All FSP Publications

Featured Posts

Family Finances

The New Wealth Agenda

Among the truly urgent crises facing the United States is widespread household financial insecurity. A stunning 51% of U.S. households have expenses that a ...

BY Katherine Lucas McKay Shehryar Nabi

05.26.2023
Family Finances

The State of Financial Security 2020: A Framework

Aspen FSP presents a new framework for understanding and addressing the challenges of household financial insecurity.

BY Financial Security Program

11.09.2020

2024 Publications

Family Finances

Beyond Bootstraps

The notion of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps,” deeply embedded in the American psyche, belies the fact that it is physically impossible to ach ...

BY Céline Apollon Heather McCulloch

04.29.2024
Family Finances

Insurance Against Financial Shocks

This brief highlights the urgent need for comprehensive solutions to address financial shocks faced by a majority of U.S. households annually. Building up ...

BY Katherine Lucas McKay

04.02.2024
Family Finances

Rainy Days Don’t Retire

As life expectancy in the U.S. increases, older adults will comprise a larger share of the population than ever before. At the same time, older adults will ...

BY Shehryar Nabi Karen Biddle Andres

03.22.2024
Family Finances

A Gathering Storm

Approximately 53% of all U.S. counties face elevated exposure to at least one climate hazard of flooding, wildfire, or extreme heat. As extreme weather eve ...

BY Sheida Isabel Elmi Bianca Sofia Lopez Shehryar Nabi

03.04.2024
Family Finances

Next Steps to a More Inclusive Financial System

Our Collective Call to Action: Next Steps to a More Inclusive Financial System follows Aspen FSP’s report, The State of Inclusion in the U.S. Financial S ...

BY Mack Wallace Erin Borġ (Thiemann) Kate Griffin

01.23.2024

2023 Publications

Family Finances

The State of Inclusion in the the U.S. Financial System

The State of Inclusion in the U.S. Financial System follows Aspen FSP’s report, Towards a National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, and moves from makin ...

BY Mack Wallace Kate Griffin

10.30.2023
Family Finances

Government-to-Person Payment Systems: A Primer

Direct cash payments impact millions of U.S. households, playing a routine role in combating food insecurity, providing income support to retirees or worke ...

BY Rachel Black Bianca Sofia Lopez

09.26.2023
Family Finances

Moving from 57 Million to Zero

In June 2023, retirement experts from the public, private and nonprofit sectors, including corporate leaders, policymakers, researchers and advocates, conv ...

BY Financial Security Program

08.29.2023
Family Finances

The New Wealth Agenda

Among the truly urgent crises facing the United States is widespread household financial insecurity. A stunning 51% of U.S. households have expenses that a ...

BY Katherine Lucas McKay Shehryar Nabi

05.26.2023
Family Finances

Rapid Change, Real Momentum

In October 2022, policymakers, financial services executives, academics, advocacy leaders, and financial technology innovators gathered for the sixth annua ...

BY Financial Security Program

05.22.2023
Family Finances

Blockchain, Crypto and Household Financial Security

In 2022, cryptocurrency went mainstream. Millions of people -- including disproportionate numbers of Black consumers -- purchased cryptocurrencies for the ...

BY David Derryck Mack Wallace

04.04.2023
Family Finances

Women in the Economy

Women in the Economy (WE) - a research and action project based at the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (Aspen FSP) - is designed to answer the ...

BY Heather McCulloch Céline Apollon

03.28.2023
Family Finances

The Case for Early Wealth Building Accounts

The importance of what we’re calling “investable sums” in young adulthood has become increasingly clear over the last decades, as the cost of obtaining wealth-building assets in the United States has skyrocketed while incomes have stagnated.

BY Karen Biddle Andres Ray Boshara Jason Ewas David Sieminski Sophia Scott

02.21.2023
Family Finances

The Price of Entry

A structurally inclusive financial system provides all people with the ability to access, utilize, and reap the benefits of a full suite of financial servi ...

BY Sheida Isabel Elmi Bianca Sofia Lopez

02.09.2023
Family Finances

Toward A National Strategy for Financial Inclusion

The financial system represents critical infrastructure for the U.S. economy. When it's well functioning, it provides all people the financial tools to liv ...

