THESE LITTLE-KNOWN BANK ACCOUNTS ALLOW AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES TO SAVE AND INVEST

Paul Safarik, 32, of Lincoln, Nebraska, has worked in the food industry since he was 21, delivering for quick service restaurants like Raising Cane's and stocking groceries at stores like Trader Joe's. With his earnings, Safarik, who has Down syndrome, recently bought a treadmill to stay active when the weather's bad and helped cover the cost of braces for his teeth.

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That's unusual, financially speaking, and it's thanks in part to a little-known savings account called an ABLE account, which lets people people with disabilities save money beyond the $2,000 asset limit that's linked to benefits like Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid. Without the account, Safarik could have risked losing government assistance if he had more than $2,000 in assets saved at one time in a given month.

"With this ABLE account, we don't have to worry as much," said Deb Safarik, 71, Paul's mother, with whom he lives. "It's nice that he can work and save, and not have that be held against him."

Named for the 2014 law that created them, the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act, ABLE accounts have been available since 2016 to individuals identified by a doctor as having a disability before the age of 26. Next year, they'll become available to those identified before the age of 46, which will increase access to an additional 6 million people, including 1 million veterans, according to Indiana State Treasurer Daniel Elliott, who administers the accounts in his state. An estimated 8 million people nationwide already qualify.

"The fact that it used to be that individuals could only save up to $2,000 or they could lose benefits-that was really restricting a lot of families," Elliot said. "People were forced into a position where they couldn't save for their futures. Now we're seeing average account balances of (ABLE accounts) between $11,000 and $12,000."