>> Ray Cebula: Good afternoon, everybody. This is Ray Cebula from Cornell University's Yang-Tan Institute. I want to welcome you to today's webinar. We are having a WISE seminar which is a working centered seminar event, and we're talking about the ticket to work, all kinds of free support services that you can receive as a recipient of disability benefits from social security. And today we're going to focus a lot on financial independence which is the goal here. You know, everybody is at least interested in working, but once you begin to work, what are we going to do with all that money? And we want to share with you some ways that you can save that money in ways that it will not impact your benefit, and eventually start building that nest egg that we all hope to have to take care of us when that need arises. So welcome to today's session. I want to talk to you about the technology you're using. We are in a webinar format and you have a console, a webinar console, on the right hand side of your screen. If you do want to participate and we do want you to participate, you can open up the Q and A box. You can see that at the top. Just click on the arrow head that I'm circling right now, and it's going to open up that box and you can type your question in. Now Jamie's in the background. She's going to catch those questions and forward them to us. What we're going to try to do today because we have a long presentation, is ask questions during the presentation. So when Duwanna [phonetic] is presenting, I might interrupt her with one of your questions. And when I'm presenting, she might interrupt me with one of the questions so that we can get those done because I don't think we're going to have a lot of time at the end for question and answers. Just to let you know, even if we do not get to your questions, we will provide you with the information you need to get that question answered. Now you have been connected today through your speakers in your computer and if you do have any issues, I know there's been some storms floating around out there and there's a lot of wind up where I am, if you do happen to lose your internet connection and want to call in, all you need to do is click on that audio conference button and click on "I will call in" on the Use Phone button. Now, let me get to that phone number. Today's toll free number is 1-855-749-4750. They will ask you for an access code and that access code is 649329505. Now if you watch that chat box, Jamie's going to be typing in a lot of these captions and numbers that I give you so you won't have to lose them. Now webinar accessibility we take very, very seriously around here. We want everybody to be able to participate to the greatest extent possible. So if you do have any trouble with today's session, any type of trouble whatsoever, we'd really appreciate it if you'd let us know. And more than letting us know what problems you're having, if you know of a way to fix it, if you know of a program we could use or some steps we can take to make your problem go away, let us know the solution to it because that's really, really often times, very, very helpful. Now we will be using closed caption today. The link for closed captioning is www.edi.cornell.edu /captions.cfm?activity_id=4640. The presentation -- [inaudible] presentation that you're looking at now and the transcript and an audio recording will be available in about two weeks. We'd like to do it a little sooner if we can, but we're doing lots of webinars so give us that full two weeks and you can log in, listen again and review. And that will be at www.ilr.cornell.edu /edi/m-wise-webinars.cfm. During the question and answer period, we told you how to use that chat box. We told you how to use the Q and A box. If you do want to submit your questions, you can submit them at webinars@choosework.net or if you think of a question after we're finished, you can always email that question to support@chooseworkttw.net. Once again, we do not want you to walk away without an answer to your question or a place, an address or a phone number where you can get that question answered. So today's agenda, welcome and introductions. You've been welcomed. You've been introduced. We're going to talk again a lot about tools for financial independence. And Duwanna Mitchell [phonetic] from Social Security is going to take on that role. I'll be helping a little bit. We're going to talk about the work incentives that apply to both social security and to SSDI. I'll cover that. And then when we move into other resources, I'll continue that presentation. At the end, we will do Question and Answers to the extent possible, but there are a lot of slides today so I don't want to get your hopes up. Now before we move any further, we have some questions for you. Some real quick polling questions. Very easy. And they help let us know if we're reaching the right audience and who and how many of you are out there. So if you'd just answer real quick. We'll move through these quickly. I'm going to open the first poll. How did you learn about today's webinar? Was it via email, Facebook or Twitter, a website, a family member or a friend, or some other way? Let's make a selection real quick and they're all that easy. So we'll get through them pretty quickly. Lots of participation. We thank you for that because that helps us a great deal to plan for the future. Alright, 20 seconds left because it's making me late. Sometimes the machine makes me late. Sometimes it doesn't. Looks like we don't have a lot of Facebookers and Twitterers today, Jaime. Okay, let's move onto polling Number 2. What do you hope to learn from today's event? Do you want to know about the ticket to work, the work incentives for SSI recipients, the work incentives for SSDI recipients, employment networks in VR, or something else? Now if you want to learn about something else, it's a great idea to toss that something else in the chat box so we know what that is so we can develop a webinar around that in the future. Getting lots of good participation today. Alright. We'll close that. You've got 20 seconds left. Five seconds. Alright, we're going to get to Number 3. Here's a real quickie. What's your gender? Male or female? There they go again. The women jumped off first this time. I think last time was the only time we had the men jump quicker. Alright, we're going to close that down and give you 20 more seconds to answer. Ten seconds. Three, two, one. And what is your age? Are you 18 or younger? Nineteen to 25? Twenty-six to 40? Forty-one to 55? Fifty-six to 65? Or 66 and older? Alright, we're going to close out and have everybody get that real quick. And it looks like we are reaching the groups that we want to. Seven more seconds. And one last question. This question is designed to let us know how many people are actually listening. Besides yourself, how many other people are watching the screen with you right now? We have one party going on. A couple of parties, yes. Alright. Let's wait 20 seconds and then we can get on with the show. Ten seconds. Okay, thank you very much for that participation. We really, really do appreciate that. And Duwanna, I'm going to turn it over to you right now. Duwanna?

>> [Inaudible]

>> Ray Cebula: There you are.

>> Hi. Sorry, I didn't push the right button. My fault. Sorry. Alright, let's see. What is financial independence? Next slide please? Basically, being able to support yourself and meet your needs and wants. Being able to make choices and have options about what you buy, where you live, and what you do with your time. I have a dear friend who has since passed away. Her son living with a disability himself, said that, "Life is a series of choices among selections." Financial independence gives you more selections to make choices from, is the bottom line. It means not being limited by social security benefits and working your way off whenever possible. In addition to working for social security, I'm actually a former beneficiary. I've been on SSI and I've been on SSDI and I managed to work my way off after a great deal of -- it took some time and a lot of work and I like to say it was a marathon and not a sprint, but it can be done. So basically financial independence is whatever that happens to mean to you. Next slide please? Alright, now today we're going to give you an overview of the programs, services, and incentives that you can use to start your journey to financial independence. Everyone's journey looks different because every person is different, and that's completely okay. Next slide please? Now this picture that you're looking at, I know it starts with work, but it's -- that is the order of items for this presentation. That is not intended to represent the order of your journey. That's just what this presentation looks like. Next slide please?

