>> Good afternoon everybody this is Ray Cebula from Cornell University's Yang-Tan Institute and I want to welcome you to today's webinar. Today we are going to be talking about services that can help you get back to work if you are currently receiving a Social Security Disability Benefit. The good news is everything we're going to talk about is available to you at no charge. And everything we're going to talk about is completely voluntary on your part. We have a couple of great presenters that I will introduce in a bit but what I want to do first is take you through our introductory slides and get you acquainted with the webinar format. Now you are on a webinar. You have been connected to your speakers and computer automatically. However, if there's weather out there, if you're having a tough time calling us. You may want to call in. You can watch on the computer and use your telephone. There's a toll free number available and if you have a pencil handy please write this down. It's 1-855-749-4750. Once you dial in it will ask you for an access code and that access code today is 312228683. Now the PowerPoint and accessible PDF were sent to you along with the URL link that you received confirming you attendance today so you have all of the slides and you can follow along with those if you print those out as well. So just be aware that you can get in touch with us if you need to. If you do not have that phone number just ask for it in the questions box and we'll get it to you. Now as far as accessibility goes we have done our best to make this webinar accessible to everybody who wants to participate. That being said. Things happen. Nobody's perfect. No system's perfect. If you do have any issues with accessibility we want to hear about them. And more importantly if you happen to know of a fix for the issue you're having let us know about that too. Because if there's a program or some kind of adjustment that our tech team can make to make this a better experience for folks we want to know about it. So please don't hesitate to let us know what kind of issues you're having. Real time captioning is provided during the webinar. And that site is http://www.edi.cornell.edu/ captions.cfm?activity_id=5185. Now that real time captioning is happing in immediate viewer panel down in the lower right hand corner of your screen. If it's not open now, click on the arrowhead next to the worlds media viewer. It should be in the lower part of that right-hand column on your screen and it will open. You can make that larger by reducing some of the other boxes in that webinar console. Again, on the right hand side of your screen. The webinar presentation, the transcript and the audio recording will be archived in about two weeks' time if you want to listen again. Of if someone else you know should be listening and they can't be here. They can get that at www.edi.cornell.edu/ m-wise-webinars.cfm and we are going to have a question and answer period at the end. We're going to break as some natural breaks during the presentation as well for questions. Or if something is really pressing I may very well interrupt one of the speakers. But you can use the question and answer box. That's your preferred method for doing that. it's on the right hand side of your screen. Again, the arrowhead is next to Q&A. Click on that and it's going to open up that box for you. However if you want to send a question to us, you can send a question to webinears@choosework.net. Now, we know that you might not have a question today. You might wake up in the middle of the night and say "Hey I should have asked that question." You can ask that question tomorrow. You can ask as soon as we hand up today. Send those questions to support@choosework.net. And we'll be sure that somebody will get those answers to you. Now to get into that question box, as I said, you're going to click on that arrowhead next to Q&A and this box is going to open up. The box on the right hand side of the display screen. If you go to the bottom, you're going to see a place where you can type in your question. Next to that is a button, click hit send and you're going to send that question to Jamie. Jamie's going to get a lot of questions because there are about 800 of you out there today. She will take the questions that pertain to the largest number of people. We want to get as much information as possible out there today. So they're going to be more general questions than specific questions about your situation. That being said, we will make sure you will get information about how you can get your specific question answered. Now if something happens again to your audio or to something else going on here. You can change by clicking the audio box at the top of your screen. Along the top you'll see the word audio. It's going to open a box and there's a little place that says use phone. Click I will call in and it will give you today's toll free number and access code. So there's a number way you can find out that number. If you do need that number and want it quick, it may be quicker to type that question into the question and answer box and just ask for the number. Now before we get to the agenda I've got to put you guys to work. We have a few very short questions that help us find out who's listening. Help us find out whether we reached out to the right people and some very basic information. So I've got five quick questions for you and the more participation the better. How did you hear about today's webinar, did you hear about it through email? Facebook or Twitter? Somebody's website, a family or friend? Was it your work incentive planning and assistance agency, or someplace else. And if you do pick other as your answer, please let us know in the question and answer box how you found out about today's session. And we're going to give you a few seconds to answer that. And as soon as we get to the magic but unknown percentage, I'll close the screen. All right we're going to close that poll, you have 20 seconds to get your answer in and there are a couple of others. We would like to know where those others are so we can make sure we get our advertisements out to them. Eight questions. Eight seconds I'm sorry. All right. Let's get to question two. What do you hope to learn about today during today's webinar, the ticket to work, work incentives for SSI, work incentives for SSDI, employment networks and vocational rehabilitation, legal protection and advocacy, or something else. And again if there's something else please let us know what that is because it's been the topic of webinars in the past. You give us great ideas for things that need to be discussed. And we pay attention to these things. Okay I can close that one down another 20 seconds. We never know about the 20 seconds. Sometimes it tells me I have to wait and sometimes it doesn't. But right now it's telling me to wait 20 seconds. All right the third polling question. Now these are all about you. What is your gender so we know who's listening in? I guess that gave away the fact that I'm from Boston didn't it; I even hear the accent that time. All right we can close that one down. Twenty seconds. Five seconds. And what is your, oops let me open that. What is your age? Are you 18 or younger, 19 to 25, 26 to 40, 41 to 55, 56 to 65, or 66 and older? We have no way of matching you up with your age. So don't worry about it. All right. Thank you very much for that response. I've got a lot of people answering now. Fifteen seconds. Four seconds. Okay and the last question. We know that sometimes there are more than one person sitting in front of the screen and we've got 800 people registered, but if there are five of you sitting in front of one screen we'd like to know. So how many people besides yourself are sitting with you? So we know who's having the party. Well at least one party out there. All right twenty seconds. Eight seconds. Okay thank you very much for that information folks. It's very, very helpful to us. All right you know who I am. Today we have Jamie in the background who will be monitoring questions. Letting us know what is happening and we have Mike in the background as well who's making all things webinar work. And our speakers today. Joyce Armstrong. And old friend of mine. We got back a long way together. Who works at the Connecticut Department of Rehabilitation Services? And Sheryl Horowitz who's the Director of Community Research and Evaluation for Human Services. Now just because these two women are from Connecticut, does not mean that this information isn't going to pertain to everybody in the country. So we are talking about national topics here. And we're going to talk about what is financial independence. That's the goal here today folks. Financial independence. And work efforts to get you to that point. Joyce is going to take us to that. Joyce and Sheryl are going to bounce things back and forth for us to keep things interesting today. We're going to talk about Social Security Disability Benefits and work incentives. So we'll talk about some work incentives for SSI, some work incentives for SSDI. And we're going to talk about the Earned Income Tax Credit which is very timely because it's that time of year now. And individual development accounts. A way to save some money that won't impact your benefits. I'll take the reins back and we'll get you those other resources. And if we have time left over we'll go into a question and answer session. So I am going to turn it over to Joyce and Sheryl and take it away.

