
Protect $100K from SSI limits with tax-free withdrawals
Loading summary
A
Hello and welcome to Choose a Via. Today on the show we have Bryn Conroy who's here to talk about some significant changes to the Able accounts. And we actually spoke about these Able accounts way back in episode 108 with William McVeigh where he talked about setting up a special needs trust. These are officially the 529A able accounts and they're savings and or investment options for people with disabilities who qualify for them. As Bryn said in this email to me, there are really significant positive changes coming to them and we really wanted to get the word out. Just a quick background on Brynn. She handles American markets for PocketSmith, which is actually a budgeting app that builds itself around your immediate and long term financial goals. She has 15 years of experience in financial media and her extensive work in disability finance has earned her honors such as the 2022 Plutus Award for best financial content for underserved communities. I think this is a really important episode. I think you're going to get a lot out of it. And welcome to choose that five. Before we get started, I keep this podcast entirely ad free for two reasons. First, this is a five podcast and I don't want to promote products that I don't want you to buy in the first place. And second, I really like the clean listening experience of a show where you don't have to fast forward ads to keep it ad free. All I ask of you as a listener is the next time you open a travel rewards credit card, go to choosefi.com cards and with that onto the show. Bryn, I am so happy to have you here. Thanks for doing this.
B
I'm so glad to be here. Thank you for having me.
A
Yeah, this should be great. I'm going to let you drive this because this is something that you have extensive, extensive knowledge in. I'm just going to ask questions and kind of rock and roll. So I guess let's start first off with what is an Able account.
B
Yeah, so an Able account is a type of specialized 529 plan. It operates very differently from a traditional 529 and what it is. It's an account for disabled people. The most common case use for it is as an asset protection vehicle. When you are disabled, you might be enrolled in any number of programs that limit your savings. The type of forced poverty that some of these federal and state government programs put on you when you need to access certain government resources. So for example, SSI is the big one. This is the one where if you've never really been able to work in Adulthood, for whatever reason, you might enroll in SSI benefits, there is an asset test on that. You are not allowed to have more than $2,000 in your name. Big problem.
A
Yeah, that's crazy.
B
Yeah. When you're disabled and you need to maybe go to the doctors more, have more unexpected expenses pop up. It's kind of wild. And so the Able account protects the first hundred thousand dollars that you have saved in it from that SSI asset test. So you're actually allowed to have an emergency fund. There's other programs too though. You don't have to be on SSI to benefit from that asset test protection. You could be on Medicaid and there's other state run programming that sometimes has asset tests too, depending on where you live. Medicaid actually doesn't have a cap on how much is protected. Also, if you are saving up for a child in an Able account, you can use the money in there for college as one of the potential expenses. You can really use it for a whole lot. But on the fafsa, an Able account is actually advantaged far more than a traditional 529. The assets held in that account will count against either yourself or your child, depending on whose account the name is in at 0%. So that's a really big deal too. And outside of asset test protection, it's also an investment vehicle. You can use it as a checking account if you want, but there's also investment options in there. And the tax advantages are pretty huge on the federal side of things. You can make withdrawals at any point in your life for any qualified disability expense. Tax free, penalty free. That money is yours to use as UCFIT within certain parameters. You're going to want to read your state disclosure document when you sign up for your plan, but really it's a wide net. You don't really get many front end benefits on the federal tax side. In certain circumstances you might be able to use the saver's credit or Savers Match if you're contributing to your own account in your own name. But states actually provide a good deal of front end tax benefits on top of those back end benefits. So Pennsylvania and Mississippi offer a dollar for dollar state deduction for your contributions on your state income tax return Aren't quite as generous as those two, but there's still like prorated deductions and credits that you might be able to claim.
A
Okay, this is a federal program, a federal account, but there are additional state tax benefits in some states. Am I hearing you right?
B
Yes, in this specific regard. It operates a lot like a traditional 529. Right. So it's a federally legislated program, but it is administered by each individual state. You are absolutely allowed to purchase over state lines the vast majority of the time.
