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

Service Enquiry Service in the 21st Century

The workshop set out to acknowledge and explore the potential of youth service as a strategy for social, economic and democratic development, to identify new work that needs to be undertaken, and to increase knowledge about youth

Toward Finance as a Public Good

Financial inclusion is a prerequisite for the financial stability of families and for successful economies, but common conceptualizations of it have not adequately accounted for the financialization of modern life or for the influence of social policy, which increasingly delivers public benefits through financial services. This study proposes a broader conceptualization of financial inclusion, finding support for this new understanding in results from analyses of data from the 2016 National Financial Well-Being Survey and from a case study of Child Development Accounts. Support for this publication comes from the Kauffman Foundation (Grant No. 201806-4478)

From Research to Policy: Lessons From Individual Development Accounts

From Research to Policy: Lessons From Individual Development Account

Two Extraordinary Days for Race and Electoral Democracy in America

In this Perspective, Michael Sherraden draws optimism from participation in the January 5, 2021, special election in Georgia, as well as the national repudiation of the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Together, these events create an opportunity to shape a better future

Assets and the Poor: Implications for Individual Accounts and Social Security

Assets and the Poor: Implications for Individual Accounts and Social Securit

Asset Building Policy and Programs for the Poor

Asset Building Policy and Programs for the Poo

Toward Progressive 529 Plans: Key Points

This brief introduces key talking points on 529 plans, their potential, current flaws, and how inclusive and progressive features might remedy them

Asset-Based Policy and the Child Trust Fund

Asset-Based Policy and the Child Trust Fun

A Promising Platform for College Saving

As part of President Obama’s larger agenda to create a “save and invest” economy, a review of College Savings (529) Plans is underway to expand their use by middle- and low-income families. In this College Savings Initiative perspective, Sherraden examines the challenges and potential of 529s