Diane Stewart, Enable Outreach Specialist

Did you know that according to the National Association of State Treasurers, fewer than 5% of individuals who are eligible for ABLE accounts like the Enable Savings Plan take advantage of this valuable financial resource?

If you are an Account Owner, you know how important the Enable Savings Plan can be in the journey to financial stability and independence. But members of your community may be missing out, simply because they’re not aware of Enable and its benefits in the first place.

Read on for our top tips to be an advocate for Enable and make sure to connect your friends and family to this guide to help spread the word:

Stay informed about Enable

Knowledge is power! Understanding the benefits of the Enable Savings Plan will empower you to take full advantage, and help your community do the same. For some background info:

The Enable Savings Plan is a tax-advantaged plan designed to help qualified individuals save for disability-related expenses. Assets in an Enable account are an excluded resource for Medicaid, and balances up to and including $100,000 are disregarded when determining eligibility for SSI benefits. In addition, contributions to and money taken out of an Enable account are not included in the calculation that determines eligibility for certain resource-based benefits like SSI, SNAP and Medicaid. This makes Enable a very valuable resource for individuals with disabilities and their families.

In addition to helping account owners maintain access to resource-based benefits, Enable accounts have numerous tax advantages, including a Nebraska state income tax deduction, tax-deferred growth, tax-free withdrawals, eligibility for the gift tax exclusion, and tax-free 529 plan rollovers. This means that more money will stay in the account, rather than going toward taxes, and savings will have the opportunity to grow more quickly thanks to compounded interest.

Enable also offers several tools to help make the savings journey simple and customizable. With the Automatic Investment Plan (AIP), Account Owners can schedule recurring contributions to their Enable account, at the amount and frequency of their choosing. Account Owners can also preschedule withdrawals to take care of recurring expenses such as rent or monthly healthcare costs.

One of our Account Owners' favorite features of Enable is the gifting tools. Through Ugift, every Enable account is assigned a unique code that can be used to make contributions with a check or electronic transfer. Unlike many other gifting programs, gift givers do not have to join, register or pay a service fee, and they don’t need any additional information about the account. Another option is to use a gift certificate contribution, where gifters simply fill out and mail a contribution coupon to Enable, and download and print a card to give for the occasion.

Share far and wide

The best way to be an advocate for Enable is to help raise awareness. Follow us on Facebook for plan updates and community news. Sharing our posts with your community is an easy way to introduce people to Enable and help them learn more.

Another powerful way to become an Enable advocate is to bring information about the Plan into your community groups and schools. Enable can work with you to organize information sessions and other events that will educate community members about the benefits of the plan and make it easy to sign up.

Sharing information and connecting friends and family with Enable is a powerful way to build financial stability and independence for the disability community. Thank you for all that you do!