A
Okay, interesting. So, yeah, it's funny because before we hit record, I had said, oh, this is a 5 29, because originally in that episode 108, William called it a 529 able. And I might have misheard it, actually. He might have said 529A able. And I just somehow in my brain conflated the two or erased that second A. But yeah, you were careful to say it is under the same code section. So it's 529. But there are significant distinctions between this and a traditional 529 that we think of for regular college savings. But I guess there is some overlap.
B
Yeah, absolutely. So I think on that administrative side, that's probably where you're going to see the most commonalities. The tax benefits are a little bit different. And all of the different things you can use the money on, that's probably the biggest difference. Right. Because with a 529, you have to be using it for higher education or consider a rollover. There is only certain ways to access that money and still access the tax advantages. Whereas with an able account, again, you're going to want to read your state plan disclosure when you sign up. But the vast majority of the time you can use it for disability expenses. And when you are disabled, you cannot separate your disability from your personhood. So we're not just talking about like, oh, I have to spend this on therapy or medical expenses. You can spend it on food, you can spend it on vacation, you can spend it on housing is the really big thing. Because even a lot of like those supplemental needs trusts, special needs trusts, you actually aren't allowed to spend that money on housing. So having an able account can even supplement some of these other financial tools that we see out there.
A
Interesting. That is fascinating. So, right. Unlike the traditional 529, college, like you said, you can't separate the disability from the person. So many of life expenses, including housing and other significant items can be used out of this account. I see the, obviously the massive advantage for that. And of course, this is critically important. This is not like a normal five thing where it's just, oh, let's optimize. This is something that is truly critical. So let's be clear when we're talking at the margins about my brain always goes to optimizing. But I Just want that to be clear and stated at the outset, like, of course I understand how critical this is. So that's like table stakes.
B
Yeah. And it's interesting too because I don't think optimizing is necessarily bad. I think, you know, there's going to be certain circumstances where people are using this for asset protection, where people are on SSI and it is going to be a lifeline for basic needs. But you can also guilt free use it as an investment vehicle if you qualify. And there's plenty of disabled people out there who do work and who do engage in FIRE goals and who are able to kind of overcome some of those systemic barriers we see in our workplaces and still reap those tax advantages without necessarily being interested in the asset test protection.
A
So, okay, that all makes sense. So I might be getting ahead of myself here, but who can contribute to these accounts? Are there limits? How does that all work? Generally?
B
Yeah. So anybody. That's a really cool thing because if you are somebody who's disabled and maybe you don't have access to the workplace, you can have family members contribute and then those family members on the state tax benefit side, they get those credits or deductions for their contributions. So that's really exciting. There's no limit on who can contribute or how many people can contribute. There is an annual contribution level, but and so that usually follows the gift taxed exclusion amount every year. So this year in 2026, wow. It's $20,000. So that's the max amount across all contributors that can go into that account per year. There are some programs like Able to Work is a program that was set to sunset in 2025, but with the tax law that passed last year, it actually became permanent. And what that is is if you work in a traditional job and you do not already have access to an employer sponsored defined contribution plan. So like a 401k or anything like that, pensions are okay, but if you don't have access to those defined contribution plans, you can actually talk with your employer and set up an additional contribution to your ABLE account above that $20,000 limit. That's equal to the federal poverty line in your state. And in some instances that almost doubles the contribution amount.
A
Wow, that's remarkable. Okay, so just to satisfy my own curiosity before we move forward, you said that the ABLE account protects the first hundred thousand you have saved from that ssi, which I believe is Supplemental Security Income. I want to ask about SSI more broadly because for people who aren't aware of that, I think that's important. But let's just say hypothetically, I think you said it was something crazy like $2,000 that would then strike you from being able to get SSI or maybe it phase out or some such. So I definitely want you to dive into that. But let's just say Hypothetically, you had $110,000 in your able account. What's the implication on SSI? Are you down to zero SSI at that point or how does that all work?