>> Ray Cebula: Okay, Duwanna you got through those real quick.

>> Being [inaudible] is good.

>> Ray Cebula: Yes, honest to God. Now, the big question is, when you're considering work, why would you go to work? And right here, working can lead to more than just financial independence. When we talk about work incentives that social security has put in place, there will always be more money at the end. With proper planning, we can assure you that your usable income every month will increase because you choose to work. Gaining independence, Duwanna was talking about financial independence. That's a very powerful thing. You can make more choices. But you're gaining independence, not only from all of the agencies that you now need to report to, but that independence that will allow you to make those choices about where you want to live, how you want to live, and what you want to do with that extra money. Meeting new people? You can never underestimate what happens to you when you leave your home and get out into the workplace. The story goes, here is goes Duwanna, I met my spouse at work. You know, so I ended up getting married. You know, lots of things happen. You meet people. You get out of the house. You have people who can go to the movies with you. Have people to have Christmas parties with. That is a wonderful, wonderful part of working. So we're trying to let you get the message across here that work is much more than that paycheck. Now learning new skills as well. I had never done a webinar before I came to work at Cornell. I didn't even know what a webinar was. I learned how to do that. The work incentives that we're going to tell you about, are also going to help you learn new skills if you need them to begin that journey to work. You might need some education, be it a college education, a community college education or some technical training. People who -- you know, it's funny. We were having a discussion the other day about people who wanted to do things with their hands and a woman who was going -- using the social security work incentives to go to school to get a degree and wasn't succeeding, but enjoyed working with her hands. She changed her track and is now an apprentice plumber and she's doing great. You know, so we can get that type of skill too and those are very valuable skills to have. Now, computer skills, computer equipment. We all need to learn how to use computers. You know, if we're having our own business or if we're going to be working someplace else. So we can either help you get those skills to begin that journey or to help you get those skills to get ready to start that journey. And Duwanna, I'm turning it back to you. Are there risks involved here?

>> Yes, life is basically a series of risks. The second you woke up, opened your eyes and decided to take a breath, you took a risk. But, if you understand the work incentives and you understand what your journey's going to look like and have a good idea of what to expect, you can navigate those risks, get yourself a good job, get yourself into a position of being self-supporting and start to make it where you want to go. Next slide please? Now, social security has rules. One of the rules being that you have to report your earnings. Each office has a slightly different idea of what that means. When you report your earnings, everyone has different preferences and you can contact your local office and find out how they prefer to have your earnings reported. Also, when you report your earnings, keep all your paystubs, keep all of your -- everything that you copy to social security, keep copies. Keep the -- if you get letters from social security, keep the envelopes that the letters come in so that you have a copy of the postmark for when that letter was sent out because occasionally, we send out letters that -- the letters go out a little late. And when you got it, matters. So make sure that you keep extremely good records, get receipts of -- if you take something in personally in terms of reporting your earnings, make sure you have a receipt. Make sure you keep records of who you talk to. Records are extremely important, especially when it comes to avoiding overpayments because one of the key things is making sure that you report it in a timely fashion. So all of those records go to making sure that you report it in a timely fashion, and with your work incentives. Like with [inaudible] related work expense which is a work incentive where you can deduct the cost of things you need because of your disability, that you have to have in order to work from your countable earnings. You want to keep those receipts and make sure that all your paperwork is straight. I could go on about this for days because this is what I do. This is what I love. This is my passion because I believe, as a person with a disability, that we should all be as independent as we can manage. And that disability is not automatic poverty but that's you know -- so if I sound really passionate about this, it's because I am. Next slide please.

>> Ray Cebula: Okay, Duwanna. You're turning it back over to me. What I just wanted to mention about keeping those records, you know we actually try to help people keep records. And in order to do that, you need certain tools. Those tools are very inexpensive. So if you're serious about this journey and you're going to begin to keep some of the records that you're going to need, get to your local dollar store and buy and expander folder with a bunch of pockets so you can keep the letters from social security in one, keep the receipts for the items that you need to work in another, so you'll have everything in order. It's going to help you plan and keep track and help those other people who are helping you a great deal if you do that. And we've figured out that when you go to the dollar store, you can get everything you need for 5 to 10 dollars. So it's a great investment. Now, we want to talk to you about the work incentives. If you're receiving benefits from the Social Security Administration based on disability, there are marvelous work incentives that will help you go to work. Nobody, nobody has ever said that because you receive social security benefits, you cannot work. You know, you've -- the definition of disability allows people to work. The work incentives are there to help you along your journey and make it a smooth one. As Duwanna said, her journey turned into a marathon. If you want to make it a sprint, we can do it real fast. But you can take as long as you need for this journey to happen. And the first thing we want to do is introduce you to Ben and [inaudible]. So Mike, if we can cue up Ben, that would be wonderful.

>> Independence, fulfillment, community involvement, these are some of the benefits that work provides. By working, you can earn more income, meet new people, and learn new skills. What is the Ticket to Work Program? How can it help you? Ticket to Work is a free and voluntary program from social security that provides you employment support services to help you go to work while still providing access to Medicaid and/or Medicare. It can help you go to work which can give you a greater sense of purpose and help you give back to your community. With time, you'll be able to replace your cash benefits with your earnings from work, putting you on the road to financial independence with the peace of mind that your benefits will be available to you if you need them due to your disability. Meet Ben. Ben qualified for the Ticket to Work Program, [inaudible] age 18 through 64 and received social security disability insurance. If Ben received supplemental security income, he [inaudible] qualify for the program. Ben wanted to work but needed to understand how work would impact his benefits, especially the [inaudible]. So Ben did some research and found out that it was 316 thousand people with disabilities have participated in the program. After doing more research, he decided that Ticket to Work was just the ticket he needed to be successful in going to work. When Ben contacted the ticket helpline, they talked to him about support and social security [inaudible] to go to work. He found that with Social Security's Ticket to Work and work incentives, he might be able to work while keeping his Medicaid or Medicare with the peace of mind that if he needed to stop working due to his disability, there would be a fast track back to restarting his benefits. With the ticket program, Ben had a choice of service providers, employment network, and [inaudible] rehabilitation agencies. He was able to select one of these service providers to work with him one-on-one, to help him reach his work goals. Both could offer him specialized services, and he could choose which was right for him. [Inaudible] agencies work with individuals who need more significant services. The services that Ben could receive include benefits and career counseling, education, training, and job search support. [Inaudible] are private or public organizations that may help with career counseling and assistance with job placement and more. Different [inaudible] offer differ types of services. So Ben could pick an [inaudible] that was just right for him. Ben also had the option to receive services from his state [inaudible] agency. And then when those services end, he could work with an [inaudible] to receive additional services that would help him find a job or keep an existing job. Ben took some time to think about his options and decided to assign his ticket to an [inaudible]. Ben's commitment to participate in the Ticket to Work Program, forged a partnership between him and his service provider. They both agreed to work together and jointly develop the plan that was just for him. His plan defined his work goals and described the specialized services the [inaudible] would provide or arrange for to help him reach his goals. Ben's road to employment through the ticket program is a two-way street. In return for assistance in getting a job, Ben pledged to social security that he would take specific steps determined by the plan he developed with the [inaudible] timeframes set by social security to work at a specified earnings level, but complete certain educational or training requirements. Taking the agreed upon steps for employment with timeframes set by social security is called making timely progress. By taking these steps, Ben was able to fully take advantage of the support and protection the Ticket to Work Program provided. You can be like Ben. The Ticket to Work Program is here to help you become and stay employed, meet new people, and gain fulfillment and financial independence. We know it's a big step, but there is so much help for you all along the way. The ticket program offers many tools and resources to help you learn about starting your journey to financial independence. Are you ready to work? Call the Ticket to Work Helpline: 1-866-968-7842. For TTY, call 1-866-833-2967 to talk with one of our knowledgeable representatives or visit www.Socialsecurity.gov/work to learn more. Good luck on your journey to financial independence. We are ready to help you on your way.

