifting Page. Kenyatta mentioned about that page earlier. This is where you can actually go to set up the page, or, if it's already set up, where you can go to get the link to share and where you can see how much is being contributed through the gifting feature. 
	And the final title to your bottom right is the STABLE card. If you haven't set one up, this will give you a link to connect to a separate website, which is True Link's website to be able to sign up for the STABLE Visa Card. 
	I did want to point out one other final thing, that's the bottom right, it's a little harder to see, it's a gray box sort of off to the side, we do have a live chat feature that during normal Customer Service hours you can click on that and do a live chat with a Customer Service Representative. If it's beyond the hours of the live chat, then the box will be grayed like it's showing here saying "Leave a Message." You can leave a message that will be responded to later. That's another great feature to connect to Customer Service if you have questions or need assistance on anything. 
	The last slide that we have here is just our contact information if you need any help. Customer Service number, the hours Customer Service is available. You can send an e‑mail to the Team@stableaccount.com and our website stableaccount.com. 
	And one other thing before I turn it over to Miranda, one feature that should be coming soon, I won't give out a date, is the ability to deposit funds from the Social Security Administration to a STABLE Account. This would be if you wanted to move SSI funds directly from the Administration to a STABLE Account, that feature is forthcoming, at least by mid‑year, and we really look forward to that option for those that want that and that might make sense for them. So we are really excited that feature is going to be coming available here soon. 
	And I'll turn it back to Miranda. 
	>> MIRANDA KENNEDY: Well, I'm not going to let go of you quite yet, Tom. I'm going to ask you and Kenyatta and Alaina to hang on with me for just a moment here because I want to mention, we've got your contact information here and just we have five minutes left and I do have some things to share, but we've covered a lot of information. 
	And one of the most common threads I've seen in the Q&A is: Hey, can we get these slides?  Guess what, everyone, you can. If you had any difficulty downloading those from the link that Cheyenne provided at the top of the webinar, in fact, I'll ask Cheyenne to repost that again in the chat so folks can see that, but if you have difficulty downloading the slides, there's a couple of ways you can get it. 
	Certainly, Tom and Kenyatta and Alaina shared their contact information for STABLE. You can contact them directly. 
	If you would like to this slide deck and weren't able to download them, in the post‑event survey we will include in a moment, you can include your e‑mail address and we will send you the slides. They will also be posted on the website along with the archive of today's event, so you can hear us go through this again if you would like, or share it with others as well. That will be available on our website. I encourage you to check that out. 
	Other than the request for a lot of information and the slides, there were some questions that I know those Decision Guides that we talked about at the top will help out in terms of how to find funds, how to use the funds in your ABLE Account, ABLE Accounts and Special Needs Trusts and pooled trusts, all of those different questions. Do check that out. 
	But in terms of, I'm going to ask one or two questions of this Team that we saw come through, one question was: How does STABLE help with tracking QDEs?  I think I touched a little bit on it, but it was a question that came in at the very end. If one of you ‑‑ yeah, thanks, Tom. 
	>> THOMAS HATCH: I'll go ahead and address that. Again, it depends on what method of withdrawal you use. If you transfer from the STABLE Account to personal savings or checking, unfortunately there's not a lot of tracking we can do. That will have to be done at a personal level through your own checking or savings account. 
	If you send a check out of our system, there is some amount of tracking because we will have in the system and in your activity on the account, you know, the date the check was sent, who it was sent to, the dollar amount that was sent and so forth. 
	And obviously, the STABLE Visa Card has an amazing amount of tracking if you want to look into that as an option. 
	>> MIRANDA KENNEDY: We do hear great things about the tracking. 
	One other question, Tom, folks are asking: What is the BankSafe rate?
	>> THOMAS HATCH: Great question. I haven't checked it today, but over 4.75 is the current yield on BankSafe. I don't know about you, but my personal savings account is getting, like, nothing. So that is an amazing rate on BankSafe right now and even for smaller amounts in an account is enough to cover fees and other types of expenses. 
	>> MIRANDA KENNEDY: Absolutely. I know there were other questions coming in and our Team was working to answer all of the questions that came in. 
	I wanted to address the question about the difference between an ABLE Account and STABLE Account. An ABLE Account is a STABLE Account. 
	You can e‑mail us at info@ablenrcc.org specific to the ABLE Program, or the contact information that Tom and Kenyatta and Alaina provided you specific to the STABLE Program. 
	I want to really thank Kenyatta and Tom and Alaina for being here today and sharing this wonderful information and this opportunity that's available to folks. 
	And as we wrap up, I invite you all to sign up and join us in May. We're going to have our ABLE Program Spotlight on the New York ABLE Program as we continue to roll this information out. People have wonderful opportunities and options here across all of these different ABLE Programs and I think that it's definitely worth checking out what your options are and doing your research as you have done today. So we'll be walking through that information and we invite everyone to join us on future webinars, along with the Spotlights, checking out our website, our resources, definitely those Decision Guides.  Many of the questions that were rolling in can be assisted through researching those Decision Guides and checking out these other resources. 
	We also invite everyone to sign up for our AchievABLE Newsletters it comes out bi‑monthly. Another one will be coming at the beginning of April, which is Financial Literacy Month and Autism Awareness Month. 
	Connect with us on social media and share the word. Many more people will become eligible for ABLE starting January 2026. You could be 50, some folks are 90 who have opened an ABLE Account, this is open to so many folks, please spread the word and share the information about this opportunity and check out those programs and these accounts, like what we covered here today. 
	And finally with that, I just want to thank everyone. Here we are at the top of the hour, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your Tuesday. And thanks to the STABLE Team for joining us here at ABLE National Resource Center. We greatly appreciate the work you are doing and opportunity you are providing to so many people with disabilities and their families. Thank you, everyone. 
	>> KENYATTA CHANDLER: Thank you, also, Miranda. 
	>> ALAINA BOWERS: Thank you. 
	>> THOMAS HATCH: Thank you. 
	
	[Webinar concluded] 
	
	CART Disclaimer:  This rough edit transcript, which may contain missing, misspelled or paraphrased words, is only provided for your immediate review and is not certified as verbatim and is not to be cited in any way.