>> Good afternoon. This is Joyce and I'm excited to be part of this today and to share this information with you, this important information. And I'm going to get started because I know we have a lot to cover. What is financial independence? Financial independence means being able to support yourself to be able to meet your wants and needs. Being able to make choices and have options about what you buy, where you live, and what you do with your free time. And not being limited by Social Security Disability Benefits and working your way off of cash benefits whenever possible. Next slide. If financial independence [inaudible] today we'll give you an overview of programs, service, and incentives that you can use to get on the road to financial independence. Sheryl?

>> Next slide.

>> Next slide.

>> Hello everybody I too am very glad to be here. This slide is a very colorful, shows a lot of the programs and progressions that you can take toward financial independence. What you see is kind of like a game board with multiple blocks that could lead from to another although there are different paths that you can take to get to the ultimate financial independence which is in the center of this large block. But what it shows is that if we start off with doing work, being employed that. And then going in through the Ticket to Work Program, and getting the work incentives, that from there perhaps the best starting point might be to set one's goals. You know what is it that you want to do and then from there to kind of work on some things that some tools that one can have in order to get to those goals, in order to achieve those goals. So thinks like budgeting, and banking, and knowing your credit, and repairing your credit. And taking advantage of some of the programs that are available like the Earned Income Tax Credit and Individual Development Accounts. Those are all ways in which combined together can really lead you to that ultimate goal of financial independence. Next slide. Back to Joyce, are there risks?

>> Absolutely. Which is why you need to be smart. Be smart by getting to know Social Security's Ticket to Work and work incentive Programs. They can help you navigate to a good job, a good career and better self-supporting future. Next slide. Follow the rules. Learn how and when to report your earnings from work to Social Security and other benefits providers and keep good records. It will help you take advantage of work incentives and avoid overpayment. And it is very important to keep good records. If you're working you want to keep information on your earnings and there may be other records that you need to keep too. Next slide. We're going to talk about the Social Security Disability Benefits and work incentives and the Ticket to Work Program for both SSDI and SSI. Next slide. I think we're going to Ray now is that correct?

>> We can. I can do this if [inaudible].

>> Oh okay.

>> The SSDI is a Social Security Disability Insurance Program and it is in insurance program. It's a program that requires you to pay into the system by having FICA taxes withheld from your paycheck. And you have to work for a certain period of time, depending on your age and are in a specific amount of money in order to gain insurance status. The people who have worked and paid into the system for a significant amount of time and at the levels required by law will become insured for Social Security disability insurance. This is a program that is in insurance program. It pays to dependence and has no limit. SSI, on the other hand, is a very different program. So the first thing you need to be sure of is what benefit do you receive. SSI is a needs-based federal welfare program. It is paid only to the recipient and does not require a work history. So we had to incredibly different programs. We have lots of work and sentence. The work incentives work differently for each program and we're going to talk about what some of those are. But what we want to do is get to know Ben. Ben is going to take us through most of the work incentives and go from benefit dependency to financial independence. So Mike if we could cue up Ben's video that would be great.

>> [Background Music] 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 I help you? Ticket to Work is a free and voluntary program for 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 will 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 because he is age 18 through 64, and received Social Security Disability Insurance. If Ben received supplemental security income. He could also qualify for the program. Ben wanted to work but needed to understand how work would impact has benefits, especially his health care. Ben did some research and found that out that over 316,000 people with disabilities happy to spend in the program. After doing more research. He decided that Ticket to Work was just the ticket he needed to be successful and going to work. When Ben contacted the Ticket Helpline, they talked to him about supports from Social Security he could use 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 plus 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 networks and state's vocational rehabilitation agencies. He was able to provide one of 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. VR 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. EN's are private or public organizations that may help with career counseling and assistance with job placement and more. Different EN offer different types of services so Ben could pick an EN that was just right for him. Ben also had the option to receive services from his state VR agency and then when those services end, he could work with an EN 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 EN. Ben's commitment to participate in the Ticket to Work program forged the partnership between him and his service provider. They both agreed to work together and jointly developed a plan that was just for him. His plan defined his work goals and described the specialized services that the EN would provide or arrange for to help him meet 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 EN within timeframes set by Social Security to work at a specified earnings level, or 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 at 1-866-968-7842. For TTY call 1-866-833-2967 to talk to 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.

>> Okay thank you Mike. Ben had a long journey. You're all going to have long journeys if you decide to take the step to work. But you're not along. What happened? There it is okay everything disappeared on me. We are here to help you. We are here to become part of your employment team and make this journey safe and easy. So I'm going to turn it back over the Joyce and Sheryl so they can talk to you about the Ticket to Work Program.