B
Yeah. So there's a certain extent that you're allowed to earn money and it kind of counts in like this really prorated, but not very pro in that, like very punitive, pro rated way against your benefit. If you have $10,000 in savings above that $100,000 mark, that is going to start to count against you and it may disqualify you from the program. If that's the program you're relying on, you just want to be mindful of that $100,000 limit. But again, for all the other programming like CMS for Medicaid and all of that, they've come out and said, like, there is no limit to how much is protected within your ABLE account. There might be state limits on how much you're allowed to hold in the ABLE account total, but as far as CMS is concerned, they're not counting a dollar that's in there.
A
Okay, gotcha. And you had said something earlier about the ABLE accounts that quote, if you qualify, and I'm curious, who does qualify for these ABLE accounts?
B
Before I get into this part, I just kind of want to note duality of two realities. Right. So in the disability community, or rather outside of the disability community, sometimes we hear a lot about disabled people faking it to get benefits. And that's kind of a Darwinian meme that exists within our cult. And the reality is that really doesn't happen too often. Instead, what we see at a far larger scale is that disabled people are usually prevented from accessing programs for which they are eligible due to all of these administrative burdens. A really good example of that is the disability discharge program for federal student loans. For a long time, the vast majority of people who qualified could not get past the paperwork burden. And then maybe, ooh, 10, 15 years ago, I'm getting old now, sorry, judging my time is tricky. But they started automating the process. They were like, hey, we know you are on ssdi. We see that you are not working, or we see you're accessing this healthcare program and therefore we already know what your income is. So now we're just going to, as best we can as the federal government go through our administrative roles and kind of notify you if you qualify. And we're going to lower some of those burdens. And over the past 10 to 15 years, we've kind of seen that process get easier with a lot of advocacy for an easier process. But that advocacy has paid off and it's gotten easier. Just bearing in mind that the trope of people faking to get onto disability programs isn't really true.
A
Yeah, Brynn, I want to get on my soapbox here for a second also before you go on and actually answer the question. But yeah, this is one of those things that infuriates me so much. It's like messaging is everything. And I've never hit the messaging right, where people actually understand this, but it's like arguing an anecdote. And I just find it that it's like small minded people often do this. I think in almost anything there's going to be a tenth of a percent to 1% of people doing the wrong thing or just something that disproves something that is altogether otherwise obvious or works great. And so many small minded people get stuck on that arguing and anecdote of. Oh, but there is this one example of. And then they pull out the tropes of like somebody using food stamps to buy cigarettes or something and it's like as if that invalidates the whole program. And it's just such a preposterous and stupid line of reasoning that annoys me to no end. And it's like you see that writ large in so many. It's not just with federal programs, of course we're, we're specifically using this. But you see people arguing an anecdote all the time and it's just such a terrible way to go through life. Like if something is 99 point x percent true, it's usually pretty true. It doesn't mean that the one thing invalidates it. The one bizarre little example you can find invalidates it. So soapbox over. I think that's important. That's something I've always wanted to say is the perfect opportunity.
B
Yeah. No. And so then on the flip side of it, we're here on a fire podcast, right? And I. Not always right. And this is said without judgment because I have a lot of respect for the fire community and the amazing feats that get pulled off. Sometimes when you're pursuing fire, you might be looking for some of those loopholes or gray areas more often Like, I think a really good example of this is Medicaid after the ACA passed, when you're not pulling in an income, but you're living off your assets, depending on where you live and which state you live in, you might be able to access Medicaid even though you're okay. And I don't necessarily think, again, no value judgment on that from me, but I do want to just kind of acknowledge the dichotomy of the two audiences that intersect here as we talk about eligibility. I want to encourage everyone who qualifies for this account to open one. And if you're familiar with that disability trope I just spoke about, and that's in your lived experience, guess what? Probably one of those people. But I also want to just make it very clear to people who maybe haven't had that experience in their life that I'm not sitting here promoting, like, everybody, go out and get one. Everybody qualifies, of course.
