I am thinking about opening a CalABLE account
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Are you thinking about opening a CalABLE account?
This page will help answer some commonly asked questions about this process.
Scroll throughout this page or select items from the menu to learn more.
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- What is a CalABLE account and why would I want one?
- Is a CalABLE account right for me?
- Who is eligible for a CalABLE account?
- What can I use my account for? Do I have qualified expenses?
- Will the money in my CalABLE account impact my benefits?
- What are my goals? What do I want to save for?
- How can I contribute to my CalABLE account?
- Who can support me in contributing to my CalABLE account?
- Do I have to invest my money?
- Do I need a bank or credit union to have a CalABLE account?
Get Started
Are you ready to open a CalABLE account?
This page will help answer some commonly asked questions about this process.
Scroll throughout this page or select items from the menu to learn more.
- What is a CalABLE account and why would I want one?
- Is a CalABLE account right for me?
- Who is eligible for a CalABLE account?
- What can I use my CalABLE account for? Do I have qualified expenses?
- Will the money in my CalABLE account impact my benefits?
- What are my goals? What do I want to save for?
- How can I contribute to my CalABLE account?
- Who can support me in contributing to my CalABLE account?
- Do I have to invest my money?
- Do I need a bank or credit union to have a CalABLE account?
What is a CalABLE account and why would I want one?
CalABLE is a tax-advantaged savings account that earns interest. The interest grows tax free; it does not count as income. CalABLE also offers choices for investing designed to help eligible individuals save for disability-related expenses without jeopardizing their public benefits. CalABLE is offered by the state of California to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the U.S. You do not have to be a California resident to open a CalABLE account. Eligible individuals, family, friends, a special needs trust or pooled trust and employers can contribute up to $15,000 a year without affecting the ABLE account owner’s public benefits. CalABLE account owners who work and do not have an employer sponsored retirement account can contribute even more to their accounts. Residents of California can save an additional $12,490 from their earnings, for a total of $27,490 per calendar year. Best of all, interest earnings on qualified withdrawals from a CalABLE account are tax-free at the federal and state level.
Take Action
- Explore the AchievABLE™ Corner – start by learning if a CalABLE account is right for you.
- Find out if you or a family member are eligible for opening a CalABLE account.
- Have questions? Review CalABLE: FAQs to find your answer.
- Have additional questions? Call CalABLE at: 833-225-2253 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT.
- To find support services for people with disabilities, call 211.
Is a CalABLE account right for me?
Do you…
- Ever find yourself needing to spend down your savings to retain eligibility for public benefits?
- Have family or friends who would like to help you afford expenses, including housing expenses?
- Have a Special Needs Trust or a Pooled Trust that could contribute to your ABLE account so you could afford safe housing that meets your goals?
- Need a safe place to save money that helps you to keep or qualify for Medicaid?
- Need a place to save money for retirement?
- Want to save for college, training or for assistive technology?
- Have a child with a disability that you would like to save money for?
- Want to supplement burial/funeral savings?
Take Action
- See if you or your family member is eligible for a CalABLE account. Learn about eligibility.
- Learn more about benefits to a CalABLE account.
Who is eligible for a CalABLE account?
A person who has had a significant disability onset before age 26 may be eligible to open a CalABLE account. A person who has received SSI and/or SSDI since prior to age 26 is eligible to open an CalABLE account in their name. A person who is blind prior to age 26 is CalABLE eligible. A person who has never received, or no longer receives, SSI or SSDI should ask their physician to complete a Disability Certification indicating that their significant disability onset occurred prior to age 26. A physician’s office uses their own forms or letters when completing a Disability Certification. Any supporting evidence that the person has will help the physician make their decision about completing a disability certification. You do not have to prove an inability to work, nor is there any type of income or asset test that would limit a person’s eligibility for opening an ABLE account.
The CalABLE plan allows eligible residents of the state of California and any other state to open a CalABLE plan.
Take Action
- Determine if you are eligible for a CalABLE account.