>> Okay we're back here. Okay the Ticket to Work Program, can we go to the next slide please? Taking the next step. Gathering information and resources is key to planning your journey toward employment. Ticket to Work and work incentives can help make your journey a smooth one. Next slide. Starting the journey. Only you can decide if work is the right choice to you. And that would be true too in terms of how much you're going to work whether it's part time, fulltime, starting part time and then expanding that. It really is your choice. Why choose work? Earn more income, gain independence, meet new people, and learn new skills. Next slide. The Ticket to Work Program it support career development for people with disabilities who want to work. It's for Social Security Disability beneficiaries ages 18 through 64, and the Ticket to Work Program is free and voluntary. Next slide. Now we're going to talk about the work incentives. Next slide. Work incentives. Work incentives are special rules that allow you to receive training for new skills, improve the skills you already have, pursue your education, try different jobs, start a career, and gain confidence. Next slide. The most common work incentives, and there are many of them. These are the most common, are the Earned Income exclusion, continuing Disability review and [inaudible] from medical continue disability reviews. There's a trial work period for people, continuation of Medicare coverage, continuation of Medicaid eligibility, which is called 1619B and there's also something called expedited reinstatement. Next slide.

>> Okay I guess it's back to me. We want to introduce you to Megan. Now Megan has had a long journey back to work. In 2008 she was diagnosed with clinical depression. In 2010 she decided that she wanted not to be at home alone. She decided she wanted to get back into the community, get back out there and get back to work. So she made a connection with an employment network called Transcend in Maryland. And in 2011 began successfully working. Now she's a wonderful, inspiring woman. And we have a video of Megan to show you and we also have, I want to let you know that in the archives there's the other video of Megan that tells you her story from her own point of view. As she began working, in 2013 her unit was closed. So through no fault of her own, she lost her job because the whole shop shut down. Because she was still in her extended period of eligibility, all she had to do was call Social Security and tell them her job ended, and her cash benefits started back up almost immediately. She had never lost her health care. So she had Medicare the entire time. And in 2014, we can happily tell you that she started her own business. She is a Zumba instructor and is focusing now on, I call them people with age. You know those of us who are getting along in years, but need to still be active. She works with a lot of elderly folks, some of them in nursing homes, to keep them active and give them exercise programs and group programs. And she's back in the workforce doing a great job. So Mike if you can cue up Megan's video. We can watch that right now.

[ Music ]

[ Music ]

>> The last time we chatted I was working for Welfat [assumed spelling], which is an advisement company. And I was a document control specialist. And then in 2013 of February, I actually got laid off. So I called Transcend to let them know that I was no longer working and what I needed to do to go back onto my Disability. And so they set up my Ticket to Work and everything just kind of flowed seamlessly. I filled out some paperwork and let them know and I was receiving benefits that month. I had been teaching Zumba part time in the evenings after work. And I let a whole bunch of people know that I was laid off and that I was ready to work during the day. And I just started taking more classes. And as I did more classes and was teaching more, I really fell in love with it even more and decided to actually make it a business. I would definitely recommend the Ticket to Work Program to others. I would say, don't be afraid to do it. You have really nothing to lose. Because they only stop it when you're making too much and you know who doesn't want to make a lot. So I would say don't let your fear hold you back. And I'm the perfect example of someone who started and who got laid off and nothing bad happened. Choosing work has made a big difference in my life by making me feel useful and being able to contribute to other people by also choosing to work has let me.

[ Music ]

>> Okay so that's a bit about Megan. We've had the pleasure of having Megan present with us and she truly is an inspiration person. Very happy, happy woman. So we're going to turn it back over to Joyce and Sheryl and we're going to talk about the Earned Income Tax Credit.

>> All right, so there are other benefits as well that you can get by working and this happens to be one of them, the Earned Income Tax Credit. And it is from the government and the IRS will give it to you if you are low or moderate income, between the ages of 25 and 64, or if you have a qualifying child between the ages of 18 and 64. Every state provides for this, but in addition to that some states provide a state EITC, so if you're lucky to be in some of those other states that give an additional one you can get even more money from this credit. So you can file for it even if you didn't earn enough to file for taxes. And you can file for the credit even if a tax year has passed, up to three years back. Next slide. So this tax, this tax credit will put money into your pocket, up to about $6000 and as I said in those states that have a state income tax credit, it's usually a percentage of what the federal is. And so even more money and sometimes quite a bit money can come back into the pocket, into your pocket if you're doing this. The key here is that you need to file and an additional thing to look out for is that you can get this by going to any tax site. But if you go to a VITA site, a Voluntary Income Tax Assistance site then all of that money comes back to you and none of that goes to paying for the tax preparation. So this is a very, very a potentially very lucrative source of additional income for working. Next slide. Here's a number to call to contact for the Voluntary Tax Assistance, to find where the sites are. Additionally you can file through sites that are run through the AARP and the number is there to contact them. And I really would advise you if you are getting your taxes done and you do fall into this low and moderate income category that you look into filing through VITA and definitely making sure that you get the EITC. Next slide.

>> Okay and just want to give people those numbers Sheryl. The Voluntary Income Tax Assistance phone number is 1-800-906-9887. And the American Association of Retired Persons AARP, their phone number is 1-888-227-7669.