BY Mack Wallace Kate Griffin

01.19.2023
Family Finances

Weathering the Storms

For most households in America, financial shocks are inevitable. The car will break down. The house will need a repair. A key earner for a household will b ...

BY Jason Ewas Tim Shaw

01.04.2023

2022 Publications

Family Finances

Reimagining a U.S. Benefits System That Supports All Workers

In early April 2022, the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (Aspen FSP) convened its inaugural Benefits21 Leadership Forum (Forum) as part of Benef ...

BY Financial Security Program

09.12.2022
Family Finances

Financial Security at the Core

Benefits are foundational to achieving financial security, yet many workers and their families lack these critical supports. This report identifies a start ...

BY Rachel Black

09.12.2022
Family Finances

Benefits Scorecard

A new framework to assess how both public and private benefits to support workers’ financial security needs.

07.11.2022
Family Finances

Workplace Benefits Met Crisis: Supporting Worker Cash Flow

This report summarizes a set of Benefits21 roundtable discussions we hosted in September and October 2021 with influential leaders: executives from large c ...

06.16.2022
Family Finances

101 Solutions for Inclusive Wealth Building

Having wealth, or a family's assets minus their debts, is important not just for the rich—everyone needs wealth to thrive. Yet building the amount of wea ...

BY Katherine Lucas McKay Shehryar Nabi

04.26.2022
Family Finances

Disparities in Debt

Racial wealth inequality has been pervasive in the United States from the earliest days of colonization 400 years ago. Despite Constitutional guarantees of ...

BY Katherine Lucas McKay Joanna Smith-Ramani Tashfia Hasan

02.07.2022
Family Finances

2021 Aspen Leadership Forum on Retirement Savings Report

In April 2021, the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program kicked off its fifth annual Leadership Forum on Retirement Savings. In a departure from pre ...

BY Financial Security Program

01.06.2022

2021 Publications

Family Finances

Foundations of a New Wealth Agenda

In The State of Financial Security 2020, the Aspen Financial Security Program identified the urgent need for a new wealth agenda in the United States, grou ...

BY Financial Security Program Sheida Isabel Elmi Bianca Sofia Lopez

11.30.2021
Family Finances

Start at the Beginning

Aspen FSP released a new set of practices for applying a person-centered framework to the design and evaluation of financial security policy.

BY Financial Security Program Rachel Black Riani Carr

11.01.2021
Family Finances

A Financial Security Threat in the Courtroom

In this brief we seek to illuminate policymakers’ opportunities to help make emergency savings both automatic and inclusive.

BY Financial Security Program

09.21.2021
Family Finances

Moving from Experimentation to the Mainstream

In this brief we seek to illuminate policymakers’ opportunities to help make emergency savings both automatic and inclusive.

BY Financial Security Program Karen Biddle Andres Tim Shaw Taylor Gauthier

09.01.2021
Family Finances

Building the Tech-Enabled Safety Net

COVID-19 has highlighted the central role that technology plays in delivering essential services such as food, housing assistance, and unemployment insuran ...

BY Financial Security Program Justin King

05.24.2021
Family Finances

Eight Truths about Savings and Four Principles for Inclusion

The brief identifies the key barriers to regularly saving and accumulating funds and explores the characteristics of inclusive savings solutions.

BY Financial Security Program Katherine Lucas McKay

04.26.2021
Family Finances

Expert Survey on Retirement Savings

Aspen FSP conducted a survey to gauge levels of support – or lack thereof – among leaders across sectors for potential solutions to these priorities and other key challenges discussed over the past five years at the Aspen Leadership Forum on Retirement Savings.

BY Financial Security Program Karen Biddle Andres Tim Shaw Taylor Gauthier

04.13.2021
Family Finances

The Complete Financial Lives of Workers

Learn how work arrangements and benefits together determine if  workers will have a reasonable shot at financial security

BY Sheida Isabel Elmi Financial Security Program

03.28.2021
Family Finances

Student Loan Debt is Growing the Racial Wealth Gap and How Philanthropy Can Help

The problems that emerge from carrying student loan debt are systemic and have consequences not only for borrowers and their households, but also their communities, their states, and the nation’s economy. But these problems are solvable.