A
And yeah, and just to be clear, again, on the path to phi, there are some things that are gray areas. And I struggle with this because I think there's clear intention behind some programs, but yet there are rules for who qualify, like you mentioned with Medicaid, for some people making very little income, even who have significant assets, they might qualify for that. Now, ACA subsidies are all up in the air. Of course this is a sore subject, but for the last number of years, there are a lot of people in the FI community who have significant assets but had very little income, who got health insurance for free. There are also instances where some colleges offer free tuition for people making under X amount of dollars, and they sometimes don't look at the assets. Again, like, was that the intention of the program? No, it absolutely wasn't. But it's one of those instances where, what are you going to do, turn it down? Like, if your kid applied to a college and you got, hey, I qualify for this. So I understand. I think some people do. There is a bit of a gray area ethically, but I think the rules are the rules ultimately. So that's kind of how I look at it. Print. But nothing is entirely straightforward. I think that's important to also.
B
Yeah, definitely, 100%. And I do want to stress that, like, you don't have to be poverty level income to access this program. Ethically. The more people that engage that are qualified, the better. So even if you're like, well, I have a minor child who is disabled, but I'm doing pretty well in my career, don't feel guilty accessing the program, it is there for you too.
A
You are entitled.
B
Yeah, absolutely. So back to your question. Sorry, that was a very roundabout way to answer. But what you have to do qualify is meet the Social Security Administration's definition of disabled. And that's something you can kind of look at on the site. Also look at as you're applying through your state program and judge yourself against it. I do want to stress that there is no requirement to be claiming disability benefits. Just because the SSA sets that definition doesn't mean that you have to be in a situation where you need to access those disability benefits.
A
So the SSA definition disabled. Like do you have to document this with a physician or some type of medical practitioner? Are there items like that? Does it have to be documented to that level?
B
Yeah. So this program is run, administered state by state. So you're going to see slight variation between the states. Sometimes that may be required. It's not quite as intense as some of the other programs where you know you're going to need a doctor to write a biography about your day to day life. Nothing like that. Maybe a note will be required depending on your state. But a lot of times you can self certify and open this account in as little as five minutes.
A
Do you open them through the state? Is it similar to like a 529 college savings where? I know Virginia 529 is used to be the website. I think they might have changed it recently. That's where I live. Like would you just google 529A able and then your state and then it would take you to an official website or is there a more general way to do this?
B
That's a great way to do it. If you want kind of more direct and you're like afraid of bad Google link or something, you can go to a site called Able today and that's run by the national association of State Treasurers and they have a lot of information on all the different state plans and they kind of link out from there.
A
Okay, and that looks like able today.org yeah, exactly. Great. We will have that in the show notes. And it's funny because yeah, you definitely hit on something that I think is so important. Please always be careful, especially when signing up for financial accounts of just going to a wrong site or some type of spam or phishing site. Never click on links and emails or do anything stupid. This is like a public service announcement that's totally not germane to what we're talking about here today. But for instance, you brought it up that's really important. So yeah, it's.org that's very important.
B
Absolutely. So the big news this year is that previously to open an able account, you had to be under the age of 26 when that disability onset that excluded a large portion of the population. About 25% of America's population lives with some type of disability. It was really great that it passed and it helped that subsection of people. The goal was always to expand that to help more Americans. And in 2022, at the tail end of the year, there a bill called the Able Age Adjustment act passed into law and changed all of that. And now effective January 1, 2026. So if you are listening to this, it has already happened. This is open to you. The age of onset for that disability is now. It has to have first occurred before the age of 46. And this is massive. It doubles the amount of eligible people. One million veterans, I think now are newly eligible with this. And when more people are eligible and access this account, it actually helps lower the administrative burden, which effectively lowers the fees for everybody who participates. So it's not only benefiting more Americans, but it's also lowering costs, which is really, really exciting.
A
Oh, that is remarkable. So this went from previously, it was below the age of 26 and now it's 46. This went into effect January 1, 2026. So obviously you're hearing this after that. So this already is plausible and possible for you. A million veterans are now newly eligible. That's really something. You mentioned fees. Of course, we're a very fee conscious community. How do the fees usually line up on these investments?
B
It's probably not going to be as great as a Vanguard ETF. Right.