>> Ray Cebula: Okay, thanks Ben. Now Ben gave you a lot of information. His story has a lot of stuff in there and it's a lot of good stuff. And we're not going to leave you hanging and not tell you where you can get some further information. But it is a good idea to get some counseling, to get some benefits planning services, and to realize that the employment networks, that the VR agencies are all becoming part of your employment team. So you're not out there alone. We're all around to help. Now, there are a couple of different social security programs that pay benefits based on disability and you need to know which benefit you're receiving. Lots of people don't pay that much attention. They know they get a check, but you need to know because the work incentives are different for each program. The first one is the Social Security Disability Insurance Program. That is funded by your work history. When you go to work and FICA taxes are removed from your paycheck, you are in covered employment and you are actually buying credits towards insurance coverage. So this is truly an insurance plan. And the work incentives again are different than they are for this other program known as Supplemental Security Income or SSI. Now this is a [inaudible] program. It is [inaudible] meaning you still have to be disabled but you need to have low income and very few resources. You also do not have to have a work history. So this is not an insurance program. They respond to income and earnings very, very differently. There are some of you out there who might be known as concurrent beneficiaries. And you receive both SSI and SSDI. Now for you folks, the journey to work is going to be a little bit more confusing which is why again, I'm going to encourage you to build that employment team and make sure that you get some benefits [inaudible] because both sets of work incentives are going to apply to both benefits. The SSDI program is going to have work incentives applying to SSDI. SSI has work incentives applying to SSI. And it's all happening at the same time. So think back to my little expander folder. You've got pockets for your SSDI information. You've got pockets for your SSI information. Critically important to make sure everybody knows what's going on and that you have the documentation to back that all up. Now the Ticket to Work is an umbrella. If you think about how an umbrella works, you know I'm here standing here in the rain, and that umbrella protects me from the rain. The work incentives are going to be available to you whether you choose to use your Ticket to Work or not. And all it does is provide more protection. The Ticket to Work is free, it's completely voluntary, and it's built to assist people who receive a cash benefit based on disability to return to work, to enter work for the first time, or to increase their current work hours. Again, all of the education, all of the counseling, all of the technical training that you need and all of the benefits planning and supports that you need to get through this process are free and voluntary. Now, the Ticket to Work Helpline is there to give you more information and to help you understand how this program works. And you can call them at 1-866-968-7842 or if you use a TTY, 866-833-2967. The other thing that you can do if you're not ready to talk to somebody yet is go to Social Security's website at www.Socialsecurity.gov/work. Now the website is a great thing and the forward slash work website is even better. It has information about all these programs. It has Ben's story. It has other success stories from real people, just like you, who used their ticket and succeeded and are now on their journey back to work or have already gotten jobs and gotten off of benefits and have gained that financial independence. Now, when you're ready to start exploring, talk to an expert. We talked to you about that helpline: 866-968-7842 or TTY 866-833-2961. Learn more about the ticket on the website again. There's a blog. You can view or listen or read real success stories and some of them are really, really great and inspirational. You can start by finding an employment network. Now we've -- as we were watching Ben's video, they mentioned EN. That's Employment Network and they're private agencies that help people get rehabilitated and find jobs. Now they all work differently but to find out who's in your area, www.Socialsecurity.gov/work. You'll find all the employment networks that provide assistance in your area. Or work with your vocational rehabilitation agency in your state. Generally, the most involved, the most expensive cases are going to rely on that VR agency, but there's also a way of getting services from your agency and then moving to an employment network and that's known as Partnership Plus. So there are many ways and I hope you're understanding that with all of these different ways into the program to get started, there's no wrong door here. Now once you've put this team together, make sure you stay connected with them. There's the [inaudible] program, the Work Incentive, Planning, and Assistance Projects. You can also find those at www.Socialsecurity.gov and the Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security. The PABS [phonetic] Program. You can find them, guess where, www.Socialsecurity.gov. So not only are we providing you with the rehab to get the training and the education that you may need, we're looking at people who are available to help place you in employment and support your journey to employment. We have people there to help you plan so that you'll know when my benefits are going to decrease, when my benefits are going to stop, when will my healthcare, when will my food stamps be impacted by this return to work? And if something happens, the Protection and Advocacy Agency provides legal assistance. All of it free. All of it free. Now the work incentives are going to allow you to keep some of your cash benefits while you work. Again, each program is different. Each program is different. So we need to know what benefit you're receiving and you need to talk to one of those planners at the [inaudible] project. The work incentives also allow you to keep your Medicaid and Medicare while you're working. And that can go on for a very, very long time. It's truly amazing to me that -- you know, to think about how safe people are with their healthcare benefits. That's really not much of a worry anymore for a good, long time. Now again, your work journey is going to start where you are right now. And Duwanna had that diagram that she was talking about. Everybody's starting at a different place because that's where we are. We're all in different places. So your place may be a bit different than the person who's sitting next to you. And we need to figure that out. That's going to be our first step. Where are you? Have you worked in the past since you've received benefits? Do you receive SSI, SSDI, or both? Now we're going to give you this link here at www.Socialsecurity.gov /disabilityresearch /wi/generalinfo.htm#ssdissi. And that's going to give you some more information about these work incentives. The work incentives vary greatly and they're pretty amazing. So when you read them, you might not believe it but it's true and we can help you gradually work your way off of benefits, insuring that you're earnings will replace and more than replace most benefits that you receive. Now one of those work incentives is a Pass Plan. Now a Pass Plan, a plan to achieve self-support, requires if you're on SSDI that you become eligible for SSI and that you end up working to the extent that you will lose your cash benefits on the SSI side because it's a different type of program. It requires that your SSI cash benefit decrease significantly. Now have I said anything about your healthcare? No, I haven't. That's because your healthcare is not affected. Medicare and Medicaid are not affected by a Pass Plan. Now this allows you to set aside earnings or resources for your SSDI so that you can begin saving for a specific work related goal. It's a very amazing, amazing tool. A couple of websites here that you can look at: www.edi.cornell.edu/pass or you could just type in www.passonline.org and you will get some information in a very, very friendly, user friendly tool to help you build a plan that -- a pass plan can be a wonderful thing. You just need a goal. Do you want to become a plumber? Well, what do you need to do that? Do you need training? Do you need tools? Do you need a truck? Plumbers need trucks. They need pipes. They need all kinds of stuff. How can you get that? A pass is the way that we can help you get that. Now, we have a success story. This is one of the many success stories that is on the www.Socialsecurity.gov website. Lisa wanted to support her family but she suffered from agoraphobia that prevented her from leaving her home and working. Using her Ticket to Work, she now works at home and is financially independent. So she did use that voluntary free ticket. And Mike, you have the lead so if you would cue up Lisa's video, she can tell us her story.

