need help saving money for my future

I agree with the other poster about starting a Roth IRA (individual retirement account). There is one hurdle you may have to overcome though. The money you gain from state and federal disability counts as unearned income and is not eligible to be placed inside of a Roth IRA. This means you will most likely need some sort of secondary income/side gig which you claim as income on your taxes.

You need to check on your disability plan as some of them have asset limits and or income limits. A Special Needs Trusts (SNT) can help you get around the asset limit on (SSI) but your are still limited to $967 of income per month. As I said before, though it depends on which disability plan you’re on.

If you do have a limit on your income based on your plan, you need to take into consideration that short-term capital gains may qualify as income on your plan. Limiting or potentially even suspending your benefits the month that you made the Short-Term capital gains. This means in all likelihood you will need to purchase and hold a stock for over a year before you can sell it to avoid this.

The reason why you want a Roth IRA is because it is tax exempt. This means in the future when you pull money out you won’t have to pay taxes on it. In addition to that, any trades that happen with the money that is with inside of the Roth IRA do not have to pay taxes when you make gains on them on like a regular stock trading account or bank account with interest. You’re correct in looking for a better alternative than your bank account. There is a saying in the investing world, “If you’re saving, you’re losing”. This is because a savings account rarely, if ever outpaces inflation.

While you’re figuring out the Roth IRA situation investing your money into a mutual fund or an index is a solid idea. If you’re not sure which one to get, many people recommend the s&p 500 as it is relatively safe and fairly good returns.

I wish you the best in your journey.