Childrens Saving Accounts

As we announced last week, the Asset Building Program and the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis are co-releasing a series of reports, Creating a Financial Stake in College, by William Elliott III on the importance of children's savings and college outcomes. The second report in the series is being released today and is available for download here. The press release from last week is also available here.

“Creating a Financial Stake in College” is a four-part series of reports that focuses on the relationship between children’s savings and improving college success. This series examines: (1) why policymakers should care about savings, (2) the relationship between inequality and bank account ownership, (3) the connections between savings and college attendance, and (4) recommendations to refine children’s savings account proposals.

By Jaya Burathoki, Save the Children

Originally posted on www.youthsave.org

The Asset Building Program and the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis (CSD) are pleased to publish a series of reports collectively titled "Creating a Financial Stake in College." Authored by William Elliott III, professor at University of Kansas School of Social Welfare, the four-part series focuses on the relationship between children's savings and improving college success.

By Rani Deshpande, YouthSave Director, Save the Children

Originally posted on www.youthsave.org

If you live or work in the Washington, D.C. / Virginia / Maryland area and are interested in asset-building, you are in for a treat. During January 11-15, 2012, approximately 20 individual research papers and posters focusing on asset-building research will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR). This research is the latest and greatest from some of the leading researchers in the asset-building field, including Gina Chowa, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Vernon Loke, Jin Huang, and Youngmi Kim. Topics include savings at tax time, financial capability of youth in international settings, home ownership and housing stability, and debt and asset accumulation. The conference will be held at the Grand Hyatt Washington. Presentations that are "don't miss" are listed below. Click on the number at the end of the titled presentation for a direct link to the complete abstract.

During one of our recent events, Sheldon Garon of Princeton University and Ray Boshara of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis referred to the weak household balance sheet as one of the core economic challenges of our time, suggesting that households must focus on asset-building rather than rely on credit and debt.

Two businessmen walk into an auditorium full of fifth grade students and announce to the children, most from poor families, that they will all have their college educations paid for. For fans of The Office, this scene might conjurer up memories of Scott's Tots, the group of Scranton, PA students sponsored by Dunder Mifflin's regional manager Michael Scott.

Originally posted on www.youthsave.org

A new blog post, “Why Financial Literacy Fails (and What to Do About It)” takes a strong jab at the efficacy of financial literacy interventions saying “Time and again, [its] efforts have failed. They don’t make any noticeable difference in the way we spend and save.” While mixed results from studies measuring the impacts of financial education indicate that the jury is still out on its effects on individuals’ financial behaviors, the author goes on to make a valid point with which I whole-heartedly agree: “financial literacy isn’t enough.” That is, financial success is not necessarily determined by how well individuals can calculate interest rates, but how well they are able to delay gratification for immediate consumption, control their emotions, and overcome other psychological barriers that prevent most human beings from making rational choices, such as saving.