[ Music ]

>> Lisa has grown so much in the work world and helping people. She really loves what she does with her career. She doesn't just think of it as a job. To get to work was one of the best things that ever happened for her, I can tell you that.

>> I'm a work from home vocational counselor and [inaudible]. I assist people who are on SSI or SSDI return to work. I specialize in work from home placement. So what I do is, I assess the client and then you know, depending on their skills and their disability and things like that, I you know, help them return to work in a company that is suitable for their [inaudible].

>> Lisa's work is exceptional. She's a very good counselor. She has a big heart and that would be the kind of feedback I get from clients. She tends to share her personal experiences with them. Helping other people helps you get outside of your own problems. So by helping someone else, I think that also helps her.

>> It just overwhelmed me and when I had to actually have home tutoring my whole senior in high school because the anxiety just was overwhelming for me. I you know, wasn't able to stay at a job for a long period of time. Just the thought of going to the mall, driving, going grocery shopping, or just simple everyday tasks were very difficult for me.

>> I couldn't provide by myself with the profession I was in. She just like, "I know I've got to do something but I don't know what." Basically [inaudible] was what turned her around social security disability wise. She knew she had to start working.

>> [Inaudible], "Oh my gosh, I'm going to be on SSI for the rest of my life," and I didn't want that. You know, I wanted to feel productive but I needed to find someone that had work from home opportunities just because you know my disability didn't allow me to drive or you know, go out into the community. So I called the 800 number, spoke with a representative there and I told them I was interested in the Ticket to Work program, and I received a list of employment networks. When I first started the Ticket to Work, I didn't know anything about it. And when I came to Employment Action, you know Paula told me, "Look, this is what's going to happen. You know, you're going to have 9 months of [inaudible] and still have your benefits and you know be able to sort of test the waters to make sure that you're able to work." And work has really boost my self-esteem where you know, I just [inaudible]. I can return to work and I love working. I found my passion, you know? I feel really productive helping other people because I know how it felt to feel lost [inaudible]. Ticket to Work has really empowered me. It works.

[ Music ]

>> Ray Cebula: Okay, thank you Michael. You heard it straight from Lisa's mouth. She was a recipient of SSI and decided that wasn't where she wanted to be. So she used that ticket and managed to get a job that fit her needs. She's becoming financially independent and because of her disability, works from home. Now lot so us do that nowadays. I'm sitting at home in my home office right now. So that's not something that's out of the ordinary and that could be important to you. So Duwanna, we're going to start focusing on some of the tools that people can use to become more financially independent and some of the benefits that come along with work. So I'm going to turn it back over to you.

>> Ray, before we do that, I've been looking at the box and there's a couple questions I think I'd like to try to address.

>> Ray Cebula: The box.

>> First of all, if you are asking a question about your personal situation, that's not a question that we can address here. I strongly encourage you to contact the Ticket to Work helpline and get with someone who can kind of start to answer that question for you so you don't have to get into all your personal business on Front Street in this public forum. Secondly, if you are working with an EN, the EN reports in what you're earning for their purposes. It is still your responsibility as a beneficiary to make sure that you report your earnings to Social Security. So make sure that Social Security knows what you're earning and what work incentives you're trying to access. Whether or not you can access a particular work incentive is up to Social Security but it's your responsibility to make sure that earnings are being reported. And if your earnings are -- if they're direct deposited to your account, that's great, but you still need your paystubs and let me tell you why. You need your paystubs because sometimes you have vacation leave on there, you have sick leave on there, you have holiday pay on there, that's included in that check. Social Security doesn't want to know about your sick leave. They don't want to know about your vacation leave. They don't want to know about if you got any extra pay because it happened to be a holiday. They don't want to factor that in. They want to know how much you received before taxes because of the work that you actually did, so that's why your pay stub becomes super important. So you -- so while direct deposit is great and direct deposit has a lot of benefits that we'll get into later, but for reporting to Social Security, you really want to have your pay stubs if at all possible. Okay, now that I've addressed some of those, I feel better. I feel like I have not left people hanging and I can go ahead and address the Earned Income Tax Credit. Also, somebody's moving around and I can hear you and it's a little bit distracting. So if someone could please just double check that their line is on mute, that would be awesome just because I'm already -- my thoughts are already bouncy enough without an extra distraction. Thank you so much. Let's see, Earned Income Tax Credit. Next slide please? Okay, Earned Income Tax Credit is basically if you're working and you're in that age bracket of 25 to 64 or 18 to 64 with a qualifying child, you can file for this tax credit even if you didn't make enough to file taxes. This is basically the federal government saying, "We appreciate the fact that you went to work and we know that you have a low and moderate income, and we want to help you out." So even if you didn't make enough to file, they will give you money back. You will get a refund check based on applying for this credit is your other circumstances allow it as well. And it's a pretty good piece of change depending on how many children you've got and the size of your family. I mean we're talking about up to 6 grand. Basically somewhere around 6 ground. I don't know about you but I can use an extra 6 grand. I could easily spend an extra 6 ground on wheelchair stuff alone. I could spend an extra 6 grand. So that's a pretty good piece of change. Just something to think about. Work, you know get that Earned Income Tax Credit, you've got some extra money coming in, got all the benefits of meeting people, and then [inaudible] related to work as well actually. Got all of those extra benefits in play. All that social capital because you never know how the networking is going to benefit you. And you get to make some extra cash besides. So work can be a good thing as long as you don't -- it's not going to jeopardize your health. We're not asking you to jeopardize your health. We're talking free. We're talking voluntary. We're talking, okay take a good look at your personal situation. It worked for me. It may not be the right time for you but at least something to think about for later. Next slide please? Alright, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. The VITA. This is a program that I believe they're in a large number of states. People who will -- they voluntarily learn how to help you with your taxes. You go in. They help you file for your taxes at a free or reduced rate. Same thing with AARP. And you give them a call. Ray, if you want to help me with reading those phone numbers, that would be awesome because this is where my learning disability comes into play.

