Leslie Sieleni found out her son had Down syndrome when he was 5 days old.
Now 14, Sean Sieleni talks about driving a car, going to college, living on his own and getting a job. His mom supports those dreams, but she worries.
“He’s going into 10th grade next year. I’m starting to hyperventilate a little bit about what is he going to do after school,” said Leslie Sieleni, of White Bear Lake.
One thing that eases her mind is the prospect of Minnesota authorizing a new kind of savings plan that gets its first committee hearing Monday in the state Senate.
So-called “ABLE” accounts — which stands for Achieving a Better Life Experience — allow parents to sock away money for blind or disabled children in the same kind of tax-advantaged 529 account they now can set up to pay for higher education for their college-bound kids.
Currently, disabled people can lose eligibility for public benefits once they reach $2,000 in savings.
With an ABLE account, contributions of up to $14,000 per year are allowed under current rules. The account could grow to $100,000 before Social Security Supplemental Security Income would be suspended.
