Savings & Ownership Caucus

Advancing Economic Mobility Through Savings

Kirsten Gilbert — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
11/19/2009 - 1:00pm

"This is going to be a different recovery than the past, because Americans are going to have to save more." -Tim Geithner, US Secretary of the Treasury Saving is a key to economic mobility as well as economic recovery. Despite the critical importance of savings, most Americans, especially those with low incomes, are not saving enough. Federal policy encourages saving for the wealthy, but for low-income Americans saving is often discouraged and the path to self-sufficiency is made more difficult.

The Congressional Savings and Ownership Caucus

Asset Building — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:41:00 -0500

Mission: The mission of the Congressional Savings and Ownership Caucus is to explore, debate, and advance policies to build savings and assets for all Americans, particularly those with lower incomes and fewer resources. We envision a nation in which all Americans are owners of financial assets, and thus better able to exert control over their economic futures. Since its inception in 2005, the Caucus has been examining a variety of issues related to savings and ownership-issues which now loom larger than ever.

New America Foundation Commends California State Controller John Chiang's Financial Literacy Initiative

Communications — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:47:00 -0400

(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 Building Program. "The Controller's engagement on this issue could go a long way to raise awareness and bring together existing resources and financial education efforts that are happening in California to provide a state-wide, comprehensive financial education initiative."

Advised by New America's Asset Building Program, Controller Chiang sponsored AB 2123, which was introduced by Assembly Member Ted Lieu (D-Carson), to establish a state-wide Financial Literacy Initiative. In addition to establishing a Financial Services Corps, AB 3123 will create a Financial Literacy Fund, and establish an Office of Financial Literacy Advocate and an Advisory Committee, while also providing Californians with the tools, resources, and access to a range of financial education information and providers.

New America's Asset Building Team has long called for the creation of a national Financial Services Corps and has made the idea a central component of its financial education policy agenda at both the federal and state level. "Consumers today are increasingly responsible for planning for their own retirement, homeownership and education expenses, and must do so in an increasingly complex financial services landscape," said Melissa Koide, Deputy Director of the Financial Services and Education Project at the New America Foundation. "With these added complexities, families across the income spectrum need and warrant quality, professional financial advice and guidance. The Financial Services Corps would provide a bridge to help working families access the advice and information they need."

About the California Asset Building Program
The purpose of New America's Asset Building Program, established in 2002, is to significantly broaden savings and assets ownership in America, thereby providing all Americans both with the means to get ahead and with a direct stake in the overall success of our economy. This major, new direction in public policy promises to be as successful in the 21st century as the Homestead Act and GI Bill were in previous centuries. The Program also established a Global Assets Project to promote asset-building policies worldwide. For more information, please visit the California Asset Building Program website at www.newamerica.net/california

About the New America Foundation
The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, post-partisan public policy institute whose purpose is to bring exceptionally promising new voices and new ideas to the fore of our nation's public discourse. Relying on a venture capital approach, the Foundation invests in outstanding individuals and policy solutions that transcend the conventional political spectrum. Headquartered in our nation's capital, New America also has offices in California and New York. More information is available at www.newamerica.net.

Beyond Stimulus

Communications — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
02/26/2008 - 9:00am

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

Ray Boshara, Phil Longman in Houston Chronicle | "Thrift is it in 2008"

Communications — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:18:00 -0500

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. ...

Beyond the Mortgage Meltdown

Communications — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 05:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
09/20/2007 - 12:00pm

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

To Save, or Not to Save?

Communications — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 05:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
07/26/2007 - 12:00pm

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

Low-Cost Ideas to Promote New Savings and Asset Ownership

Communications — Tue, 01 May 2007 17:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/01/2007 - 9:00am

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

Detroit Free Press Quotes Reid Cramer on AutoSave

Communications — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 19:43:00 -0500

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 idea about the old virtue of thrift: "wise spending that creates greater wealth at a future time."

Cramer calls his concept AutoSave, and he says it is based on "behavioral economics" showing that simple, default savings plans work best. Direct deposits that put your cookie jar on autopilot.

In the AutoSave idea, 2% of pay would be moved by employers into a limited set of low-cost investment options specified by the employee. So after a year, an employee who makes $50,000 would have $1,000 set aside, plus the return on it. You could do that yourself, of course, but behavioral economists say you wouldn't and statistics show you don't.

The employee could get access to the money for any reason, but Cramer thinks… more

Children's Savings Accounts

Communications — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 20:50:00 -0400

A New America Event
09/27/2006 - 9:15am

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