A
Very little is including most 529 college savings plans. So I know with the 529 plans, it does differ pretty significantly state to state. That's kind of like the additional question for you. So maybe answer both those at the same time as. Yeah, expenses. And are there maybe particular states that are more advantageous than others?
B
Yeah, if you're in a situation where you're not getting those state tax benefits on the front end especially, it's worth looking across state lines sometimes. The big reason is investment options. If you want to compare, you know, which conservative, moderate, aggressive option is most appealing to you, you can do that and shop across state lines. And another big thing is just like those traditional 529 accounts, the fees are going to vary as more people have opened up accounts over the years. This account was just passed in its original state in 2014. So it's still a baby account. And that's also in terms of the administrative costs. But since it passed and more people have opened their accounts, we've already seen those fees come down. And with this Able Age Adjustment act implementation, as long as people are aware they qualify and access this account, we should see the fees come down even further. So while, yeah, you know, this is something that maybe you're using in addition to your Roth ira, it's not necessarily going to be as cheap as some of those independent investment option picks. But that doesn't mean it's not advantageous, especially because you can access the money before traditional retirement age without any of those penalties.
A
I'm curious, where do we go for here for people in the FI community who either qualify themselves, who they might not have previously because they were past that age of 26, and also many people who have children who would qualify. Someone's listening to this. They've just listened to us for 25 minutes. Talk about the background. What would you advise them? What would you counsel? What are their next steps?
B
If you are interested in that asset test protection, it's kind of a no brainer in my opinion. There's not very many accounts, whether that's for yourself or for your child. There aren't many other accounts that provide this. There are third party supplemental needs, trust or SNTs that serve a similar function. And at the same time they don't allow for quite as easy access to the funds and you have to pay big taxes on those. And the other difference is that you aren't going to be able to access the money for housing at all. So usually what you see is rather than it being an either or kind of question, it's usually a combination of these different tools. The Able account provides a lot of access, a lot of tax benefits, and it's more of a living account than a dying account. So it's something that you use in your day to day life, more so than some of these other financial vehicles. If you are disabled and you're not concerned about accessing some of this programming, which again, that covers a lot of people in the disability community, you can just be another tool to add to your fire toolbox. You know, you have your traditional retirement accounts that you're investing in and then maybe this is something that you look to before opening another type of taxable account to supplement those, or maybe it's something that you look to in order to access some of those funds with more liquidity prior to hitting certain ages.
A
Okay, that all makes sense. You also mentioned something to me before we started about the Able to work. Is this an account? Is this a program? What is Able to work?
B
Yeah. So Able to Work is a program that allows you, if you are working, you are allowed to contribute extra to your able account every year. You technically only qualify for this if you aren't contributing to an employer sponsored defined contribution plan. So that's like a 401k, almost anything except a pension. Pensions, you can still contribute to a pension and Able to Work, but that allows you to contribute sometimes almost double, depending on your state. You get to contribute the $20,000 plus another contribution up to the federal poverty line. And you can pull that off as long as you make that much money a year. So you can use that to make extra contributions every year. And that's a real big deal.
A
That's really big. Okay. And that's up to the federal poverty level. So yeah, I just googled that. Of course you have to look into this. And we're not trying to give financial advice here, of course, but yeah, just looking at that FPL for individuals, 2026, it looks like 15,960, if that's the case, added onto the 20,000, that's a not insignificant 75 plus percent increase in what you can contribute theoretically. Again, you need to look into that. You need to look into it state by state. But that's very interesting nevertheless. All right, Bryn, So we're talking to the FI community and people who are optimizers. And not only are we optimizers, but you never want to make a catastrophic mistake with something that is of this kind of level of critical importance. I understand there's an intersection between the able accounts and ssi. I don't know if and how Medicaid comes into this for people with disabilities, but I'm in my own brain seeing these three items. And if this was for me or for my child, I would just want to make sure I wasn't doing something catastrophic that would preclude me from getting really critical benefits. So with that really broad question in mind, again, this is just a brainstorm, but is there anything there? Is this something people should be wary of?
