Expanding Savings and Ownership: Low-Cost Solutions to the National Savings Problem

This event is co-sponsored by the New America Foundation and the Savings and Ownership Caucus

Personal savings rates have plummeted in the past decade to an all-time historic low. Many Americans aren't saving enough money for retirement, households are increasingly living day to day on high-interest credit cards, and millions are one medical emergency or layoff away from financial crisis. Moreover, poor savings rates mean that there is less money for domestic investment and to finance our government's debt. As a result, we are increasingly relying on loans from the rest of the world to meet our obligations. These five experts will share their low-cost solutions to the national savings problem.

Participants

• Fred T. Goldberg, Jr.
  Attorney, Skadden, Arps; Former IRS Commissioner and Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, George H.W. Bush Administration


• Peter Tufano
  Sylvan C. Coleman Professor of Financial Management, Harvard Business School


• Jennifer Tescher
  Director, Center for Financial Services Innovation


• William Gale
  Arjay and Frances Fearing Miller Chair, Brookings Institution and Co-Director, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center


• Reid Cramer
  Research Director, Asset Building Program, New America Foundation