>> Okay so now as we're thinking about that pathway chart that we saw right at the beginning. So now you've got a little bit of a, a little gift so to speak, coming in a lump sum to you as you get your taxes back. And so now the question is and so what do you do with that money? And you have lots and lots of choices. One of the things though that if you really are interested in working toward your financial independence, and even if you're not is doing something that really makes good use of that money. And one of the options that is available to you is the Individual Development Account, or the IDA. So an IDA is a program that is run by multiple agencies throughout the country and many of them are federal, that allows you to contribute money to a savings account and get a match for it. It will match even dollar as you save for your goal. Sometimes and in some places and in some programs you can get matches up to 8 times the amount you put in. So for every dollar that you put in, you could get a match of $8 being put into your account for this. So it behooves you to kind of look around at those sites to kind of research where the sites are in your state, who's running them and what their matches are. In addition it requires you to set a goal. This is the whole idea. To put you on a pathway towards those smart goals. And sometimes some of these programs will kind of constrain in terms of, constrain you in terms of what you can work for. So some of them are only for housing, for putting away to save for homeownership. Others of them are available to get things like cars. Or short term goals. So it also is important, as you're looking into the IDA to kind of look into what their range of goals actually are. And investigate the options that are available in your area. Next slide. To see if an IDA is offered in your area, as I said not every area has them and some of them have different ones. There's a website here to go to which is http://IDA, spell, r-e-s-o-u-r-c-e-s, resources.org. That's all one word, /afigrantees, all one word. And to find out more about how IDAs can work for you, you can visit the website http://cfed, c-f-e-d.org/programs/idas/. Next slide. Okay so if this is something that you're thinking about doing, becoming financially independent, what's next, what do you need to do? Next slide.

>> All right next slide's mine. Be S.M.A.R.T. Now author Paul J. Meyer developed the S.M.A.R.T. goals concept. And it's a great way to plan. It's a great way to start. If you have no idea where you want to go or how you want to begin this journey, [telephone ringing] let's use the S.M.A.R.T. System to set some goals and work our way towards financial independence and make that a reality. Each one of these letters s--m-a-r-t means a very specific thing. S is specific. Have a precise goal. You need to know what that goal's going to be. Having a vague notion of what you want to do isn't likely to succeed. We want to know exactly what the goal is. So narrow it down as much as possible. Is it measurable? How are you going to know if you're actually making progress to work toward that goal? There should be some action steps that you can set down. On this month I'm going to do x,y,z so that I can move three steps ahead in order to get to my goal. Is your goal attainable? Do you have a plan that's going to allow you to achieve your goal? Now attainability is going to depend. It depends upon you, your desires, what you want, what you're able to do. But we need to know is the goal obtainable. Can you get to where you want to be? Is it realistic? Is it something that you are willing to work for and something that you believe that you will be able to get to. And timeliness. Set a date for achieving your goal. And we're going to talk with Joyce about the work incentive planning and assistance folks. This to me looks like a work incentive plan, that would set down a bunch of action steps and give you deadlines. I don't know how you guys work, but I know if I don't have a firm deadline, I'm likely to put it off until tomorrow. But if I know that it's going to be due on July 20th, it will be done. So use the S.M.A.R.T. System to find your goal and build a roadmap to get there. This is a great way to think about it. If you have a blank piece of paper right now, just S.M.A.R.T. your goal and measure, attain, is it realistic, and when are you going to get there. And then we can help you make that happen. Okay back to Joyce and Sheryl.

>> Okay, so have a goal, which is absolutely critical. Because it defines where you want to go. Otherwise you are just kind of floating. This way you know what you want to get and then that helps you to figure out how you're going to get there. Well one of the very first steps that you need to do is to figure out where is my money going? What are the things that I need? What are the things that I want? And all of those are part of making a budget. Now, I will tell you that I work on financial capability with low-income people and also with people on Disability. And one of the first things we always hear is, "Wait a minute I have a budget, but it's in my head." And what we always say is, "Well, yeah, and that's kind of like, and then it changes all the time. And can you in fact add up everything in your head, and subtract and balance and do all those things in the head." And probably the answer to that is no. So the most important thing is to write it down. To have it written on paper. And this budget is going to be the plan of all the expenses and income for a period of time. Like a month of you. You're going to do a spending plan. You're going to see what is it that I do now? And then, once you look at what you actually do now, then you can have some ability to kind of say and of those things what is it that I have to do? What is it that I have some choices to do? And do I need to be doing, or should I be doing everything that I am? Or are there other things that can happen. So it's to help you to see how much money you have, where you're spending it. And by doing that, you can then figure out where you can save. Next slide. There are places that you can go to do this. So one of them is on your screen right now to contact the local Center for Independent Living on www.ilru.org/html/publications/ directory/index.html. That's one of the places that you can go. And then there's another two that are on here for more information. And the next one is from the AARP, www.aarp. That's the American Association for Retired Persons.org/money/ budgeting-savings all one word, forward slash. And then the FDIC. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, from the government, www.fdic.gov/consumers/consmer, singular /moneysmart, all one word /index.html. So these are sites that have been vetted by people that know what's important. And they provide you with information and exercises and various kinds of tools that can help you. I also would like to say that I am sure, I know that this happens throughout Connecticut. I know it happens in many states and might very well happen in the state that you are living in, that there are groups that provide for free classes on teaching you how to budget. I would look those things up. I would look for programs that are from agencies that, and perhaps part of them are from the rehabilitation centers that you have, where you can find out about budgeting classes and even budgeting coaching. Which is a system whereby you get very personalized help. So it's not only just on what the theory is for how to make a budget, but somebody will help you walk through your own specific, particular situation and help you to lay out all the categories that you have and help you to track it. There also are online tools to do this as well. And if it's possible, I can perhaps give some of those websites and have those posted someplace. So that those are additional sources and resources to help you to create and keep track of your budget. Next slide. Okay so you've got your budget, or you're working on your budget. So now what? Well hopefully in that budget there might be a little room to maybe save some money. So a logical next step might be to create a bank account. And even if it isn't a savings account, perhaps it's about a checking account. Perhaps it's something to keep track of your money and keep it safe. There are lots of different options for this. There's a savings account to keep the money safe. There's a checking account that's going to give you quick access to your money to pay bills, and to buy things, also keeping your money safe. There's also debit cards. But you really should be looking at the comparison between these to see which is the best for you. And maybe some of that should come from a credit union versus a savings bank. And those are the kinds of things that there are in the budgeting modules that you were just, or in the budgeting sites that we just talked about, there'll be information about that. About making the decisions that are best for you about banking. And how to get a banking account. How best for you to get the best bank account for you. And how to keep that so that it's in good standing. Next slide. So you have many choices when selecting a bank. Some banks offer online services, direct deposit and much more. The key to this is to ask about your options before you decide. There are agencies that are out there that can help you with this. There are groups. There's a lot of financial capability work that's going on in the disability community that you should look out for and that you should again, use a process by which you weigh your options and find out which one is the best for you. Bankon is a program that might be in your state. Their found in numbers of states where there are agencies that will work with the banks and you to help you to form a relationship with someone in that bank. So that when you open that account, they know a little bit more about you, that they know a little bit more about your situation and you feel as if you're not just a number, but you're rather a real person. And that they will work with you on finding the best options for you. Credit unions are another very reliable and very important safe option. And again there's a website here that you can go to www.mycreditunion, m-y-c-r-e-d-i-t-u-n-i-o-n.gov that will help you, excuse me /pages/default d-e-f-a-u-l-t.aspx and that website will help you to find good credit unions in your area. Next slide. So another direct kind of outgrowth of this is that when you start having a savings account or a checking account, you start entering into the world of finance in a way where your actions and your behavior is tracked. And that could be a bad thing, but it could also be a very good thing. Because in fact in this work if you want to do things like take a loan, or get a credit card, or even find an apartment in some cases, you need to have good credit. So that good credit means that banks and businesses will let you buy an item before you pay for it. So they're going to trust you because there's a paper trail that says you're a good risk. You're somebody that more than likely is going to pay up and pay back. And so you really want this. And if you have good credit it's easier to get loans for large items, and to pay for emergency expenses should they arise. So again this is something that you should be looking towards. There are groups and websites that can help you with this. I would recommend one called Credit Karma, which is a free website that lets you at least look at where you are now. To find out what your credit score is. And then help you to understand what does that credit score mean and what do you need to do now about that in order to, if it's not exactly where you'd like it to be, how to get to a place where you are having good credit. So that's www.c-r-e-d-i-t-k-a-r-m-a.c-o-m. Next slide.

