Exploring ABLE Accounts: Savings for People with Disabilities

Exploring ABLE Accounts: Savings for People with Disabilities
A person with long hair in a pony tale relaxes by a lakeside in a wheelchair, their dog by their side, watching the sun set.
Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) accounts give Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
recipients a powerful way to build financial security without impacting their SSI benefits.

 

ABLE accounts allow individuals to save and grow assets tax-free, providing critical flexibility for expenses and greater financial independence. While ABLE accounts have shown promise, only 1% of SSI recipients utilized them as of 2021. However, access is expanding. In 2026, the disability onset age threshold will increase from 26 to 46, making ABLE accounts available to a broader group of people with disabilities.

Through our one-year research project funded with $158,000, we aim to identify the factors that make it easier—or harder—for people with disabilities to open and use ABLE accounts. This project also explores the characteristics of people newly eligible under the 2026 eligibility expansion.

 

 

 

Project Objectives

 

Our team will work closely with stakeholders, including people with disabilities and their support networks, to learn directly from those impacted by ABLE policies and eligibility requirements. Our objectives include:

Listening to shared experiences: Two young women with disabilities stand smiling together next to a microphone in a courtroom, while an older woman from behind a podium looks at them and smiles.
Understanding Experiences with ABLE Accounts


We will conduct in-depth interviews with approximately 30 SSI recipients to hear directly about their experiences and perspectives on ABLE accounts. Using a participatory approach, we’ll work with a stakeholder committee to ensure that diverse voices and experiences shape our findings.

An example of what ABLE savings could enable: A man in a wheel chair and his companion go down an accessible ramp into the ocean at a beach
Analyzing State and National ABLE Data


We will analyze demographic data from state ABLE programs and the Social Security Administration (SSA) to better understand current ABLE account holders. By examining this data, we hope to anticipate the needs and interests of people newly eligible for ABLE accounts when the eligibility expansion takes effect in 2026.

Why it Matters


ABLE accounts are a type of savings account. ABLE accounts represent a valuable, underutilized opportunity for people with disabilities to save for their futures. There are currently over 180,000 ABLE accounts with over $2 billion in assets under management, yet many eligible individuals remain unaware or uncertain of how to get started. We hope to uncover insights that will help policymakers, financial advisors, families, and disability advocates promote these accounts to those who would benefit most.

Get Involved

If you are an SSI recipient or a family member we’d love to hear from you. Contact us to learn how you can participate in this study or to be updated on our findings.

 

Contact Us