Blog
Access Commonwealth’s latest thinking, new ideas, and practical insights from our team of innovators, researchers, and business experts.
Designing Financial Solutions for Elder Caregivers
The Opportunity to Ramp Up College Access
Ramp It Up fulfills a very real imperative–an introduction to the complicated college financial assistance landscape in a low stress, no-risk environment. Based on new insights from academic research, we are exploring how Ramp It Up might be used as…
Trends and Opportunities for Innovation: New Actors
Commonwealth is always looking for changes in the landscape that could lead to either new financial challenges or opportunities for new innovative solutions. Over the last year we have engaged in an extensive research project and have identified four areas…
Trends and Opportunities for Innovation: Decision Making
Commonwealth is always looking for changes in the landscape that could lead to either new financial challenges or opportunities for new innovative solutions. Over the last year we have engaged in an extensive research project and have identified four areas…
Viewpoint: FinTech Group Says New Sector Must Fulfill a Mission
This article originally appeared in the Boston Business Journal on September 21, 2018. As the Boston region’s entrepreneurs, bankers, venture capitalists, regulators, and technologists gathered around the Hub during Boston FinTech Week earlier this month, one important set of voices…
Bringing Social Impact to FinTech
Earlier this month, Boston FinTech Week took place – a week of events convened by FinTech Sandbox and organized by Boston’s accelerators, institutions, startups, and firms to build the local FinTech ecosystem. Commonwealth was excited to lend our voice on…
Leveraging Investors to Boost Employee Financial Security
At Commonwealth, we are exploring the role employers can play in the financial wellbeing of their employees. Our publication Financial Security in the Workplace: Making it Work for Financially Vulnerable Workers makes the case that businesses can support the financial…
Promoting Financial Security at Tax Time
Come January each year, millions of American households prepare to file their income taxes. Financially vulnerable households—who may have limited or no tax liability and/or qualify for tax credits—commonly file for and are due tax refunds. In 2017 the IRS…
Using AI to Build Financial Security: 3 Questions Financial Institutions Should Ask Themselves
Over the past year, Commonwealth has hosted a series of Savings Innovation convenings in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (the Boston Fed) for banks, credit unions, and key regulators in the region. Each session focused on a…
Building Financial Security with Rules of Thumb
At Commonwealth, we’re exploring how rules of thumb (RoT) – simple, memorable, actionable, broadly applicable messages that are inexpensive to produce and disseminate – can be used to improve financial security. They provide consumers with a concise direction regarding a…
Board Reflections: An Interview with Keith Malbrue
Board Reflections is a series of interviews with Commonwealth board members discussing their views on emerging financial challenges, innovative solutions, and the future. “Big data” can conjure an exploitative dystopia. Can it be a good deal for consumers? That is…