>> Oh, this is Joyce. Financial independence, is it possible for me? Yes. Financial independence is possible. There's a variety of things that are needed. Hard work, planning, education, training, support from Social Security, and other resources. I want to talk for a minute about the Benefits Counseling Projects that are around the country. The WIPA, or Work Incentives Planning and Assistance Project are available. There's at least one or more in every state. You can use those services to find out how employment will affect your benefits, both your Social Security Benefits, SSDI, or SSI, your Medicare, or Medicaid, Food Stamps, TFA, a whole variety of benefits. This information is something that you need to do for yourself. We talked about risk earlier and is there risk involved in going to work. Yes there is but what you want to do is minimize that risk by being informed. Knowing what you're doing. The sky is the limit. You really don't need to limit yourself. You can really think in terms of you know knowing that you'll have your medical insurance if you need that. And will be able to work. Let's see. You can basically have a good job, good career, and a better self-supporting future. Taking advantage of the resources we've talked about today. We're here to help you succeed in reaching financial independence. Use your Benefits Counselling Project. It's a very important piece of this puzzle and it really is a puzzle. A lot of pieces have to come together and you're the person putting them together. You are the focus of this, the center of it. You can make it work with the supports.

>> Okay Joyce, that actually leads us to a great question that we've had sitting in the box for a while. When you're talking about all of these players and all of these different agencies. Can you talk a bit about what a VR agency is and an employment network?

>> Oh, sure. Okay a vocational rehabilitation agency is basically a state agency. Every state has one as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and what they do is assist people, free of charge, with vocational rehabilitation services. So these would be services that would help you to figure out an employment goal. To figure out what steps you need to take to reach that goal. And to help you with things like job search, job placement, if possible, sometimes to try out a job, have on the job training. Those are the kinds of things that a vocational rehabilitation agency does in partnership with you. A plan is developed. It's specific to you and your needs. So that would be what a state vocational rehabilitation agency does. An employment network could be a state vocational rehabilitation agency, some of them are. But it also can be a private or public nonprofit agency that has basically signed a contract with Social Security to provide assistance with employment for people who are on Social Security Benefits. So again, they could provide a variety of services. Like, typically probably from an employment network you would find things like resume preparation, job seeking skills kinds of things. Placement where they would actually help you to look for positions. There might be some job coaching that would go on, that also could be done through a state vocational rehabilitation agency. And there are times when the two agencies will work together, or somebody initially will go to the state vocational rehabilitation agency. And when they are "successfully employed" which the agency calls rehabilitated, they would then go on to one of the employment networks. This is called, this whole system is called Partnership Plus, where the person goes from the state, the voc rehab agency over to the employment network. And the employment network then provides follow along services to be sure that nothing pops up that's a problem for that person on the job. We want to help people to stay in those jobs. And you know to consider things like future promotions and pay raises. Or making decisions about earning more money. You know maybe you can get more hours. And again, the Benefits Counseling Project is there to help you with that. Helping you to make those decisions for you to understand the impact that those various kinds of changes will have on your benefits. And you know we ask people to keep an open mind because you don't know what kind of opportunity may come up. You may be in a position and start out part time, that's what you're comfortable with. And you may get offered a great opportunity to have a fulltime career with that same company. And now we encourage people to be open about that. And to see themselves being able to do that in the future. that that is a possibility for people and even though it's scary to give up benefits, sometimes you're going to be a lot better off by doing that. And your Benefits Counseling Project can help you to figure that out, as long as you do it in an informed way and you're educated about it, you'll be okay. And the work incentives are there to help you if you need them. They're your safety net.