>> Ray Cebula: Okay, the Volunteer Tax Assistance sites can be reached at 1-800-906-9887. If you want local information about those VITA sites, all you need to do is Google VITA and the name of your state and they're all going to show up. AARP can be reached at 1-888 -- that's 1-888-227-7669. And for more information about that Earned Income Tax Credit, you can go to www.Irs.gov/eitc and they've got a great brochure that you can download.

>> Thank you so much for the assist Ray, especially with the numbers and the websites. I really appreciate it. Alright, Individual Development Account. Next slide please? Individual Development Account or IDA is a great work incentive. If you have a qualifying Individual Development Account program in your area, for every dollar you earn, they will match your money to a certain amount. Programs vary depending on what area you're in. You can use the money to pay for - you know - some of them go for housing, a college education, you know, what are those big, long term goals you have that might qualify? Home ownership. I own my own home. I didn't have the opportunity to use an IDA. I wish I did. That would have been awesome. A college education: it's so very important. Some kind of degree in addition to high school. It comes into play in so many places. You can use it to go towards that education. Starting your own business. Do you have a great idea for being your own boss? Do you have the next great thing? Are you a person who would be awesome at say financial planning or being an insurance salesperson or however you want to work in terms of being self-employed for yourself? I don't know. Whatever your idea is. What you think might work for you. You can use that money to go towards starting your own business and maybe in combination with something like some assistance from the Small Business Administration. That might be an awesome thing for you. They vary by state. They vary by what's allowed. So you need to investigate the options in your area. The best way to do that - next slide please - is to -- I would start with the links that are on this page and then also, you can always go to Google and go "Individual Development Account," and your state, and see what pops up. Go to Google, go to Bing, whatever search engine happens to you know work for you. Whatever preference you have. Ray, if you could help me by reading those links, that would be awesome?

>> Ray Cebula: Sure will. The IDA link is at http://idaresources.org /afigrantee and there is another informational site at http://cfed.org/program/idas.

>> Thank you so much. Alright, if financial independence is late for you, we know this is a decision. Once you factor in what's best for yourself and your family, what's next. Next slide please? Alright, next thing you need to do is have a SMART goal. Here's what a SMART goal is. SMART's an acronym. It means specific in terms of being precise, measurable in terms of how will you know when you get there if you're working towards your goal. How will you know if you're working towards your goal? Attainable: have a plan to achieve your goal. Realistic: something that you can do. And timely: have a specific date for achieving your goal. I'm going to talk about myself a little bit. I'm a newlywed. We have been married for a year and a half today. I just looked at the calendar and realized that. So I have to wish my husband a happy anniversary and a half when I get off this call, because it actually slipped my mind. But I'm hoping he'll forgive me. Anyway, we just in the last couple of weeks, I took him to meet my extended family in South Carolina, including my 80 year old grandfather who had a birthday. We came back from South Carolina and he decided that he wanted to spend some more time getting to know that part of my family. So we came back and we had just finished paying off a major bill, so we have a little bit of income to reallocate in our spending plan. So here's our goal. Our goal is to save enough money to go back to South Carolina over the Easter break which is, you know, in that March-April timeframe, whenever Easter is this year, to be able to go and spend the week with my extended family including my dear, sweet, 80 year old grandfather. So we're going to take the money that we would have put toward the bill that we just paid off. It's going to end up being probably maybe a hundred -- couple hundred a month. We have to go back and look at the numbers and put that toward being able to afford the airfare and all of the travel expenses for getting down there and being there comfortably, without being a burden on my family. So we have a goal. It's realistic. We've got a timeframe. We're talking about Easter. And we know where the money is coming from. So in my mind, this is a SMART goal. So you want to sit down and say, "Okay, what's my plan?" Make it specific because if it's specific and you know where the money's coming from, when you go to evaluate your spending plan and your budget, make it specific. Make it something you really want. Make it attainable and realistic. It doesn't have to be the known goal. Take the smaller goals first and when you take the smaller goals, once you put the smaller goals together, you can get to your bigger one. So make it something that you can definitely do one step at a time. Next slide please? Okay, alright, a budget. Or as I like to call it, a spending plan. It's basically, you put down all your income, you put down all your expenses for a period of time, for a month and a year -- a month or a year, and you figure out where you are. And you figure out what things you can maybe do a little differently. Like I know for me, it actually made sense to bundle my phone, my internet, and my television because when we looked at the difference between bundled and unbundled, it actually was a couple bucks that we could put some other places. And it's okay. I mean if you -- and also, don't forget to include your spending money. Don't forget to include just when you put money in your pocket to go walking around. You want to look at how you're spending that too because that can add up. That used to be my biggest -- that was one of my big areas because you go to the ATM and get pocket money and you may not sit down and look at all those receipts and figure out how much money you're pulling out for pocket money. So you want to look at your pocket money as well. You want to look at what you're spending your pocket money on. Is there a less expensive way to maybe handle some things? Like instead of buying lunch, maybe you can make lunch at home and take it with you? Save a couple bucks. Maybe you can, if you're -- I'm trying to think of what else would be a good goal. If you're buying the expensive detergent, is there a cheaper detergent that works just as well? I mean is there something that you can do on a less expensive fashion that will still get you where you have to go? So that that way you have more money to put toward other things. Like the goal of being able to pay yourself. Being able to put money aside in say, an account for retirement or an account for a larger goal or something like that. Next slide please? Alright, need more help with creating that budget? Contact your local [inaudible] living center and Ray I'm going to need you to step in and read some websites for me please?

