Ownership & Assets

Chairman Alarcón and members of the Committee, I am pleased to submit testimony to the Los Angeles Committee on Jobs and Business Development on the topic of increasing the take up of the Earned Income Tax Credit in Los Angeles.  I applaud Chairman’s Alarcon’s leadership in exploring effective ways to bring more of this important resource to Los Angeles—for the sake of Los Angeles working families and the local economy.

"The House and the Senate are singing from the same songbook," said Reid Cramer, a financial services expert at the New America Foundation, a moderate to ...

529s are tax-advantaged accounts designed to help families save for post-secondary education.  In recent years, state policymakers and 529 administrators have worked to expand access to 529 plans and increase the participation of lower-income families through outreach, advertising, and targeted incentives such as matching deposits and reducing or eliminating fees.[1]  Yet, as plan administrators and state and federal policymakers design new strategies for expanding the use of 529 plans

Research Associate, California Asset Building Program

Maria Sotero is the Research Associate for the Asset Building Program in California. She works to support the program and its work through research, writing, and event planning. She blogs about financial empowerment strategies for low-income Californians and manages the program's social media outreach, working to build and maintain a virtual warehouse of asset policy… more

In this version of New America's weekly podcast, Media Relations Manager Kate Brown sits down with Mark Huelsman, Program Associate with New America's College Savings Initiative to discuss the connection between savings and college completion, the advantages of 529 college savings plans, the ability of low-income families to save for college, and policy proposals to help them do just that.

In pursuit of an economic recovery, President Obama has argued that we must transition from an "era of borrow-and-spend to one where we save and invest." It is an appealing concept, especially as the disappearance of surplus assets and historic levels of debt helped transform a garden-variety business cycle recession into a historic collapse.

But how does the saving and investing square with high levels of government borrowing and spending to stimulate the economy, protect those thrown out of work, and prop up consumer demand?

At a time when low-income students are underrepresented in higher education and the cost of attendance is becoming increasingly unaffordable, 529 college savings plans have the potential to address issues of college readiness, access and completion.  Savings can help reduce higher education debt, making college more affordable, and has the potential to change aspirations and behaviors of both students and their parents. Research from the asset building field shows that even a relatively small amount of savings may have positive impacts on behavior and educational achievement.

AutoSave is a unique savings plan that automatically diverts through payroll deduction a small amount of post-tax wages into an individual savings account. This new infrastructure nearly seamlessly enables individuals to contribute small amounts of their wages into an accessible, non tax-advantaged savings account. It will be especially valuable for individuals who have limited liquid assets, and who may otherwise be forced to meet emergency needs with high-cost emergency loans.

For Immediate Release

According to the New America Foundation, more than 300,000 Angelenos lack basic checking and savings accounts. "But this is a reality in too many low-income communities throughout Los Angeles and across the state, where banks and credit unions are nonexistent," said Olivia Calderon, California legislative director of the Asset Building Program at the foundation. ... Original Article