- Obtain your Disability Certification from your physician or keep proof of SSI and/or SSDI on file. You may be asked to share this with CalABLE when opening an account.
- Open your CalABLE account and start saving for your needs.
What can I use my account for?
Do I have qualified expenses?
CalABLE savings can be used for Qualified Disability Expenses. A CalABLE account owner can spend money from their CalABLE savings on Qualified Disability Expenses (QDEs). QDEs are expenses related to the CalABLE account owner as a result of living a life with a disability. These may include expenses to help improve the ABLE account owner’s health, independence, and/or quality of life.
QDE’s may include:
- Assistive Technology: standing wheelchair, smart home technology, glasses
- Education expenses: tutoring, tuition
- Employment and Training: job coach, assistant
- Housing: apartment, dorm, home purchase, homeowners or renter’s insurance, utilities, property taxes
- Transportation: taxi, Uber, Lyft, bus, train, paratransit, vehicle purchase
- A trip or camp program designed for people with disabilities
- Medical Needs: items not covered by health insurance
- Financial management: credit counseling or financial planning, administrative services, legal fees
- Funeral and burial expenses
Qualified disability expenses may be different from one person to another. For example, a qualified disability expense may include expenses for a service or emotional support animal for an ABLE account owner who has a prescription from their primary physician indicating that the ABLE account owner needs the animal due to their disability condition.
Examples of things that are not Qualified Disability Expenses are: gifts to others, alcohol or illegal substances.
Take Action
- Learn more about Qualified Disability Expenses (VIDEO) and what may qualify.
- Make a list of your current expenses and mark which ones would be considered Qualified Disability Expenses. Learn more about CalABLE Qualified Expenses.
- Do you have a wish list of items that you want but can’t afford right now? With your CalABLE account, those items may be affordable in the future! Make a wish list of items you want for the future, then check the CalABLE: Qualified Expenses list to see if they qualify. Try creating a dream board to help visualize your wish list.
Will the money in my CalABLE account impact my benefits?
Savings within a CalABLE account are protected. CalABLE savings up to $100,000 will not impact SSI benefits. Any amount of CalABLE savings does not change eligibility for any type of Medicaid. Some people may deposit their savings/resources in CalABLE to decrease the resources which are counted to qualify for Medicaid. CalABLE savings does not affect eligibility for FAFSA, SNAP or HUD housing assistance. SSDI and Medicare do not have resource limits, so CalABLE savings does not change those benefits.
Important notes:
- It is important that people who receive SSI use their SSI to pay for housing and food. Extra SSI can be saved within ABLE.
- Earned income from employment is still income. The Social Security Administration provides work supports for SSI and/or SSDI beneficiaries who work. These work supports allow people to work, retain benefits for a period of time and save more money to move towards financial well-being.
Take Action
- Learn what work incentives are and how work incentives can help you reach your goals and save more within your CalABLE account.
- If you are working or returning to work, you may qualify for Benefits Counseling Services to fully understand how working affects benefits and how work incentives may help. To understand the impact of work on your benefits, find your local Work Incentive Planning Associate (WIPA) – under search, select Benefits Counseling under Provider Type.
What are my goals?
What do I want to save for?
Thinking about your future can help you set your savings goal(s). By setting goals, you will have a better idea of how to approach saving, investing and managing the money in your CalABLE account. Work towards identifying what you want your goal(s) for savings to be by asking yourself some of the following questions. You may even want to talk to your circle of support while you are setting your goals or after you have set them to help keep you on course.
Take Action
- Think about the life you want to live and the things you want in both the short and long term, for example:
- Where would you live? (location, type of home, who you would live with)
- What lifestyle do you want? (marriage, kids)
- What are the things you want to do? (career, hobbies, lifestyle)
- What do you want people to remember about you? (legacy, accomplishments)
- Creating a Dream Board can help you visualize your goals. Writing down your goals is a motivating and will help keep you on tack to achieve them. Put your Dream Board in a place you will see it every day.
- Start thinking deeper about your goals.
- Create a savings goal and create a timeline for when you want to achieve your goals.
