How Payroll Providers Can Advance Worker Emergency Savings: New Webinar on December 8, 2022
Hosted by Commonwealth with support from BlackRock’s Emergency Savings Initiative. Traditional employee benefit packages tend to help those earning higher incomes and rarely address the most pressing needs of workers living on low and moderate incomes (LMI). These workers may…
Commonwealth & SaverLife Research Instrumental in RISE & SHINE Act
Utilizing a study from Commonwealth and SaverLife, Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Emergency Savings Account Act of 2022 with the goal to facilitate convenient and affordable access to workplace emergency savings accounts. This bill was…
Designing Research to Maximize Engagement of Gig Workers
The Financial Benefits Project tests benefits employers can use to support financial security of gig workers.
Joint Principles for Effective Emergency Savings Policy
As the COVID-19 pandemic and recession reminded us, millions of Americans are not prepared to weather a financial emergency. Policymakers have an opportunity now to create ways to better support individuals and their families to maintain financial security and build…
Emergency Savings Design Challenge
Mad*Pow and Commonwealth are on a mission to close the emergency savings gap. Emergency savings are fundamental to financial security, yet many low- and moderate-income families are unable to manage unexpected expenses through their emergency funds or from savings. Furthermore,…
Research Conducted over Last 18 Months Highlights Key Role of Recordkeepers in Employee Emergency Savings
Commonwealth and the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA) Retirement Research Center (RRC) partnered on a series of five surveys to understand retirement plan participants’ financial needs, actions, and sentiments during the economic crisis caused by COVID-19. Commonwealth also interviewed…
New Book on The Future of Building Wealth Features Essay Co-authored by Timothy Flacke and Deborah Winshel
In partnership with BlackRock’s Emergency Savings Initiative, authors Timothy Flacke and Deborah Winshel wrote an essay, “Meeting People Where They Are and Laying a Foundation for the Future: Solving America’s Emergency Savings Crisis,” in a new book, The Future of…
Debunking Four Emergency Savings Myths Held by RPAs
The following summarizes Commonwealth and our partner NMG Consulting’s research on retirement plan advisors (RPAs) and highlights a significant opportunity for RPAs to join with recordkeepers and plan sponsors in playing a key role in helping Americans build emergency savings.…
Lessons from Three Decades Shaping Retirement Policy
Sometimes dubbed the “Godfather of Auto-enrollment”, no single person has had more influence on retirement policy over the past three decades than Mark Iwry. As a senior official in two administrations, a researcher, and attorney, Mark has helped shape the…
Early Prototype Design on Financial Security Benefits for the Evolving Workforce
Commonwealth has launched The Financial Benefits Project: Developing a Financial Security Toolbox for the Evolving Workforce, a pilot testing the effects of multiple financial benefits on gig workers’ financial security. This research will provide insights into the financial needs of…