BY Karen Biddle Andres Financial Security Program Asset Funders Network

01.28.2021
Family Finances

Set Up to Fail: Fines, Fees & Financial Insecurity

Chronic Debt is a rapidly growing problem among households across the US and a significant barrier to financial stability and wealth building.

BY Joanna Smith-Ramani Financial Security Program Asset Funders Network

01.28.2021
Family Finances

The Path to a Better Safety Net

During the pandemic, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook and other online platforms have united people in frustration and celebration, and have created a valuable repository of guidance, user complaints and insights, and ideas for policy reform.

BY Financial Security Program Justin King

01.21.2021
Family Finances

Financial Security Starts with Affordable, Stable Housing

Everyone can do something to expand housing security in their own communities. Find the robust set of solutions for effective, equitable, and sustainable housing in the full solutions framework.

BY Financial Security Program EPIC

01.04.2021

2020 Publications

Family Finances

Best Practices for Emergency Rental Assistance Programs

This slide deck lays out emerging best practices for the design and administration of rental assistance programs for states, localities, and their non-profit partners who will be called upon to disburse billions in rental assistance.

BY Financial Security Program Katherine Lucas McKay Sam Gilman Zach Neumann

12.22.2020
Family Finances

Centering the Margins

Aspen FSP released a new set of practices for applying a person-centered framework to the design and evaluation of financial security policy.

BY Financial Security Program Rachel Black

12.15.2020
Family Finances

The State of Financial Security 2020: A Framework

Aspen FSP presents a new framework for understanding and addressing the challenges of household financial insecurity.

BY Financial Security Program

11.09.2020
Family Finances

Re-Imagining Retirement Amid New Uncertainty 2020

Re-Imagining Retirement Amid New Uncertainty 2020 -- report from the fourth annual Aspen Leadership Forum on Retirement Savings.

BY Financial Security Program

10.13.2020
Family Finances

Benefits21: A Modernized System of Benefits

A growing percentage of our workforce is disproportionally excluded from workplace benefits and often rely on a public system of benefits that is complex, fragmented, and not designed to meet their needs.

BY Financial Security Program Benefits21

09.21.2020
Family Finances

The Cycle of Savings

We know saving is important – but our assumptions about why may be wrong. A new report from Aspen Financial Security Program and members of the Consume ...

BY Sheida Isabel Elmi Financial Security Program

09.11.2020
Family Finances

People, Technology, and the Safety Net

COVID-19 jolted the American economy — and it caused at least 30 million Americans to lose their jobs or have their working hours curtailed by April. Th ...

BY Financial Security Program Justin King

08.18.2020
Family Finances

National Eviction Risk Projections

This slide deck describes the methodology and approach to the analysis, and also discusses which populations are most at risk. Finally, it contains state-by-state projections for local policymakers and business leaders.

BY Financial Security Program Katherine Lucas McKay Sam Gilman Zach Neumann

08.10.2020
Family Finances

Guaranteed Income and Cash Infusions: A Three-Part Series

This set of three publications explores how direct investments via cash infusions and transfers boost individual and family financial well-being. These bri ...

BY Financial Security Program Sheida Isabel Elmi

04.21.2020
Family Finances

How States Can Solve the Student Debt Crisis

Student debt balances are ballooning, posing a serious threat to the financial security of millions of borrowers across the country. In the last 15 years, ...

BY Financial Security Program Tim Shaw Kiese Hansen

03.23.2020
Family Finances

Solving the Student Debt Crisis

For people across the United States, student loan debt is a growing portion of the household balance sheet. More than 40 million Americans have outstanding ...

BY Financial Security Program Tim Shaw Kiese Hansen

03.23.2020
Family Finances

Financial Security Starts with Affordable, Stable Housing

One in three US households—nearly 100 million people—struggle with housing costs that jeopardize their financial security. The problem is acute for vir ...

BY Financial Security Program EPIC

01.14.2020

2019 Publications

Family Finances

Next Steps Toward a More Secure Retirement for All Americans

The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program convened its third annual Leadership Forum on Retirement Savings in April. More than 70 experts and industry leaders gathered in Warrenton, Va., to share, evaluate, and refine solutions to the nation’s retirement crisis.