>> Ray Cebula: Okay, if you want to find your local independent living center, go to www.ilru.org/html/publications /directory/index.html. And there are a couple of great websites to help you do some budgeting, even if you have no idea how to begin to put a budget together, these websites can help: www.Aarp.org/money /budgeting-savings. And another one, www.Fdic.gov/consumers/consumer /moneysmart/index.html.

>> Okay. Thank you so much Ray. I'm looking at the box again and I'm seeing a question about the Earned Income Tax Credit so let me just address it for three seconds. There are two different ages for the Earned Income Tax Credit. One set of ages is if you have a qualifying child and the other age is if you don't have a qualifying child, that's what the two different ages are. And I hope I very quickly addressed your question. If I didn't, send an email to the Support TTW website and I will be more than happy to take another shot at answering your question more completely and fully to your satisfaction. Next, alright, forgive me. I'm sipping breathing and breathing while I'm trying to run through all this information at once. Another important tool on becoming financially independent is having a bank account. The importance of having a savings or checking account at a bank. It allows you to keep your money safe instead of keeping it in the house, in the place where you can access it. It's safe that if God forbid breaks into your house, you know, they're not walking off with all the money that you've got stored in that peas box in the back of the freezer. You know, so it's a good way to keep your money safe. It's also a good way to use it to track. A lot of banks have online tools now where you can check your spending to see what's cleared and what hasn't. So it's also a good way to track what's happening, and not to mention a savings account. A good way to earn a little interest on what you have. Always a great thing. Next slide please? Alright, now it could be a bank. It could be a credit union. There are lots of options. There's the Bank On program, meaning that -- the Bank On program is really good in that if you had issues with banks before and let's say your history with banking has a couple of challenges in it. You want to go to www.Bankon.org and check out whether there might be a Bank On program in your area because they have banks that will maybe look at you a little bit more favorably even though you've had some challenged in your banking history. If you want to find a credit union, you've got that great website there which is www.mycreditunion.gov /pages/default.aspx. And I hope I read that right. My learning disability didn't make me mess that up.

>> Ray Cebula: Nope, you did fine.

>> Okay, here's why it's important to have that relationship with a bank. I've got to let you know. When you go to the check cashing places, they charge you a fee which means that you're paying extra money to access money. The money that you're paying them for a fee, you could use that money to do something else. When you go to the payday loan people, including - I don't want to call the name of the one I'm thinking of - including the one where they're actually honest about how much they charge in interest, you are in reality paying them back -- I did the math on the one I'm thinking of. My husband and I sat down and did the math because they had their payments in very small print. You're actually paying them back six times what you borrowed from them. It was six to seven times what you borrowed from them when we sat down and did the math on the payments. So that is why banks and credit unions are more likely than not your better options, okay? Because you have to not only look at what you borrow, but look at what they're asking you to pay back. Sit down and look at all that fine print. Get out the calculator and do the math. I know math's a little daunting. I don't like it myself but it's necessary to do it. And if you're not crazy about math, if there's someone in your support circle who's happy to help you with that math, go to your local [inaudible], go to your local Center for Independent Living. Let them sit down with you and look at some things and start to help you with some of this so that you can make an informed choice. Now, yet another important area in the road to financial independent: good credit. Good credit. So, so, so important. It follows you from the point where you start until the end of your days. It follows you. It makes it -- good credit can make it easier for you to get a loan, to may for big items or to pay for emergency expenses. Good credit basically is your history of making payments. And I know that I've had some challenges. Most people have. How you fix your challenges is you contact your creditors, set up a payment plan. You know, you make payments, you pay it all down. You get back on the road to a good place and eventually your credit will improve. Remember how I said before, it's a marathon. It's not a sprint. Repairing your credit, if you need to repair it, is definitely a marathon. It's not a sprint. But know that each -- know that you get a little closer to the end each time you handle what you have to handle in terms of your payment. Next slide please? Financial independence. Is it possible for me? Next slide. Yes, it's a possibility. Hard work, education, training, support, using other resources, tapping into your friends and family, finding other people who have done it. Yes, it's more than possible for you. Your road may be different. Your length of time that it takes you may be different. And you know what? That's completely okay. That's completely okay. I used to, when I took tests, I used to start getting nervous about the fact that these people around me were finishing and it actually costs me some good grades in some circumstances because I got nervous about what other people were doing, and I didn't run my own race. When I started to run my own race, my grades started to improve and my life started to improve. When I started worrying about what I was doing instead of thinking about what other people were doing. So however long this takes you, it's completely fine. Whatever your race looks like, as long as it's the race that's comfortable to you and it's taken into account your family, your friends, and all the factors and the things that are important to you, it's completely fine. Run it however you need to run it. Make your journey however you need to make your journey. Make sure you know about your work incentives and your record keeping. And if you need a pep talk, go back in your archives and play this again. You can listen to some of the other webinars or listen to the enthusiasm of people. Go to that Social Security website and play some of those success stories. However you need to pump yourself up to do this, go for it. Call the Ticket to Work helpline. Ask questions. It's what we're here for. You know, whatever you need to do to get to that place where you can start that journey. Or if you're in the middle of that journey, whatever you need to get supported. Go out there and access it. Next slide please? Ray, it's your turn.

