Sean Sieleni is a busy guy. At 16, he is a junior at White Bear Lake High School who often works out several times a day, attends a regular hip hop class, serves on the Special Olympics Board of Directors, goes out for basketball and is acting for the second time in the White Bear Lake Lions Club annual show. He is also now working a few hours each week at Hisdahl’s, a local maker of screen print and embroidered shirts, letter jackets and awards for sports teams and businesses. 

“He is so involved in the community and we don’t want to lose that,” said his mother, Leslie Sieleni, of why the family decided to look at an ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) account to help finance goods and services Sean will need and want to pursue his interests in the years to come. 

Care providers, housing and transportation to his job and other activities are among things ABLE funds will help with. “He wants to go to college and that’s a huge expense; he wants to pursue acting, maybe own his own gym, and he wants to drive someday,” she added. 

Before the ABLE accounts opened in Minnesota this year, Sean’s family had to ask his grandmother to stop putting money into an account for him. It was approaching the $2,000 maximum in cash assets Sean could have and continue to receive publicly paid disability waiver services. 

With the new Minnesota ABLE Plan, a yearly maximum of $14,000 up to a total maximum of $100,000 can be contributed to an account before the individual’s public benefits are affected. Earnings on accounts and distributions for qualified expenses are not counted as taxable income. 

Ascensus College Savings administers the Minnesota ABLE Plan. To find out more, visit the Minnesota ABLE Plan website or call (888) 609-8872.