BY Financial Security Program

10.23.2019
Family Finances

A National Strategy to Build an Inclusive Financial System

Amid the longest period of sustained economic growth in modern US history, millions of American individuals and households are struggling to find financial stability in the short-term and security in the long-term.

BY Financial Security Program

10.18.2019
Family Finances

The Great Convergence

Financial security challenges facing low-income people in the US are becoming increasingly similar to those faced by those in the developing world.

BY Financial Security Program Timothy Ogden

08.09.2019
Family Finances

Illuminating a Hidden Safety Net

Research into how hardship funds work and benefit employees and employers.

BY Financial Security Program Commonwealth

04.30.2019
Family Finances

Short-Term Financial Stability

This report shines a light on the central role that short-term financial stability plays in a person’s ability to reach broader financial security and upward economic mobility.

BY Financial Security Program

04.24.2019
Family Finances

Student Loan Cancellation Report

Federal policy reforms to forgive or cancel outstanding student loan debt have become a hot topic of debate among advocates, researchers, and policymakers ...

BY Katherine Lucas McKay Financial Security Program Diana Kingsbury

04.23.2019
Family Finances

An Action Guide for Local Government

Empowering local leaders to take ownership of consumer debt and continue to drive solutions forward

BY Financial Security Program

02.19.2019
Family Finances

Comments on Department of Labor Proposed Rule Regarding the Definition of “Employer”

The coverage gap is the most fundamental challenge facing our current retirement system, leaving roughly 55 million Americans without access to the type of tax-advantaged, payroll-facilitated savings plans that are proven to increase retirement security.

BY Financial Security Program

01.02.2019

2018 Publications

Family Finances

Compounding Threats of Income Volatility & Retirement Insecurity

This brief explores the interaction between two critical financial security challenges, income volatility and lack of retirement preparedness.

BY Financial Security Program Kiese Hansen

12.17.2018
Family Finances

Consumer Debt Solutions Framework

EPIC’s research has identified seven specific consumer debt problems that result in financial insecurity and damage well-being.

BY Financial Security Program

11.14.2018
Family Finances

The nLIFT Manifesto

This Manifesto sets forth nLIFT’s vision, our values, and our theory of change within the fintech sector.

BY Financial Security Program Business Ownership Initiative

09.11.2018
US Economy

Economic Security Summit 2017 Report

This report incorporates insights from the 2017 Economic Security Summit and provides an outline for future policy dialogue and directions.

BY Karen Kahn Financial Security Program Economic Opportunities Program

06.15.2018
Family Finances

Consumer Debt: A Primer

This research primer sheds light on the meaning of current trends in consumer debt.

BY EPIC

03.26.2018

Summit Reports

US Economy

Economic Security Summit 2017 Report

This report incorporates insights from the 2017 Economic Security Summit and provides an outline for future policy dialogue and directions.

BY Karen Kahn Financial Security Program Economic Opportunities Program

06.15.2018
US Economy

Reconnecting Work and Wealth

This report incorporates insights from the 2016 Economic Security Summit and provides an outline for future policy dialogue and directions.

BY Anne Kim Financial Security Program Economic Opportunities Program

06.01.2017
Finance and Assets

2015 Financial Security Summit

A discussion of expanding retirement security and children's savings accounts for low- and moderate-income families.

BY Financial Security Program

12.15.2015
Finance and Assets

2014 Financial Security Summit

Examines how policymakers can make it easier for households to build financial security and to reinvigorate the American Dream.

BY Colby Farber

11.05.2014
Finance and Assets

2013 Financial Security Summit Report

The 2013 Summit examined how leaders can still preserve the American Dream of a college education, homeownership, and a secure retirement.

BY Colby Farber

11.20.2013
Finance and Assets

2012 Financial Security Summit Report

Summit participants revealed compelling consensus around savings policies that have the power to enhance economic mobility and financial security.

BY Colby Farber

06.07.2013

2017 Publications

Family Finances

Responses to and Repercussions from Income Volatility in Low- and Moderate-Income Households

This is the second in a series of briefs produced by a partnership between the Aspen Institute’s Expanding Prosperity Impact Collaborative (EPIC), Washington University’s Center for Social Development (CSD), and the Intuit Tax and Financial Center.

