--- title: Millions More Disabled Americans Will Be Eligible for This Tax-Free Savings Account description: Special tax-advantaged ABLE accounts, which are similar to 529 college savings plans, will be available to more Americans with disabilities. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 499 covers: - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2023-01-25T20:57:27.000Z' modified: '2024-05-08T06:00:29.000Z' section: Banking tags: - News - savings accounts word_count: 452 canonical: https://money.com/able-savings-accounts-expand-americans-disabilities/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We may earn a fee if you click on the links below. Compensation does not determine ranking. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Disabled young man with prosthetic leg having online session with a doctor](https://img.money.com/2023/01/News-2023-Able-Savings-Account.jpg) It will soon be easier for millions of disabled Americans to save money without jeopardizing their government disability benefits. ABLE accounts — short for Achieving a Better Life Experience — allow people with qualifying disabilities to save money in tax-favored accounts similar to [529 college savings plans](https://money.com/collection-post/529-college-savings-plan-mistakes/). A major caveat has kept these investment-and-savings accounts out of reach for millions of Americans: The account holder’s disability must have developed before the age of 26. Now, through the newly enacted [ABLE Age Adjustment Act](https://nast.org/wp-content/uploads/edited-able-press-release.pdf) — which was tucked inside the massive omnibus spending package that passed last month — the age cutoff will be raised to 46 in the coming years. Advocates expect this change to expand eligibility to as many as 8 million more disabled people, including upwards of 1 million veterans who developed disabilities later in life. ## Key context - About 20 million Americans receive disability benefits through Medicare or Social Security. Public disability programs typically have an asset limit of $2,000, meaning that people with disabilities may be barred from crucial benefits for having a regular [savings account](https://money.com/best-savings-accounts/), for example, that exceeds that amount. - Enter ABLE accounts, which are offered on state-run websites in 46 states and Washington, D.C. The money stowed away in these investment accounts (up to $100,000) does not disqualify folks for disability benefits or other need-based programs like food stamps or [FAFSA](https://money.com/how-to-apply-for-fafsa/). - The earnings made through ABLE accounts are not taxed nor are withdrawals, so long as the money is used for [qualifying expenses](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/able-accounts-can-help-people-with-disabilities-pay-for-disability-related-expenses) such as housing, education, health, employment-training and more. ## Keep in mind Disability advocates say ABLE accounts are woefully underutilized, largely due to the age threshold of developing the disability. Currently, an estimated [8 million disabled Americans](https://www.ablenow.com/blog/articles/who-is-able-eligible/) are eligible for an ABLE account. But according to industry research, [fewer than 150,000](https://www.529conference.com/3q-2022-529-and-able-market-sizing-highlights/) of them have opened one. When the plan was initially drafted, the age limit did not exist but was later added into the 2014 legislation that created the ABLE program. Since then, advocates like Edward Mitchell — one of Money's ["Changemakers" in 2022](https://money.com/changemakers/edward-mitchell/) — have been fighting to increase the age limit. - While newly passed legislation allows people who developed disabilities before the age of 46 to open ABLE accounts, the change won’t go into effect until January 2026. - For now, the qualifying disability must have developed before the age of 26. - Despite age limit on the development of the disability, there are no restrictions on the age of the person opening the account. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/able-savings-accounts-expand-americans-disabilities/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Banking", "item": "https://money.com/banking/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Savings Accounts", "item": "https://money.com/savings-accounts/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Millions More Disabled Americans Will Be Eligible for This Tax-Free Savings Account" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/able-savings-accounts-expand-americans-disabilities/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/able-savings-accounts-expand-americans-disabilities/", "name": "Millions More Disabled Americans Will Be Eligible for This Tax-Free Savings Account", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-01-25T20:57:27.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/able-savings-accounts-expand-americans-disabilities/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/able-savings-accounts-expand-americans-disabilities/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-08T06:00:29.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Millions More Disabled Americans Will Be Eligible for This Tax-Free Savings Account", "articleSection": "Banking", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/01/News-2023-Able-Savings-Account.jpg", "width": 4506, "height": 3005, "caption": "News-2023-Able-Savings-Account" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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