B
A thousand percent? And with ssi, I think an important thing to bear in mind is that if you get married, your limit actually goes down. So the amount of savings per person you're allowed to have actually goes down. So you do want to keep that in mind. And I think SSI is the program to be most protective of. It tends to have the most restrictive requirements in terms of both income and asset tests. So if you're on that program, you're probably already well aware of how careful you need to be. And so just be really mindful of that $100,000 limit because once you get kicked off SSI, you have to go through the rigmarole of getting back on and you're well aware of how hard it was to get on in the first place. So. And with Medicaid, a lot of times you will see people who are on ssi, like because your income is inherently stunted by the program requirements, you're going to see a lot of people on housing programs, a lot of people on Medicaid, a lot of people using food stamps. All of these programs kind of supplement each other. Typically what I see is that SSI tends to be the most restrictive. But do make sure you're mindful of any requirements that your state may have for some of these programs, because a lot of those programs we just talked about are state run. Okay.
A
Yeah. I mean, that's the backdrop to all of this. Of course you're not going to make massive financial changes in your life listening to one 45 minute podcast that all said this is essential background information to get you knowledgeable on what exists, what's possible. And then of course you have to do your own research because as Bryn has said repeatedly, this is a state by state program. It is technically this federal 529A. But it seems like things can be slightly different at the margins for each state. So of course you have to do your research. So naturally Bryn want to say that. And yeah, I was also curious. So one other thing you mentioned in your outline was that there are Medicaid clawback and payback provisions. And this is something that I don't really know anything about. So I'm hoping you can run with this and let us know how people need to consider this. What? This is exactly how it applies.
B
Yeah, absolutely. So I am in the choose fi group for parents of disabled children. And I also have done a lot of work in this space just in my career more widely. And so I get to talk to a lot of people as they're considering whether or not to open up their able accounts. One of the things that we hear most often is that I am afraid to do that because there is this Medicaid clawback provision. A nice way of saying it is Medicaid payback provision. But you'll hear both terms and what that means is that when you're on certain Medicaid programs. There are certain accounts and assets that after you pass away the government is allowed to seize from your estate in order to repay Medicaid for the services they provided while you were alive. This isn't unique to able accounts. It actually applies to a lot of accounts. One of the few accounts that actually is protected from this payback or clawback Provision is a third party. Not a first party, but a third party supplemental needs trust. So those third party TNTs. And so a lot of people get worried about that. Like I kind of said before, usually you'll see these third party snts kind of used in conjunction with an able account and they're serving different purposes. Like your able account might be your living day to day expenses or your medium or long term goals. They can also cover funeral expenses and be spent down that way after you pass away. So usually there's not enough money for the government to take back anyways. Then the third party snt being used is like if you want something to be heritable or you're planning on having stuff left over, maybe that's a tool that you look at that way with your estate attorney. So there is that. And the second thing is that like I just said, there's not usually enough money in there for it to be worth it for these state governments to come after the accounts. I've actually never heard of an instance of this payback provision being implemented. That's not to say it could never happen. Legally it still could, but most states aren't interested in it just because again, there's so many ways to spend that money down that there's not usually enough for it to be administratively worth it for them. Again, this is something that can happen to all kinds of accounts when you are enrolled in Medicaid. For whatever reason, the government has ways to claim that money back after you pass away, which is super fun and most people don't know about. And I guess the last thing to say about the clawback provisions is that some states do provide protection for some of these Medicaid clawbacks. They're not thrilled about them, they don't want to have to implement them. It's expensive for them to do it. It's, it's not worth it ethically. Do they feel like doing it either? That's always a question as well. And so they'll pass laws saying that you know, you can't do this, so your state might have some protections. And some of the programs that you are on when you're on Medicaid, which program you're accessing can affect whether those state laws even matter. So you might have protections, you might not, even if your state has passed laws. And the big story though is that it's very rare so far to see it implemented. I would not be afraid of it, especially if I'm using it in conjunction with one of those third party SNTs. And especially this is probably true for all of this episode. If I had sat down with a financial advisor who has deep knowledge not only of financial products and investments, but also of state welfare programming. Because these two things when you're disabled interact so much with each other and they are so highly state dependent that you really need someone who knows what they're talking about, not just on the financial side of things, but also on the accessing programs and how kind of some of these payback provisions and everything may interact. So definitely I hope you heard this and I hope that you are in that newly accessible group for ABLE accounts with the ABLE Age Adjustment Act. And if you heard this, I definitely recommend sitting down with somebody to go over your own individual situation because finances are always complex, but when you're disabled it turns into calculus.
