Savings & Ownership Caucus

(Sacramento, California, 04/02/08)-- Today, at his First Annual Financial Literacy Fair, California State Controller John Chiang joined by Assembly Members Ted Lieu (D-Carson), Ted Gaines (R-Roseville), Martin Garrick (R-Carlsbad), Roger Niello (R-Sacramento), reinforced his commitment to advance a statewide financial literacy initiative that promotes access to economic opportunity amongst all Californian consumers.

"We commend the Controller's attention to what is a very important and often unaddressed need, consumer financial education," said Olivia Calderon, California Legislative Director of New America's Asset… more

While the President signs into law a $152 billion stimulus package to jumpstart the economy, millions of Americans continue to rack up consumer debt, watch their home values slide, and worry about their futures with little to no savings. In fact, even with stimulus checks on the way to promote consumption, Americans are focusing on the need to rein in their debt and save more. A recent Harris Interactive poll found that when it comes to using the… more

Time to Make Outsaving the Joneses a Reality (Houston Chronicle)

"One in seven families is dealing with a debt collector," Ray Boshara and Phillip Longman of the New America Foundation think tank wrote in a Washington Post commentary. "Children today are more likely to live through their parents' bankruptcy than their parents' divorce," they wrote. And that likelihood will increase this year. ...

The current -- and predicted future -- turmoil in the mortgage market highlights an important challenge to the American dream of homeownership: how to make certain that those who enter into homeownership are able to sustain that status, protecting family stability and building equity in a critical asset. Thirty years ago, those who owned homes had fixed rate mortgages and substantial equity, and foreclosure was a rare event. However, many Americans were denied the opportunity to… more

This event is co-hosted by AARP, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, CFED, National Disability Institute, The Retirement Security Project, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, and World Institute on Disabilities.

As more and more Americans are expected to save for their own futures, millions of low-income individuals get conflicting messages from their government: Save, and don't save. Over the last decade a consensus has been emerging among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners about the importance of… more

Whether the objective is to promote retirement security, improve educational attainment, provide a financial cushion for life transitions, or increase national savings, the need to increase household savings is vitally clear. As is well known, the personal savings rate in the United States has been falling for nearly two decades and became negative two years ago, a level not seen since the Great Depression.

In an environment of large budget deficits and bulging entitlement obligations, little revenue can be sacrificed… more

My Dad has never been much of one for giving advice, but one piece he offered many years ago stuck: Pay yourself first...

Pay yourself first is a short way of saying set some money aside every paycheck, before you start paying everyone else...

It is along those lines that Reid Cramer, a policy analyst and research director of the Asset Building Program at the nonpartisan New America Foundation, has been trying to get official Washington to listen to a new… more

America’s personal savings rate is abysmally low. Last year the personal savings rate was negative, the lowest annual rate since the Great Depression. Whether the objective is to promote retirement security, improve educational attainment or increase financial literacy, the need to increase household savings is vitally clear.

Children’s Savings Accounts (CSAs), which can be established automatically at birth, are gaining momentum as they form the base of many new and exciting proposals to increase savings. Many believe that CSAs hold great… more

Regardless of income or race, kids are growing up without knowing the basics that will keep them out of financial trouble. In a time when the personal savings rate is negative, credit card debt is growing and kids are more likely to see their parents go through a bankruptcy than divorce, financial education is more important that ever.

Many groups from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors have responded to this need by mandating financial education in schools, developing… more

To build a policymaker consensus around the goal of broadening asset ownership, New America’s Asset Building Program proposed and facilitated the establishment of a bi-partisan, bi-cameral Congressional Savings and Ownership Caucus in February 2005.

This forum brings together key Members of Congress, their staffs, and leading outside experts to discuss -- in a non-partisan, forward-looking manner -- recent research findings, policy options, and potential legislative opportunities to advance the goal of expanding savings and asset ownership in America.