>> Ray Cebula: Okay, thank you Duwanna. Now, as Duwanna said, this journey can take as long as you want. You need to run this race, make this journey at your own comfort level. And we're all out there to help you. Benefits planners, employment networks, state VR agencies, and the Protection and Advocacy agencies can all help you navigate through the Social Security work incentives and help keep you on track. Now there are lots of other resources that we want to share with you. And again, these are going to be focused on financial independence. Now the Real Economic Impact Tour or REIT, visit them online. [Inaudible] becoming more informed about the tools and strategies. Tools and strategies. All of this is building a strategy by using tools that are out there waiting for you to use. And what we're trying to do here is advance your economic strength and security. Financial independence is economic strength and security. You can join with REIT to chart that path to a better economic future. Lots of other people out there. Lots of other people out there who are trying to develop and control their income and assets. You can find them at www.Realeconomicimpact.org. And you can do lots of things nowadays. You can get onto various networking sites that are going to get you together with other people so that you don't need to experience this alone. And there's all kinds of support out there for you. And Money Smart. This is a wonderful program. This is a wonderful financial education program to teach you how to use money. How to become banked. Duwanna mentioned credit unions. They are a great place to start. She also mentioned those payday loan and check cashing places. Not good places. Go to a credit union. They will teach you how to maintain a checkbook if you're not banked, and you'll save a ton of money just by staying away from those payday cash places. Now the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the FDIC, part of the federal government runs this Money Start program and it is a financial education program, designed for low and moderate income individuals to help increase your financial skills and create positive banking relationships. It's easy, it's fun, and it's free. And it's at www.Fdic.gov/consumers/consumer /moneysmart/index.html. Now remember, we talked about individual development accounts. If you want to participate in an individual development account, you're going to have to take a financial education course like Money Smart. So why not take a look at it now and see if you can begin that journey a little bit ahead of time? Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPD, their mission is to make markets for consumer financial products and services work for us. They know what's out there and they make it work for us. Whether you're applying for a mortgage, whether you're trying to get a credit card, whether you're trying to determine which credit card you want, or whether you're using any type of financial product, they can help you choose the best product to suit your needs. Now eventually everyone's going to get a credit card. Eventually everyone's going to get a credit card, but how do you pick? I get them in the mail every, single day. "Sign up here, it's a great deal." Well, you've got to know how that credit card works because sometimes they don't turn out to be such a good deal. And this place - CFPB, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - can help you make those choices. Having a credit card, using it wisely, and paying it off, is going to go back to Duwanna's point of keeping your credit in good shape. You can find this agency at http://www.Consumerfinance.gov. And now where can you get information about all of this stuff? We've talked about the Social Security website, www.Socialsecurity.gov/work. You can find your local employment networks. You can find a link to your state VR agency. You can find the links to your local work incentives, planning and assistant agencies, and your local PABSS, the Protection and Advocacy Agency for Beneficiaries of Social Security. All of that information is on the website. Now just by logging onto that website, you'll be able to read the blog, see the success stories, find out how all of this stuff works and no one's going to know you were there. So it's a very safe way to begin this journey. And if something in that website perks your interest, give the helpline a call. Talk to somebody about it. Start building your employment team. They can be reached at 1-866-968-7842 or for TTY users, 866-833-2967. Now, I guess Jaime, it looks like we do have some time for some questions. So if you want to pull out a few of those questions. And why don't you just toss them to Duwanna and myself? You know Duwanna, I do want to share a story with folks as well. I was doing some work with a youth transition project in Miami, Florida. And you walk about IDAs and buying a house. And we actually found an individual development account. It was a private account that matched each dollar that these kids put into the bank with 8 dollars. So they put 2 thousand dollars a year into this bank account, and the institution that was holding the account, have them 8 thousand dollars. And we had 3 young adults actually buy their own homes by using IDAs. So they are wonderful, wonderful resources. I'm trying to see what we have in that box.

>> Ray sorry, I thought I was stuck on you. This is Jaime.

>> Ray Cebula: Oh okay, hi.

>> Hi. Here's one for you. Is there any way to record an IRWE over the phone or via the app and also is there a list of IRWE that can be deducted? And can you tell us a little more about what an [inaudible] actually is?

>> Ray Cebula: Okay, why don't we -- do you want to do that Duwanna? Yes, sure.

>> Yes, I would actually. Okay. Here's what an IRWE actually is. It's exactly what it sounds like. It's an Impairment Related Work Expense. So it's something that you need because of your disability that you have to have in order to work. Like I'll use myself as an example. I have -- I live with [inaudible]. I happen to have cerebral palsy and I also have a learning disability. So, my -- so I know that seeing my psychiatrist costs me you know, X amount of money, the recorder. And my wheelchair upkeep costs me X amount of money a month. So when I was on benefits, what I would do is look at how much -- keep my receipts. Always keep your receipts and all -- you know, and tell Social Security, "Here's what I earned, but here is what I spent on my psychiatrist and on my wheelchair upkeep, because I have to have these two things in order to work because if I don't have my mental health medication, can't work, and if the wheelchair's not working, I'm not going anywhere." So it's things like that. And there is actually a partial list of some examples in the red book. If you go online to Social Security's website, I believe it's www.Socialsecurity.gov/redbook. There actually are some examples in that. What actually qualifies as an Impairment Related Work Expense depends on your local Social Security office and who's evaluating your case. As to whether or not you can report over the phone or with an app, not that I know of. You only -- remember, you only need to report your income and things like you're working [inaudible] once a month. So once a month, you're going to gather your pay stubs, you're going to gather your receipts, you're going to get that over to Social Security by mail or by taking it down there. And if you mail it, I would do it by something like Return Receipt Requested. And if you take it down there, you know, I would get some kind of indication that you were there and that they received information from you. And I would actually reach out to my local office and find out how they would prefer to get that information from you. Every office has different methods that they prefer. So, and what counts as an Impairment Related Work Expense for you, really [inaudible] depend on what your disabilities are. You know different people, different disabilities, different things that will qualify as a work [inaudible]. So just to keep that in mind. I hope that that answered your question and I also tried to throw in the answers to a couple other questions that I saw while I was in there because they're all sort of related.

>> Alright, thank you Duwanna. And here's another one for you. How does an IDA affect my SSI or SSDI benefits?

>> If it's an AFI IDA, it may not be counted. You have to go, look at what the rules are in your particular state. And you have to look at what the source for that IDA actually is. It may not be counted. It may be kind of up there, kind of not counted like a pass. You have to look at your specific situation and the specific IDA.

>> Alright, thank you. And is there an age limit for IDAs? Can you review those again?

>> An age limit for IDAs? Alright, let me see. It depends on the particular program. It depends on what particular -- because we are talking about IDAs and not EITC, is that correct?

>> Yes.

>> I want to make sure I'm not getting my alphabet too confused.

>> My apologies. I just got my alphabet too confused. So yes, IDAs.

>> Okay, I just want to make sure. But it depends on the specific program. So when you start researching IDAs, when you contact them to find out what their specific criteria are, find out about ages, find out if they have limits, find out what exactly you need to do to qualify for that program.

>> Great, thank you. Ray, if I receive SSDI, how can I go about creating a Pass Plan?

>> Ray Cebula: If you receive SSDI, there are a couple of ways you can go about creating a Pass Plan. As I said, it is an SSI program and you have to be eligible for SSI. So one way to do that is to set aside some of your SSDI. If you set aside some of that SSDI, you may -- it will not count as income. So you may create SSI eligibility. And that does work for some people. If you're SSDI, I'm trying to think of the federal benefit rate right now is 721. So let's say you have 750 dollars in SSDI, you could put that 750 dollars aside in a bank account and SSI will look at you as if you have no income. And they will then give you 721 dollars in order to meet your living expenses. So it can work. What you need to do if you're interested in doing that is to talk to somebody at a WIPA project. That's Work Incentive Planning and Assistant Project. Because there are certain steps that have to be taken. You have to have the Pass Plan ready and you have to have an SSI application ready. And it's best to work with a WIPA person as well as the Pass specialist to make sure all of this happens at the same time.