A
Yeah, that is brilliant advice. And yeah, I just quickly went back and looked at the show notes for episode 108 that I said we did with William McVeigh and he definitely talks about those snts. So setting up a special needs trust. Of course, that episode was almost eight years ago, seven and a half years ago. So some things may have changed, but I suspect if that is applicable to you, it would be worth a listen to go back to that episode for sure. Bryn. The cool thing about what we now have at our platform at Choose a Buy, we have basically we've moved all of our local groups onto our own website and we also now have our podcast episodes there. So people can now leave comments on these episodes. Very specifically, if you're listening to this and you have a question for Bryn, or hopefully William will jump in there as well and other knowledgeable people. This is scratching the surface, of course, and this is such a critical topic. It is absolutely critical and that's why we devoted an entire episode to it. We'd love for you to ask questions and get in there and start conversing. Undoubtedly there are many thousands of us who are listening to this, who are in this situation who might already have these accounts, might have expertise. Like always, this is a crowdsourced community that is the lifeblood of Choose a Fi. So the way to always comment and discuss these episodes is to just go to choose.com and then the episode number. I'm 99% sure this is going to be episode 599. So you just go to choose a buy.com 599 that might change. You'll see it in your podcast player. I'm going on a big vacation here, so I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row. But Bryn, I'd love for you, when this episode goes live, for you to jump in there if people have questions. That would be amazing. Can you let people know where they can reach out to you? Otherwise?
B
Yeah, a thousand percent. So now I am working with a company called PocketSmith and they are a budgeting app that kind of adapts to people where they are rather than providing a prescriptive system. So you can reach out to me. My email address is brynocketsmith.com, you can check out our social media. Yeah. And I will absolutely be checking out the notes and comments on the Choose Fi site. So I'm happy to see you all there.
A
Amazing. Well, thank you for reaching out to me for this. This is so important and I'm really glad we did it. Thank you again for your time and expertise.
B
Thank you, Brad.
Released May 18, 2026
Guest: Brynne Conroy
Main Theme: Major ABLE Account Updates for 2026
In this essential episode, Brad (ChooseFI co-host) and financial writer/advocate Brynne Conroy dive deep into ABLE accounts — specialized savings and investment vehicles for people with disabilities — and discuss a pivotal policy change effective January 1, 2026 that dramatically expands ABLE eligibility. The episode covers the basics of ABLE accounts, their advantages over traditional 529 college savings plans, new contribution and eligibility rules, interplay with government programs such as SSI and Medicaid, and practical advice for those navigating these financial tools.
“The type of forced poverty that some of these federal and state government programs put on you when you need to access certain government resources… It’s kind of wild.”
— Brynne (02:45)
“The age of onset for that disability is now ... before the age of 46. And this is massive. It doubles the amount of eligible people. One million veterans, I think, are now newly eligible with this.”
— Brynne (19:40)
“You don’t have to be poverty level income to access this program. Ethically, the more people that engage that are qualified, the better.”
— Brynne (16:56)
“I’ve actually never heard of an instance of this payback provision being implemented. That’s not to say it could never happen. Legally, it still could, but most states aren’t interested in it...”
— Brynne (29:26)
“When you’re disabled... you really need someone who knows what they’re talking about, not just on the financial side of things, but also on the accessing programs... when you’re disabled it turns into calculus.”
— Brynne (33:12)
To Explore an ABLE Account:
Further Resources:
Contacting Brynne Conroy:
This episode is a must-listen for anyone impacted by disability—personally or among family—and for FI community members eager to optimize while preserving access to critical social support. The 2026 age expansion is a game-changer. As always, when dealing with high-stakes government benefit programs, seek specialist advice.