- Review your dreams and goals within your dream board to see if they are Qualified Disability Expenses. These are the savings goals that a CalABLE account can help you achieve.
- Use a Personal Goal Setting Worksheet to help you organize, prioritize and track your goals. Based on your answers to the previous questions, consider how to achieve these goals. How much money will you need to achieve each goal? Set a timeline and address any barriers. Think about what goals you have that could be Qualified Disability Expenses. These are the savings goals that a CalABLE account can help you achieve. Using a Personal Goal Setting Worksheet will help you organize, prioritize and track your goals. Identify your dreams, goals and what you want to save for in the future by creating a dream board.
- Join America Saves and take the pledge to get tips and reminders on how to save for your goals!
- Talk with your Circle of Support about your savings goals and identify ways they may help you.
- Begin saving in your CalABLE account. If you don’t have a CalABLE account, open one now.
How can I contribute to my CalABLE account?
There are many ways to contribute to your CalABLE account:
- Earned income; a person who does not choose to participate in an employer sponsored retirement account, may save up to an additional $12,490 from their earnings, within ABLE. Then deposits could total up to $27,490 for one calendar year: that is $12,490 from earnings with an additional $15,000 in contributions from possible sources listed above.*
- Contributions from family and friends or others in your support network
- Extra SSI/SSDI income (SSI needs to be spent on housing and food.)**
- SSI/SSDI back payments
- Large windfall payments up to $15,000 (per calendar year)
- Pension, inheritance, alimony, child support
- Employer contributions (not pay)
- Surplus money from your spending plan
- Special Needs Trust and/or Pooled Trust
- 529 College Savings up to $15,000 can be rolled over to CalABLE
- Income tax refund / Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
- Money saved through using other benefit programs.
* Please note: earned and unearned income, are countable sources of income that may affect SSI, SSDI, Medicaid and public benefit eligibility. Earned income is subject to Social Security Administration countable earnings calculation. Contributions made directly into ABLE from family and friends are not countable income.
** ABLE savings of up to $100,000 does not change SSI eligibility. ABLE savings of any amount does not change eligibility for any type of Medicaid. Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Medicare do not have resource limits, so any amount of ABLE savings does not change eligibility for SSDI, Medicare or even SNAP or HUD benefits.
Take Action
- Make a list of all the possible contributions you may have access to for your CalABLE account.
- Identify ways to save money within your spending plan to add to your CalABLE account. Learn about spending plans. By preparing a spending plan a person can learn how much is needed for their monthly expenses. Surplus money can be saved within CalABLE monthly.
- If you receive SSI and/or SSDI, and have questions about how working or earning could affect your benefits, you can explore SSI and SSDI work supports.
- Learn more about Free Tax Preparation options and tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Make plans in advance for when you receive your tax refund to have it deposited into your CalABLE account.
- Take the America Saves pledge for yourself and create a simple savings plan that works.
What if I do not have any money to save for my CalABLE account?
Right now, all of your income may be used to pay for monthly bills and expenses. That can make it hard to imagine ever being able to save, but it is possible. Seeing how you spend your money vs. how you want to spend your money on paper is a powerful tool that will help you understand your relationship with money. Making a spending plan and tracking your expenses can help you better understand how you are spending your money, what your money values are, and where you may be able to find some savings, even if it is just a few dollars per month!
Take Action:
- Create a spending plan to find ways where you could save
- Take the America Saves pledge and create a simple savings plan that works.
- Explore additional ways to build up your savings.
I received a large windfall. How can CalABLE help me manage this money?
Sometimes having a large amount of money can be just as overwhelming as not having enough, especially for people who receive a means tested benefits that could impact eligibility for important resources, like health care. Some examples of large windfalls could include, being paid back by SSI or SSDI, receiving a large income tax refund, or a family inheritance. Using your CalABLE account is a helpful tool to manage this type of unexpected income. Remember that you can contribute up to $15,000 in unearned contributions per year and save up to 100,000 without impacting means tested benefits.