>> Okay Joyce you're talking about a lot of agencies. And people are asking how much does all this cost?

>> All of this is absolutely free. Where else can you get a deal like that [laughter]?

>> That's a good thing. That's a good thing. All right. I'm looking at my list here. Sheryl, I think this one's going to be for you. If I participate in an IDA, will that be reported to a credit union to help me build credit?

>> You know I don't know the answer to that, but I would imagine if it, if it is on a record of some sort. You know the situation is is that the credit unions, there are three credit unions. I mean there are three credit agencies. And they all choose what they're going to report on and they're different. I don't know actually if they will look at that, but.

>> I would think, you know I'm not sure either Sheryl. And that's why I asked you.

>> I'm not either.

>> I would imagine that you know even if it's not reported to a credit bureau, that the fact that when you're applying for a credit card or some other sort of credit that you can list that there are resources. Particularly, you know, if we're looking at an IDA and your goal is to purchase a car so that you can go to work, when you go to purchase that car, you need credit to get that car, unless you have cash to pay for it. And one of the ways that you can get that credit is to state on your application for a loan that you do have that IDA and that would help you build credit. So it may not be reported directly, but it's certainly a helpful tool to build credit. Would you agree with that?

>> Yeah absolutely and it is the kind of thing that you know, you know one of the things that we encourage people to do is if they do see an error or something erroneous in their credit report, to report that to the credit agency. This could be something that could be reported to the credit agency that says that, you know I didn't see this on my credit report, but it does validate the fact that I am you know a good credit risk. I have been putting in money into this account for these many years.

>> Yep. Yep. Okay and do I have to be an SSDI or SSI recipient to participate in an IDA.

>> No. No absolutely not. You, basically there are different rules depending upon which IDA that you go with, but it is largely on income based. So it's really looking for low and moderate income people. So it is not a, it is not attached to any particular federal benefit.

>> Okay, Joyce.

>> Yeah.

>> Where can I go to learn more about the Ticket to Work?

>> You can certainly contact your state vocational rehabilitation agency. You can contact the Benefits Counselling Project in your state, you can go on the Ticket to Work website. You can call, I'm not sure what the number is Ray, but you know you can call the Ticket to Work people from [inaudible] to get more information. I know there's a whole variety of ways to get information. You can look on Social Security, you know SSA.gov to get information. There's information through there. There's a lot of ways to find out about it. Did I miss something?

>> No I think you did it, I think you did a great job. I think what you did was just illustrate the fact that there is no wrong way to start. There's a variety of ways to start. If you want to talk to a person, you can call Joyce and as a benefits planner, she can sit down and talk to you about that. If you're not ready to talk to somebody, you want to do it a little safer, the Social Security website at socialsecurity.gov/work has all the information you could want about the Ticket to Work. And it's very safe and easy. You don't have to talk to a soul. So you can look at that information, again free of charge. And then if it spurs something in you and you want to move further, then you talk to Joyce. And Joyce will be happy to sit down and talk to you. There are lots of ways, but there's no right way and no wrong way to start this process. Okay [cough] excuse me. Sheryl we had somebody come in late. Can you give a quick reminder of what an IDA is?

>> Okay so this is an account that is, it's really a savings account with matching funds. So you are committing to setting a goal, and that's one of the criteria for it, is that you have to have some goal that you're working for and various IDAs have, are formed around certain goals. But you have then determined in that arena what goal that you are going to set and then you are putting money towards it and for every dollar that you are putting towards it you will be matched by the money from the IDA account. It can be federal, there are some private funds that do it as well. So there's a variety of organizations that do it. And that those matches can be as low as 1 to 1 or as high as, I believe 1 to 8. So 8 times the amount put in. Yeah. Nowhere has that kind of interest, nowhere.

>> Yeah there is great. That's a great deal. I mean if somebody asked you to put $1 in a bank account and they were going to give you $5, I mean I'm in line for that program.

>> Me too.

>> You know I want one of these you know. And I just want to let you know that in the greater Miami area there was an IDA that was used, that homeownerships was one of the goals that was acceptable. And three transition aged youth that were in their early 20s, transitioning from school into the workforce who were all on SSI got part time jobs, and had their savings contribution matched 4 to 1. And three of them actually purchased their own homes using the IDAs. So these programs really, really work. We have a question concerning the IDA. How does it work with somebody with a developmental disability?

>> I, my understanding is that in this situation you really do receive a counselor who will kind of help you to go through this. So whether you have you know some disability which means that you're not able to do it as readily or as easy as someone else, there is somebody there to help you. And you know how frequently that you can go back for that help I think will vary on it. But I think that the ones that we run, or that I've been associated with in Connecticut, there's not enough of that. They would like more kind of contact with the counselor, give them an opportunity to work on a number of other things as well. So I don't think that that would be an issue.

>> Yeah I don't think that.

>> I want to add too that family and friends, you know if you have somebody who you want to be at these session with you, you're certainly welcome to bring you know your support people who may be able to give you a hand with some of this if there are parts of it that are difficult for you.

>> Yeah I don't think that's going to be an issue for folks either. Because you do have those internal supports like family or friends. If the situation is serious enough, you could have a guardian involved. So that's not going to stop anybody. Where you can find these, who to talk to. All you need to do you know we gave you lots of websites with lots of slashes and lots of dots, but if you, you know. I'm a Google fan guys you know and if you Google IDA and the name of your state, you're going to find every IDA in your state. And you really have to shop. Because some of them only cover parts of the state. Some of them might not be open until the next fiscal year. So you're going to have, and you want to know who gives you the best deal. If there are two on your block, I want the one that gives 3 to 1, not 2 to 1 you know and does that IDA have a goal. So it's basically shopping and research and see who's going to give you the best deal to meet your needs.

