Management Information System for Individual Development Accounts: a Feasibility Study

Management Information System for Individual Development Accounts: a Feasibility Stud

Experience in the American Dream Demonstration: Lessons for Monitoring in a Children and Youth Savings Account Policy Demonstration

Experience in the American Dream Demonstration: Lessons for Monitoring in a Children and Youth Savings Account Policy Demonstratio

Savings Deposits, Incentive Structure, and Management Information Systems: Implications for Research on a Children and Youth Savings Account Policy Demonstration

Savings Deposits, Incentive Structure, and Management Information Systems: Implications for Research on a Children and Youth Savings Account Policy Demonstratio

Saving and Asset-Accumulation Strategies Used by Low-Income Individuals

This paper presents quantitative and qualitative data regarding the saving and asset-accumulation strategies used by low-income participants in Individual Development Account programs (IDAs). The results of a cross-sectional survey with 298 IDA participants and case studies with 15 IDA participants—the first methods that assessed saving behavior among this population—demonstrate that low-income individuals use psychological and behavioral strategies to save, deposit, and maintain assets. The most frequently used strategies are behavioral saving strategies for increasing the efficiency of spending (e.g., shopping more carefully for food) and for reducing consumption (e.g., spending less on leisure). Qualitative results indicate that individuals also use goals and mental accounting to help them save, view their deposits as bills or pay their accounts first to help them make deposits, and create "rules-of-thumb" to maintain assets. Linear regression results suggest that the behavioral saving strategies are not predictors of savings amounts in IDAs. Additional research is needed to understand the saving process among low-income individuals.savings, poverty, asset accumulation, Individual Development Accounts

SEED Deposit, Match Cap, and Net Savings Patterns: An Assessment of Institutional Incentives in the I Can Save Program

Incentive structures are key to the success of asset-building programs. a review of the existing literature reveals a lack of knowledge regarding the time dimension of incentive structures embedded in the asset-building programs. It is not clear how saving performance may change even when institutional settings stay the same over time. Using cash flow data from I Can Save, a small-scale Child Development Account demonstration project, this study closely examines how two institutional components, seed deposit and match cap, affect net savings over the four-year observation period. Results from the descriptive and multivariate analyses show that saving performance is a function of time in response to the institutional incentives, namely, seed deposit and match cap. The findings suggest that the effects of asset building programs can be time dependent, and the temporal aspect of program effects may have important implications for developing effective asset-building programs

Youth Volunteerism and Civic Service in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Potential Strategy for Social and Economic Development

Youth Volunteerism and Civic Service in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Potential Strategy for Social and Economic Developmen

College Expectations Among Young Children: The Potential Role of Savings

For many young people, especially minority and low-income children, attending college is a genuinely desired but elusive goal. This paper explores young children’s perceptions and expectations about attending college and potential influences on their formation. Conducted as part of a four-year study of a school-based saving for college program, this paper uses qualitative evidence from interviews with 60 children in second grade, and surveys with their parents. Findings suggest most of the young children in the study have a general understanding of college and have begun the process of choosing higher education. Further, the perception that saving is a way to finance college is associated with an increase in child’s perception that college is within reach. These results lend support for development of interventions that prepare very young children for college

Financial Capability in Children: Effects of Participation in a School-Based Financial Education and Savings Program

A groundswell of interest in young people’s ability to understand and handle financial decisions has generated keen interest in financial knowledge and effectiveness of financial education. This study examines an innovative four-year school-based financial education and savings program, called “I Can Save” (ICS). Using a quasi-experimental design, the study examines quantitative and qualitative data to analyze program effects on financial knowledge. Children who participated in ICS scored significantly higher on a financial literacy test than comparison group students in the same school, regardless of parent education and income. Results suggest that children increase financial capability when they have access to financial education and it is accompanied by participation in meaningful financial services

The I Can Save Program: School-Based Children\u27s Saving Accounts for College

This paper examines an innovative college savings program for public elementary school children. The project is based on the proposition that children will gain financial knowledge and be more likely to view college as an attainable goal because they are accumulating savings to help pay for higher education. As the latest in a long history of school-based savings programs, this program pioneers the idea of matched savings in which children and family savings in the students’ accounts are matched one to one up to a maximum of $3,500. Findings suggest that the principal, teachers, children, and their families are enthusiastic about the program. Saving patterns show that families can save, but low levels and patterns of saving suggest that structures that compel regular saving and boost saving rates would improve saving rates and regularity. The program successfully teaches financial education through an after-school club, but it has been more difficult to incorporate it into the classroom. Universal children’s savings accounts may circumvent some of the limitations of this program, although more research is required to assess what program components are most effective

Young Children\u27s Perceptions of College and Saving: Potential Role of Child Development Accounts

This paper explores young children\u27s perceptions and expectations about attending college, and the potential influence of a savings program on shaping children\u27s perceptions about paying for college. As part of a four-year study of a school-based college savings program called “I Can Save”, this paper uses qualitative evidence from interviews conducted in second and fourth grades with a diverse group of 51 children. Findings suggest that most of the children in the study have a general understanding of college and have begun a process of considering higher education. Further, children in “I Can Save” are more likely than a comparison group of children to perceive that savings is a way to help pay for college