If you’ve received more than that amount, there are other great options that can be used with your CalABLE account, like a Special Needs or Pooled Trust and local resources to help you navigate these choices.
Tip: If you are a SSI or Medicaid recipient, open your CalABLE account prior to the month the anticipated windfall may occur so you have time to deposit the funds in your account before the 1st of the month. If the CalABLE account is opened this calendar year, the allowable contribution will be $15,000 minus the amount you deposited in the CalABLE account, when you opened the account.
Take Action:
- Create a spending plan to help you manage your money to make the most of it.
- Find a local Special Needs Attorney to help you navigate managing a Special needs and/or Pooled Trust account alongside your CalABLE account.
Who can support me in contributing to my CalABLE account?
Many individuals can support you and contribute to your CalABLE account. This may include family members, friends, or an employer. We often refer to those close to us as our “circle of support.” One’s “circle of support” my include friends or family members that you trust and can go to for advice and help if needed. It is important to identify who is in your “circle of support.”
Work towards building a “Circle of Support.” In order to maximize allowable contributions, and better meet your financial goals, CalABLE accounts allow friends, family, an employer, and yourself to deposit money directly into your CalABLE account.
Take Action
- Determine who is in your “Circle of Support” or who you want to invite to your “Circle of Support”.
- Share with your “Circle of Support” your savings goal and that you have an ABLE account.
Do I have to invest my money?
CalABLE offers both an interest bearing, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured account and investment options. The FDIC insured account is guaranteed up to $250,000 of savings. Those who want to see their savings potentially grow more than the FDIC insured account may decide to invest within some or all of the three additional CalABLE investment options. However, those options carry more risk and are not insured.
Some people decide to use multiple investment options. They may choose to prioritize saving a set amount in an FDIC insured account first, and then save additional money within the other CalABLE investment accounts.
Take Action
- Learn about how saving and investing can lead to wealth building – The Wealth Building Pyramid.
- Learn about common investing mistakes so that you can avoid them.
- Take a look at the many investment options you can make with CalABLE.
- Develop a plan for maximizing your savings and investments.
Do I need a bank or credit union account to have a CalABLE account?
Yes, CalABLE will need a bank or credit union routing and account number to allow for funds to be deposited into the CalABLE account. Funds from CalABLE can also be transferred to that account when you want to pay for a Qualified Disability Expenses.
Please note: CalABLE funds being withdrawn for housing expenses must be spent within the same month as the withdrawal.
Take Action
- If you do not have a savings or checking account:
- Take the time to learn more about the ins and outs of savings and checking accounts with a bank or credit union. You will need a checking or savings account before opening your CalABLE account.
- Learn more about choosing a financial institution.
- Decide what is right for you and open an account. Have the account’s routing and account numbers ready for when you open your CalABLE account.
- If you have a bank or credit union account already:
- Make sure that you have your routing and account number ready. Contact your bank or credit union if you need help identifying this information.
Did You Know?
Individuals with a disability that occurred before age 26 are eligible to open a CalABLE account.
I want to know more about CalABLE…
The AchievABLE™ Corner was developed by National Disability Institute with generous funding from Wells Fargo Foundation.
Materials from Hands on Banking® – a free, online financial education program – were used in the creation of the AchievABLE™ Corner.
Questions?
For more information about the AchievABLE™ Corner or to report any issues you have,
please email Kathy Brannigan at kbrannigan@ndi-inc.org.
The AchievABLE™ Corner is committed to providing accurate and reliable information. While we aim to provide all materials in accessible formats on our site, we cannot guarantee the accessibility of materials on third-party websites. In addition, the AchievABLE™ Corner is not responsible for and cannot confirm the accuracy of all content on third-party websites.
The terms and conditions of a CalABLE account are governed by the CalABLE Program Disclosure Statement and Participation Agreement (CalABLE Disclosure Statement). In the event of a conflict between information appearing on this website and the CalABLE Disclosure Statement, the information in the CalABLE Disclosure Statement will govern. Click here for a copy of the CalABLE Disclosure Statement or visit https://calable.ca.gov for more information.