>> And if, Info Line in your state they are a place in Connecticut I know they have very good information on IDA programs within Connecticut. So if you have that in your state that's another place to go to Info Line.

>> Okay and Joyce we've got a question concerning the impact of work on Medicaid and Medicare. So I'm going to let you take that one for a few minutes.

>> Okay, it's really good news on both the Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare can last for many years, even if you're at the point where your benefits terminate because of work. And then after that you can even purchase the Medicare. And sometimes your state, depending on your income level will pay for your Medicare benefit instead of you having to pay for it. So that's good news for people. Medicaid, many states have what's called a Medicaid buy in program. We have a wonderful one here in Connecticut. Most states do have a program. So that, and there's also something called 1619B where even if you're SSI stops and you're on Medicaid, at the point where the SSI does stop, you get to keep your Medicaid. Even when you earn a significant amount of money. There's a different amount in each state, but it's significant. You can earn a lot of money and not lose your Medicaid and then with the buy in program, you can keep it even when you earn more than the amount from 1619B. So pretty much as long as your disability continues, and in some states even if your disability improves, which would be true in Connecticut, we have what's called the medically improved group, you can keep your Medicaid. So there's a lot of myths out there about the kinds of things that will happen. And information sometimes is like 20 years old. People don't know what's going on now. They know what happened to them 10 or 20 years ago when they went to work. Very different now. So you know don't listen to your neighbor and what happened to them 20 years ago. Go and get accurate information. Because you're probably going to find out that your medical insurance is going to be all set. And you can get.

>> Yeah I think that.

>> Also through your employer. Employer's insurance is not a problem. You can have all three if you're lucky enough to be eligible for all three.

>> Yeah Joyce I've got to echo that, because you know a lot of people ask about health care and you know I like to tell people that's a wonderful concern. And it's an important issue. But you really don't have to worry about it for a very, very long time. Yes at some point you may end up paying for some of it either through the buy in program, or even if you're employer provides you with health insurance, you may end up paying for some of that. But you will always, if you do this right and with planning, and with assistance from folks like Joyce have more money that you started with. So none of this is a concern and you know the biggest issue that you're going to have is knowing what kind of health care you have at the moment, not whether or not you're going to have it. It just goes on, and on, and no nowadays. We also have the health care exchanges you know that are open now for people who don't have health care. It may very well be that you'll be in a situation where you can use one of those exchanges to purchase a very affordable health plan that will meet your needs, that is within your budget that you have built to make sure that you can take care of that. Basically just the way everybody else does it. Joyce, someone's asking us about the trial work period.

>> Okay basically when you're on Social Security Disability Insurance, not SSI, you get a trial work period and that's 9 months. They don't need to be in a row, they can be spread out, where you can earn as much as you want to and your Social Security Benefit is not affected at all. So if you earn $3000 a month your benefit still is not stopped. And then after that you have an additional 3 months if you're earning at a high enough level that your benefit would stop, where you would continue to get that full benefit. So it's a really good way to test out your ability to work and to see how much you can do.

>> Yeah. Yeah. I agree and we had one quick question about can an IDA pay a student loan or fund college? And I'm just going to take that one real quick. Yes it can fund college, because college is part of meeting your goal, if you have the right IDA. But it will not assist you in paying a student loan. I'm not aware of any IDAs that will allow you to pay a loan that you've already incurred.

>> Yeah, I agree I mean I that and they don't.

>> Yeah. And I'm looking to see what okay let's go way, way back to our very first question. Joyce, can the Ticket to Work help pay college tuition if I need to go to school before I can start working. The Ticket to Work itself doesn't actually pay for anything, but it gives you access to services. So by going, let's say to the state vocational rehabilitation agency you may find that your plan, part of your plan is to actually go to a school program and it's possible that at times the state vocational rehabilitation agency would actually help with that. There's also a work incentive called the Plan for Achieving Self Support, or PASS that is one of the work incentives under Social Security that sometimes is helpful. I've been involved with a number of those PASS plans myself, where I've helped people to write these plans. There's a specific vocational goal and the steps needed to reach that goal. And if one of those steps is education, then money set aside into a savings account for PASS could be used to help pay for school. And the person setting aside the money, or saving that money in the PASS plan you basically get extra money from Social Security that you wouldn't have gotten otherwise because you're doing the PASS. So that can be a wonderful way to help pay for school. And it's not used enough. We want to see it used more.