BY Stephen Roll Krista Holub Sam Bufe Michal Grinstein-Weiss David Mitchell

12.22.2017
Family Finances

Income Volatility: Why It Destabilizes Families and How Philanthropy Can Make a Difference

This paper will help grantmakers understand the enormous challenge income volatility presents in our country and will present an array of strategies for philanthropy to leverage both investments and leadership to empower families to protect themselves from volatility’s worst effects.

BY Joanna Smith-Ramani Katherine Lucas McKay David Mitchell

12.11.2017
Family Finances

The Future of Income Volatility Research

A recap some of the field’s most notable research achievements, as well as recommend what we see as important and needed opportunities for further work.

BY Joanna Smith-Ramani Ida Rademacher David Mitchell

11.29.2017
Finance and Assets

Building Retirement Security for Latinos and the US

This brief focuses on retirement insecurity in the Latino community.

BY Financial Security Program Aspen Institute Latinos and Society

10.26.2017
Family Finances

Survey Results: The Experience of Volatility in LMI Households

This survey is particularly valuable because it captures a wide array of financial metrics on a population often difficult to study on a large scale, and it also tracks these metrics over time.

BY Stephen Roll Sam Bufe Gracie Lynne Michal Grinstein-Weiss David Mitchell

10.03.2017
Family Finances

Building a More Robust and Inclusive US Retirement System

A Rapporteur's Report from the Inaugural Aspen Leadership Forum on Retirement Savings.

BY Financial Security Program David Mitchell

09.27.2017
Family Finances

Reforming Unemployment Insurance to Support Income Stability and Financial Security

A brief exploring specific reforms that would enable unemployment insurance programs to serve a broader base of workers and buffer more effectively against employment-related negative income shocks.

BY Katherine Lucas McKay

09.07.2017
Finance and Assets

Modernizing Digital Financial Regulation

An analysis of the global RegLab landscape to identify and advance regulatory design lessons relevant to the FinTech policy debate here in the United States.

BY Schan Duff

07.12.2017
Family Finances

Income Volatility in the Service Sector

This new EPIC research brief enhances our understanding of the connections between income swings and family outcomes for hourly retail workers.

BY Daniel Schneider Kristen Harknett

07.07.2017
Family Finances

Driving Retirement Innovation

This brief explores the possibility of linking a short-term savings, or “sidecar,” account to a traditional retirement account to better meet consumers’ short- and long-term financial needs.

BY Gracie Lynne David Mitchell

06.27.2017
Finance and Assets

The Assets Movement at a Moment of Reckoning

Ida shares the past, present, and potential future of the asset movement and illustrates how investments from institutions will play an outsized role in shaping the future opportunity structure of our nation.

BY Ida Rademacher

06.15.2017
Family Finances

Shortfall Savings

Exploring the ways low- and moderate-income households can build savings for the short-term.

BY Financial Security Program David Mitchell

06.13.2017
Family Finances

How Smarter, Faster Paychecks Could Mitigate Volatility

When and how workers get paid is an untapped opportunity for building financial security.

BY Financial Security Program David Mitchell

06.05.2017
Family Finances

Using Hybrid Financial Products to Manage Income Volatility

This brief reviews the current research on how families cope with income volatility, identifies existing hybrid products that have demonstrated capacity to help, discusses the roles of the institutions best positioned to act, and recommends principles for further action.

BY Katherine Lucas McKay

04.12.2017
Family Finances

Stable and Predictable Scheduling as Antidote to Income Volatility

This brief synthesizes the current research on scheduling instability, chronicles the most promising responses by the institutions best positioned to act – employers, government, and technology companies – and recommends principles for further reform.

BY Financial Security Program David Mitchell

02.07.2017

Older Publications

Family Finances

Proposed Rule on Expanding Safe Harbor

Aspen FSP submitted comments to the Department of Labor (DOL) in support of the agency’s proposal to expand the recently created ERISA safe harbor to cer ...

BY Ida Rademacher

10.04.2016
Family Finances

Expanding Retirement Coverage in States

This issue brief summarizes the options for states to expand retirement coverage for private-sector workers and highlights the tradeoffs state policymakers will face when deciding which avenues to pursue.

