ABLE ACT (529 for disabled) now law.

[mortal]

Howdy folks,

It seems congress has passed (and obama has signed), a new law which provides for a 529 like law for people with disabilities.

Some highlights gleaned from google, and the bill:

Up to 14k / year can be contributed.
Beneficiary must have had the disability prior to age 26.
Contributions are not tax deductable, but earnings are exempt.

Looking at (E)(5), this can be used for:

education, housing, transportation, employment training and support,
assistive technology and personal support services, health,
prevention and wellness, financial management and
administrative services, legal fees, expenses for oversight and
monitoring, funeral and burial expenses, and other expenses

This seems rather broad. What does this mean for an adult with a pre-existing disability? Is this basically a 529 for their living expenses? Does it make sense for such a person to treat this as extra space for tax deferal / retirement?

If you wanted to learn more about this, are there any other resources you'd consult besides google?

Update:
A helpful boglehead pointed me to this article. It has much more in depth discussion than I've seen elsewhere.

P.S. Apologies if the cross-post (from bogleheads) is bad form. Not a lot of people know about this, so I was wanting to get as much insight on it as possible.

 

[rodi]

Interesting concept. Lets say you have a disabled child. If college is not in their future, you could save in a tax preferred way for the living expenses rather than college... Especially if they might need assistance as adults, and none of us live forever.

Reading the Kitces article is interesting. The fact that the moneys will not effect the public assistance they might otherwise get (like medicaid) is a huge benefit. I know a few families that manage the finances of disabled adult family members so that they qualify for medical benefits and disability assistance.