Blog
Access Commonwealth’s latest thinking, new ideas, and practical insights from our team of innovators, researchers, and business experts.
25 Years In and Looking Ahead
New and Traditional Pathways for Closing the Racial Wealth Gap
As the national conversation about racial disparities continues, it’s important to ensure that we are including solutions to address the racial wealth gap. In 2016, the median white family had ten times the wealth of the median Black family. That…
The Lookback and Low-Income Families Webinar
This year more than ever, families need a large tax refund to get by. In a normal year, tens of millions of families count on their Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) to provide a vital…
Preventing a Tax Time 2021 Crisis
The American jobs crisis continues to escalate at an alarming rate. Nearly 1 million people filed for first-time unemployment benefits on a seasonally adjusted basis in the US in just the first week of 2021. Based on these early signs,…
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…
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…
Uncovering Savable Funds
In 2020, millions of families have seen existing financial obstacles compounded by the economic fallout of COVID-19 and have seen new challenges arise. As a result, building savings—key to financial security, accessing financial opportunities, and long-term wealth-building—is currently out of…
Money, Mindsets, and Systems
Our country is experiencing an unprecedented series of crises–public health, economic, political, and social. These crises have shone a spotlight on many of the longstanding inequities in our systems, giving us an opportunity to remake those systems in ways that…
LMI Retirement Plan Participants’ COVID-19 Financial Strategies, Six Months In
As the end of 2020 nears, Americans are nearly nine months past the first COVID-19 economic impact payment, and the hopes for another stimulus before November’s election did not come to bear. Americans living on low to moderate incomes (LMI)…
Tax Season 2021 Webinar
As the end of 2020 nears and the likelihood of another stimulus bill passing remains unclear, many Americans are ending the year having faced an unparalleled financial crisis for several months. More than half of Americans report they will run…
Institutions During COVID-19
Commonwealth’s Financial Resilience Project: COVID Stories, Rapid Insights closely tracks the financial lives of low- and moderate-income households over the course of several months. Our project follows 56 households from 24 states across the United States to gain rapid insights…