BY Financial Security Program

09.06.2016
Family Finances

Income Volatility: Managing the Swings

This brief presents a framework for thinking through possible public- and private-sector solutions to the challenge of income volatility.

BY Financial Security Program

08.25.2016
Family Finances

Saver's Credit at a Glance

States pursuing retirement programs can help citizens claim underutilized federal tax credit.

BY Financial Security Program National Institute on Retirement Security

06.18.2016
Family Finances

When Income Spikes and Dips: A Primer

Our investigators share the latest on the nature and impact of the income volatility destabilizing nearly half of American households.

BY Financial Security Program

05.01.2016
Family Finances

ERISA Safe Harbor for States

FSP submitted public comments to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regarding DOL's recent proposal to establish a safe harbor from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

BY Financial Security Program

01.21.2016
Family Finances

Transferring myRA Account Balances

Aspen FSP provided feedback on how best to transfer myRA account balances to private sector Roth IRAs in the event that the myRA saver reaches the Transfer Threshold of $15,000 or 30 years of participation without having specified a preferred private sector provider.

BY Financial Security Program

10.23.2015
Family Finances

Benefit of Higher US Household Saving

This study provides conclusive evidence of the vital role household saving plays in spurring job creation, boosting growth, reducing reliance on foreign capital, and preparing Americans for retirement.

BY Financial Security Program

06.24.2014
Family Finances

Child Trust Funds

This paper intends to address the Child Trust Fund's criticism to highlight the success and renew the debate on children's savings accounts in the United States.

BY William Zichawo, Colby Farber, Lisa Mensah

03.10.2014
Family Finances

Testimony to Pensions/Retirement Working Group

Aspen IFS puts forward that a tax reform moment offers the opportunity to enhance retirement security for all American households.

BY Financial Security Program

04.10.2013
Family Finances

Building Our Financial Security on a Solid Rock

Mensah's remarks addressed strengthening our country's financial security foundation and the importance of the assets field.

BY Lisa Mensah

09.19.2012
Family Finances

The Freedom Savings Credit

Building Americans' household balance sheets should start with making savings and asset-building incentives more efficient and equitable.

BY Lisa Mensah, Raymond O'Mara III, Colby Farber, Robert Weinberger

02.17.2012

Family Finances

Social Security: The House that Roosevelt Built

Critics of the Social Security program are fond of labeling the Social Security trust fund as a fiction, claiming that the program is bankrupt, or dispa ...

BY Pamela Perun, Patricia Dilley

07.28.2011
Family Finances

Confronting the Challenge of Longevity

Providing Americans the tools to manage the risk of outliving one's savings in retirement will be a major challenge of the 21st century.

BY Pamela Perun

10.26.2010
Family Finances

The Case for Security Plus Annuities

Because the financial situations and goals of American savers are diverse, they will need a variety of products and services to secure their income.

BY Pamela Perun

10.18.2010
Family Finances

A Savings Approach to Homeownership

Homeownership is a core American value. It epitomizes the American Dream and the opportunity to build better lives for our children.

BY Financial Security Program

07.15.2010
Family Finances

Aspen IFS's Comment to the Department of Labor

Aspen IFS recognizes that there are behavioral challenges to turning people into savers and savers into investors.

BY Financial Security Program

04.30.2010
Family Finances

The Advantages of RS+ over the R-Bond

This publication compares the two leading default investment options being considered for the Obama Administration’s proposed Automatic IRA.

BY Lewis Mandell, Pamela Perun, and Raymond O'Mara III

02.24.2010
Family Finances

School-Based Financial Education

An in-depth look at the history of financial literacy initiatives in America, past successes, shortcomings, and lessons learned.

BY Lewis Mandell, Ph.D.

06.17.2009
Family Finances

Child Accounts

The Initiative on Financial Security (Aspen IFS) at the Aspen Institute has conducted four years of research into the potential for a delivery system based ...

BY Lisa Mensah, Mary Laraia, Pamela Perun

06.22.2009
Finance and Assets

Building Financial Security in the Obama Era

Aspen IFS issues a challenge to Wall Street to take the initiative and begin work to help build a new American system of savings.

BY Financial Security Program

04.06.2009
Family Finances

Savings Policy eBriefing Book

America is facing a savings and asset crisis. We are experiencing a period of lower personal savings than at any time since the Great Depression.

