Liquid Savings and Expanding Access to 529s to Close the Wealth Gap
Effective financial resources are only as valuable as they are accessible to those who need them. 529 plans, and CSAs broadly, are potentially game-changing tools for families positively impacting their trajectories of opportunity. Yet, low income families currently use 529s…
Financial Stress Through a Crisis
Over the past few months, the vaccination rates of the general public have spurred a reopening of businesses and, with that a considerate and continuing drop in national unemployment rates. Despite these positive developments, the financial stress and lasting financial…
How to Design Emergency Saving Solutions to Increase Sign Up
Nearly 40% of Americans don’t have enough money saved to cover an unexpected expense of $400. Lack of emergency savings is an increasingly urgent issue especially for households living on lower incomes, particularly Black, Latinx, and women-led households making under $60,000 annually…
Losing Income Through a Crisis
With the number of vaccinated Americans steadily increasing, the number of new COVID-19 cases steadily going down, and the American Rescue Plan providing much-need economic relief, Americans wanting signs of hope after a long year have a number of places…
The Role of Public Policy in Solving the Emergency Savings Crisis
Emergency savings is vital to family financial wellbeing and the broader economy. With 37% of Americans unable to manage a $400 emergency with savings, and lower-income households, particularly Black, and women-led households making under 60K per year disproportionately affected, lack…
How Social Support Can Help Lower-Income People Save Money
As part of BlackRock’s Emergency Savings Initiative, Commonwealth completed a one-year pilot on group savings with our partner Esusu that resulted in participants saving a total of $6,440. We found that 93% of participants saved regularly as a group, demonstrating…
Recordkeepers And Emergency Savings Webinar
With 37% of Americans unable to manage a $400 emergency with savings, and lower-income households, particularly Black, women-led households making under 60K per year disproportionately affected, the issue of emergency savings is an urgent one for much of America. COVID-19…
Conquering the Storm with Resilience
Commonwealth’s Financial Resilience Project: COVID Stories, Rapid Insights closely tracked the financial lives of low- and moderate-income households over the course of six months. Our project followed 56 households from 24 states across the United States to gain rapid insights…
Pandemic Financial Strain: Innovations in Retirement & Emergency Savings
What is the financial impact of COVID-19 on low- to-moderate-income people? What do plan sponsors and recordkeepers need to know about emergency savings solutions to make informed decisions? What are the pros and cons of different types of emergency savings…
How Commonwealth Partnered with UPS and Voya to Achieve an Emergency Savings Milestone
Recently, UPS announced the launch of an emergency savings program providing employees a way to set aside liquid after-tax savings easily and automatically. The program gives 90,000 non-union employees the ability to divert a portion of their paychecks into rainy-day…