>> Yeah that's a true thing. That is a very true thing. PASS plans are very good things. We'll actually, probably have another webinar that covers PASS plans in the future. We've had one in the past. All right we've got 15 minutes left. I want to start going through some of the other resources. And we'll take some more questions at the end once we finish with this. I do want to remind people that along with the other resources, we will have a survey popping up. So once we sign off in about 2 seconds you're going to have a survey that is going to come up on your screen. It will take you probably 30 to 45 seconds to finish it. And it really does help us out. So we've talked about lots of resources. Probably way too many resources. And of course too many forward slashes and dots. But we're going to continue with some of that. Now there are lots of places to go. Please do not hesitate to use socialsecurity.gov/work. You can find all of the employment networks. All of the vocational rehabilitation agencies. And all of the benefits planning people. All of the legal people that you may need to help you get over a barrier to work are listed on that website. All you need to do is click on your state and those resources are going to appear. And you can shop and see which one is closest to you and which one is going to give you the best help. But Money Smart. Financial independence requires financial literacy. We have to know how to play the money game. And it's not easy, but it's doable. And some of us continue to learn how to do it. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Money Smart Program is an online program that teaches low and moderate-income individuals how to increase their financial skills, and create positive banking relationships. The biggest thing that I can tell you about this program is that it's going to get you into a credit union. Which is a wonderful place to start. They're incredibly user-friendly and I can't say enough about credit unions, or into a bank. A savings account and a checking account are required in order to become financially literate. We cannot continue to watch people go to the neighborhood check-cashing store and take a large portion of your money to cash your SSI or your SSDI checks. Credit unions and banks have to become a part of your life. It's also going to tell you how to manage money. It will give you a primer on how to set up a budget. How money is flowing from one entity to another. You know how you can set up accounts to pay the bills that are coming in automatically. I mean a lot of stuff is done on a computer nowadays. You don't have to. I don't use stamps. I just pay all of my bills on computers. So check this out when you get a chance. It's very user-friendly, very helpful. And its at www.fdic.gov/consumers/ consumer/moneysmart/index.html and it really is worth the time to go through that. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Their mission is to make financial products and services work for us. Whether it's creating them or helping you use something that already exists. So if you're looking to apply for a mortgage. I just did that. I just moved and had to go through my third application for a mortgage and let me tell you, if you don't have someone helping you, you can't do it. You know it's just an amazingly horrible thing to have to do. Credit cards. How many do you want? Which ones are going to be the best for you? Which ones have lower interest? Which ones might actually pay you back for buying certain things? You know we want to figure all that out and the Consume Financial Protection Bureau can do that. And they'll talk about lots of other financial products. They'll probably discuss IDAs, they'll talk about Certificates of Deposit, and different types of savings accounts that can be started with minimal interest. You know I have, or minimal deposits. I have an account right now with a bank it's called the Extra Twenty Account. If I have my patient direct deposited into my checking account, which I do anyway, and I pay two bills online, which I do anyway, the bank gives me $20 a month. Free money. I right now have $640 in a savings that I never had before because my check goes directly to my savings, goes into my checking account and I pay bills online. Free money. Check that out at www.consumerfinance.gov. For more information about the benefits planning, about the Ticket to Work, and if you have a specific question that is pertaining to your situation that we didn't want to talk about in front of the world today, call the Ticket to Work Helpline. You can contact them at 1-866-968-7842, or for TTY users at 866-833-2967. They're will be an expert there who can talk to you and give you information about your situation. Or somebody who you can just have a discussion with and figure out what are these work incentives that those crazy people were talking about. I need to know more about that trial work period. How is it going to affect me? What do I need to do to start that? Visit socialsecurity.gov/work. I don't need to say it again at how wonderful that is. Do you want to make connections? You can like us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/choosework. And we'll appear on your Facebook account with news, with information about new sessions, new webinars. Follow us on Twitter, www.twitter.com/chooseworkssa. And you'll be alerted to new webinars. And you'll be alerted, of course with the limit of 140 characters, to new things that are happening that could affect your benefits. And watch Ticket to Work videos on YouTube. These are wonderful videos, success stories, like Megan. And there's some other great folks that we've, who have shared their stories with us, at www.youtube.com/choosework. As a matter for fact if you're in the middle of your return to work and you're having a successful time and make that transition to financial independence, let us know your story. We can make you a YouTube star. Now we've got some really great sessions coming up. This is actually not just an upcoming webinar, but it's a series of two webinars that will be happening in March and in April. Lots of people want to know about working from home and the Ticket to Work. You know that 2008 recession that hit. We're still feeling the effects of and the biggest thing that came out of that was somebody's ability to work at home. I'm working at home. Jamie's working at home. So a big part of the team right now that's talking to you is at home working. It is possible and we're going to talk about how you can use the Ticket to Work and make that happen. And that's happening on March 25th and it's 3:00 to 4:30 Eastern Daylight Time. Register online for that, at www.choosework.net/wise. Or give a call to register at 1-866-968-7842, or for TTY users 866-833-2967. The second half of this series is working for yourself. Self-employment. Another big thing that came out of the recession of 2008. Sometimes the only thing you could do was finally use that idea and put yourself in business. Work for yourself. Self-employment is a very, very special thing when you talk about Social Security Benefits. And it's handled very differently than going to work for somebody else. So we'll talk about those rules and how the Ticket to Work can help you start your own business. And that's happening on April 22nd, 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Register at the same place www.choosework.net/wise. Or call 866-968-7842, or 866-833-2967. And I can't stress enough how unique both self-employment and working at home are for these programs. So there's going to be some invaluable information shared. And the possibilities are truly endless. So there's some great information coming at you please be sure to log in for both of those sessions. The Ticket to Work. I'm sorry what am I talking about? I'm trying to give you the archive link. The archive link for the old webinars that have used some of those success stories, or that have talked about some of the work incentives in significant detail can be found at www.edi.cornell.edu/ m-wise-webinars.cfm. And you can listen to other folks like Megan tell their stories. And they're wonderful stories. Let me tell you. So we have a couple of minutes left and let's see if we have any other questions. I'm looking to see. I think we're pretty much done. We gave you a lot of information today. What I want to do one more time for those of you who may want to give a call, call the Ticket to Work Helpline 866-968-7842, or if you're using a TTY 866-833-2967. A simple question, a complex question, whatever you want to ask, feel free to ask them. They may get you in touch with somebody like Joyce in your state who can help you put a plan together and what does that plan lead to? Building your employment team. Somebody like Joyce, somebody like Ray who happens to be a lawyer and done this work in the past. Somebody like Sheryl who knows about financial education and those IDAs. A VR agency, it's not you out there alone. It is a team here to help you at no charge, reach your vocational goal and financial independence. So with that being said, I want to thank Mike in the background for making this webinar work. Thank Jamie for forwarding all of those questions to us and most importantly thank Sheryl and Joyce our presenters for giving us lots of great information. And sign up for those self-employment and working at home webinars and we'll see you in March and in April. Take care everybody. Thanks a lot.