Building Your Assets and Wealth

The Basics

People who live with disabilities often have less income and fewer assets than the rest of the population. Living on public benefits programs can make it harder to save money, but there are tools available to help you.

Savings programs like ABLE accounts, Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) and the career development program Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS) can help you achieve your goals without risking the public benefits income you live on. You can also take advantage of tax credits and free tax filing help that may save you a lot of money, even if you only have a small amount of taxable income.

ABLE accounts help you build more assets

ABLE accounts let people who have disabilities that began before they turned 26 keep money in a special tax-advantaged account. The first $100,000 in an ABLE account does not count against the $2,000 Supplemental Security Income (SSI) resource limit, and none of the money in an ABLE account counts for Medi-Cal or CalFresh (formerly Food Stamps).

Learn more about ABLE accounts.

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