>> Ray, can I jump in with one more piece of information really quick?

>> Ray Cebula: Sure.

>> Your Pass plan has to be approved by Social Security. You have to write the Pass Plan and let Social Security know what you're planning. And Social Security has to approve it. You have to make sure that Social Security is completely you know, fine with what you're planning to do. Just wanted to make sure that that was clear as well.

>> Great, thank you Duwanna. Duwanna, can you explain a little more about what exactly an employment network is?

>> An employment network, or as I like to call it, your opportunity to hire who you want to assist you. An employment network is either a private or a state entity that will offer certain services to help you reach your employment goal. Like some employment networks offer benefits planning. Some employment networks offer job coaching. I always say, you know once you know what your employment goal is and you have a pretty good idea what services you might need to reach your employment goal to eventually become financially independent, you want to contact the employment network and find out what they offer. If they offer what you need. And you want to interview them. You want to look at what their success rates are. You want to maybe visit the Choose Work website and look at the report cards and see what the success rate is, just like you would -- just like you would ask questions if you were hiring a personal assistant or hiring someone to assist you in your home or hiring -- like let's say you needed to hire a babysitter for your children. You wouldn't just go like randomly pick a babysitter and go, "Hi, I need a babysitter at my house at 7. Just come on by the house and you know, we can do this." You would ask that person questions first. You would ask them about their experience. You would ask them, you know, if your kids really like Uno or Monopoly, you would ask them how they feel about Uno and Monopoly because you would want to try to make that good fit. That's exactly what you to do with an employment network. You don't want to just pick the first one that pops up on the page. You want to interview them and find the fit that's right for you. Just like you would say if you were dating. You just -- you want to find that right organization to make a relationship that's going to work for both parties.

>> Great, thank you Duwanna. And Ray, can you tell us what a WIPA project is?

>> Ray Cebula: Yes, the work incentives -- God, I can't remember what--

>> Planning and Assistance project. Planning and Assistance project.

>> Ray Cebula: Thank you Duwanna. [laughter] Sometimes my brain just shuts off. The Work Incentive Planning and Assistance projects known as the WIPA projects are folks who have been trained very thoroughly on all of the work incentives for social security disability and for SSI beneficiaries. And you can sit down and talk with all of them at absolutely no cost with absolutely no obligation, and then can tell you where you are at the moment. What does your work journey look like today? What work incentives are available for you to use today? And if you like the sound of that, they can them begin planning and helping your look at the future. What will happen if you work at certain levels for the next year? And what can you expect at the end of that year? You know, as I said, each program is different so there were different work incentives. But they can also help you determine how your cash benefits and how those medical benefits might be affected by earnings. And they can get you connected with the IDAs. They can help you prepare Pass Plans. They can help you do a lot of what we talked about today. And once again, they are free. If you go to www.Socialsecurity.gov/work, you will find the list if WIPA programs and all you need to do is make a contact. You know it may be, let's say if you pulled WIPA in New York, it may be that you will be contacting somebody in Albany, but that doesn't mean you need to go to Albany. These states have people placed all across the state so there will be somebody local to help you. And they are a great place to start.

>> And I will add that you can also find a list of employment networks in your area on www.Socialsecurity.gov/work. And as it is now 4:31, I am going to close with this final question for both of you. And we have one participant letting us know that this information about planning is great but many people with disabilities are overwhelmed by this type of planning. How do we find case managers or other helpers?

>> Ray Cebula: You know any way we talked about, you can do that. Again, this is a no wrong door policy. The WIPA program is really a great place to start because that WIPA planner who will help you plan this return to work and do all of that math for you to determine what might happen to your benefits and what the future what might look like for you, is going to be there with you throughout this entire journey. The VR agency is going to be there with you until you get rehabilitated. At that point, an employment network will stick with you until your work situation is stable. But all during that time, that WIPA person will be there. If you have an issue, a legal issue, that WIPA person will pull in that protection and advocacy advocate. If you do need a social worker or a counselor to help you through this, by all means, that WIPA person can get you connected with those resources. We're calling this an employment team because everyone is sticking with you the whole way. And it's very important to remember that you are the captain of this team. We are not telling you what kind of job to get. We are not telling you that you have to go to work. We are not telling you how fast this journey needs to run. You are telling us what your comfort level is and we are helping you succeed at your own pace. So I hope that helped.

>> Definitely, and Duwanna, did you have anything you wanted to add?

>> I just wanted to add that it's okay. You can totally take this at whatever speed you need to take it. I know that we just threw a boatload of information at you at once and I'm editing my language because that's not the expression I usually use. We're aware that we just threw a whole bunch of information at you. And so if you need to talk this through with someone, contact the Ticket to Work helpline, contact your local WIPA project, your local Center for Independent Living. Reach out to people and let them help you kind of work through all of this. And I saw a question about what if someone had a relapse and they needed to come back onto benefits? I want you to contact the Ticket to Work helpline and ask them about a work incentive called Expedited Reinstatement. There is a way to handle that. Social Security is not trying to leave you out in the cold. We're not asking you to do something at Mach 2 when you need to move a little slower. We're aware that disability's episodic. So find out about Expedited Reinstatement. That's the work incentive that would be able to help you in that type of situation. I just -- take a step. Take whatever step you feel comfortable with. No one's forcing you to take a step. Whenever you're ready. On the website, there's a success story from a gentleman who said that he heard this information the first time and he wasn't ready. And then when he got to feeling better, he determined he was ready and he was able to successfully find a job and work his way off of benefits. So take your time. If you need time with this, it's okay to take your time. Thank you for letting me talk all this time. And I appreciate your listening and your attention. I wish you all nothing but the very best.

>> Ray Cebula: Okay, and just to sum up. Thank you Jaime. Thank you Duwanna. Thanks Michael in the background. And if you do have questions, remember, you can get to us any way you want by finding those ENs on www.Socialsecurity.gov, finding the WIPA programs, finding the PABSS programs. We have a couple of other places for you. If you're a Facebooker, like us on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/choosework. If you Tweet, join us on Twitter and follow us: www.Twitter.com/chooseworkssa. And by all means, if you want to get started and don't know where to start, call the Ticket to Work helpline at 866-968-7842 or for TTY users 866-833-2967 even if you just want to find out where your local programs are to serve you. That's the place to call. And again, I want to add my thanks to you for joining us today. Sorry we kept you a little bit longer but join us again at a future webinar. Thanks everybody. Have a great afternoon.