02.25.2009
Family Finances

A Savings Agenda for America

A comprehensive savings agenda for policy makers to pursue in order to ensure the long-term economic prosperity of the United States.

BY Financial Security Program

11.05.2008
Family Finances

Child Accounts: The California Advantage

The California Advantage explains how local governments in California could use an existing financial instrument - known as Coogan Trusts - to create a Child Account program.

BY Financial Security Program

07.01.2008

Family Finances

Storm Clouds Ahead for 401(k) Plans?

Perun explores the implications of the Supreme Court decision in LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates and discusses whether that decision will undermine recent efforts in Congress.

BY Financial Security Program

07.01.2008
Family Finances

The UK Child Trust Fund: A Successful Launch

Similar to the IFS Child Account proposal, the account aims to give children a financial springboard into adulthood at age 18, helping to pay for anything from a first home to a college education.

BY Financial Security Program

06.01.2008
Family Finances

Initiative on Financial Security Annual Report

For the Initiative on Financial Security, 2007 was a watershed year. The May publication of the seminal report, Savings for Life, marked the end of one phase of IFS's work and ushered in a new phase with new challenges and opportunities.

BY Financial Security Program

01.01.2008
Family Finances

Putting Home Ownership Back Within Reach

An outline of the IFS proposal for creating Home Accounts to encourage low- and moderate-income Americans to save for a down payment toward the purchase of a house.

BY Financial Security Program

01.01.2008
Family Finances

"Super Simple" Savings Plan for the United States

Analyzes why past efforts in the United States to increase individual retirement savings have fallen short and proposes a new plan to stimulate retirement savings.

BY Financial Security Program

01.01.2008
Family Finances

The U.K. Child Trust Fund: Early Results

A program of investment accounts for building the savings capacities of children and families as well as for giving all children a financial asset to fund their transition to adult life.

BY Financial Security Program

11.10.2007
Family Finances

An Update on Private Pensions

Employer-sponsored pensions are an important source of retirement income and often make the difference between having a comfortable retirement and just scraping by.

BY Financial Security Program

10.07.2007
Family Finances

A Closer Look at the Bottom Third

The National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI) provides a measure of the percentage of households that will be unable to maintain their standard of living in retirement.

BY Financial Security Program

10.01.2007
Family Finances

Pathway to Financial Security for All Americans

Savings for Life features a series of policy recommendations for increasing financial security for all Americans – across income levels, and at every stage of life.

BY Financial Security Program

01.01.2007
Family Finances

The Case for Child Accounts

Child Accounts provide a vehicle to start smart savings policy from an early age. By providing a government match for low- and moderate-income Americans, Child Accounts can give every child a jumpstart on financial literacy.

BY Financial Security Program

01.01.2007

Family Finances

Savings in America

This white paper explores barriers to savings and fresh policy approaches to help lower- to middle-income Americans save.

BY Financial Security Program

04.01.2006
Family Finances

Can Tax Reform Help All Americans?

This publication highlights savings recommendations, summarizes roundtable participants' reflections on the trade-offs between fairness and simplicity, and provides an analysis about making the Saver's Credit more generous.

BY Financial Security Program

01.01.2006
Family Finances

Towards a Sensible System for Saving

This paper charts the development of savings plans and describes current plans and their usage.

BY Financial Security Program

01.01.2006
Family Finances

Key to a Retirement Security Compromise

The Saver’s Credit Policy is the key to a retirement security compromise on Capitol Hill.

BY Financial Security Program

10.01.2005
Family Finances

Kids Accounts: A Platform For Financial Security

The conversation ranged from whether such accounts are good policy to the nuts and bolts of account structure to strategies to increase financial literacy.

BY Financial Security Program

02.01.2005
Family Finances

Filling the Retirement Savings Gap in Ireland

The Irish government introduced the PRSA in 2003 in order to increase the country's private pension coverage. The PRSA was designed to appeal chiefly to people consistently left uncovered by existing pension arrangements.

BY Financial Security Program

11.01.2004
Family Finances

The Child Trust Fund: A Universal Long-Term Savings Policy

The Child Trust Fund is a bold experiment in universal asset building.

BY Financial Security Program

06.01.2004