The Precarious State of Family Balance Sheets

This report seeks to develop a clear picture of the current state of household financial security. It begins by exploring three components of family balance sheets -- income, expenditures, and wealth -- and how they have changed over the past several decades, and concludes with an examination of how these pieces interrelate and why understanding family finances requires that they be examined holistically. The data tell a powerful story about the state of household economic security and opportunity: Despite the national recovery, most families feel vulnerable and stressed, and could not withstand a serious financial emergency. This reality must begin to change if the American Dream is to remain alive and well for future generations

Refund to Savings (R2S): Insight From the Field, 2012

Refund to Savings (R2S): Insight From the Field, 201

Neighborhood Poverty and Household Financial Security

In a previous study, The Pew Charitable Trusts examined the effects of neighborhood context on American families' economic mobility. That analysis found that neighborhood poverty is associated with downward mobility, reinforcing other research that has shown a link between high-poverty neighborhoods and unemployment, poorer performing schools, and increased violence, all of which pose risks to residents' economic security.This chartbook draws on data from the Survey of American Family Finances, commissioned by Pew in November 2014, to illustrate the health of family balance sheets in high- and low-poverty communities across the United States and to examine how neighborhood context influences people's attitudes toward the economy

Saving Behavior in Response to Motivational Prompts: Evidence From the Refund to Savings Experiment

Saving Behavior in Response to Motivational Prompts: Evidence From the Refund to Savings Experimen

Account Use and Demand for Tax-Refund Savings Vehicles: Evidence From the Refund to Savings Experiment

Account Use and Demand for Tax-Refund Savings Vehicles: Evidence From the Refund to Savings Experimen

Refund to Savings: 2013 Evidence of Tax-Time Saving in a National Randomized Control Trial

Refund to Savings: 2013 Evidence of Tax-Time Saving in a National Randomized Control Tria

Long-Term Follow-Up of Individual Development Accounts: Evidence From the ADD Experiment

Long-Term Follow-Up of Individual Development Accounts: Evidence From the ADD Experimen

Individual Development Accounts and Post-Secondary Education: Evidence From a Randomized Experiment

This paper presents evidence from a randomized field experiment testing the impact of a 3-year matched savings program on educational outcomes 10 years later. We examine the effect of an Individual Development Account (IDA) program on educational enrollment, degree completion, and increased education level. The IDA program, which ran from 1998 to 2003 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, provided low-income households with financial education and matching funds for qualified savings withdrawals, including a 1:1 match for educational uses. We find a significant impact on education enrollment and positive, but non-significant impacts on degree completion and increase in level of education. We also examine the interaction between gender and treatment assignment and find that the IDA had a strong positive effect on increased educational attainment for males, but not for females

Effects of an Individual Development Account Program on Retirement Saving: Follow-Up Evidence From a Randomized Experiment

Using data from a randomized experiment that ran from 1998 to 2003 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, we examine the 10-year follow-up effects on retirement saving of an Individual Development Account (IDA) program. The IDA program included financial education, encouragement to save, and matching funds for several qualified uses of the savings, including contributions to retirement accounts. The results indicate that, as of 2009, 6 years after the program ended, the IDA program had no impact on the propensity to hold a retirement account, the account balance, or the sufficiency of retirement balances to meet retirement expenses

Refund to Savings: 2013 Results From a National Experiment to Build Financial Stability at Tax Time

Refund to Savings: 2013 Results From a National Experiment to Build Financial Stability at Tax Tim