Our Research
Commonwealth conducts original qualitative and quantitative research with financially vulnerable people—including Black, Latinx, and women-led households who disproportionately experience financial insecurity. We also interview industry experts and academics. We take what we learn and translate findings into actionable insights and practical solutions designed to change systems to work better for financially vulnerable people. We work with community groups, employers, financial services firms, fintechs, policymakers, and workplace solution providers to design and test real-world, practical solutions that not only work for individuals and families, but are also scalable and address the business needs of our partners.
We share the results of our work to provide you with innovative ideas, practical insights, and the tools you need to act. Explore our publications below.
The New College Investor
Investing is a proven path to wealth building, especially for young adults who can maximize long-term wealth through early investing. However, millions of people living on low to moderate incomes (LMI) do not participate in the investment marketplace—including LMI college…
How Employers Can Help Workers Save for Their Child’s Education Through 529 College Savings Plans
The number of people in the United States who are attending a four-year college is higher than at any other time in history; however, getting a degree is also more expensive than ever before. Despite the cost, the upside is…
The Hidden Burdens of Student Debt & The Potential of Employer-Provided Solutions
A growing number of employers are offering student loan repayment assistance as a benefit to their employees to alleviate the student debt burden, and recent policies present new opportunities to do so. To add to existing research on the link…
Empowering New Black, Hispanic, and Latinx Investors Earning LMI
Commonwealth sought to further understand the experiences of Black, Hispanic, and Latinx investors in a six-month study through observational field research with a self-directed investing platform. This project involved 472 participants, focusing particularly on households earning LMI (under $80,000). Participants…
Transforming Investor Identity Final Report 2024
Commonwealth, with support from the Nasdaq Foundation, launched a national research program and pilot in partnership with three leading financial platforms (Ellevest, Public, and Stash) to gain insight into the ways in which the development of an investor identity can…
Transforming Investor Identity
Made possible by the generous support of the Nasdaq Foundation, with a special thanks to our field test investing platform partners Ellevest, Public, and Stash. Our national project, Transforming Investor Identity, is a first-of-its-kind research and pilot program to expand…
Toolkit: Unlocking Investor Identity
Introduction Participants received funding in national study In seed funding per person Months of national research with beginner investors Made possible by the generous support of the Nasdaq Foundation, with a special thanks to our field test investing platform partners…
How Starlight is Using AI to Improve Public Benefits Access
Today, 30% of people in the U.S. participate in some form of public assistance program. However, many more are eligible but do not successfully enroll, often due to the difficulty of navigating complicated administrative barriers in which alignment between eligibility…
Catalyzing Financial Resilience
As part of BlackRock’s Emergency Savings Initiative (ESI) and in collaboration with Commonwealth, a large national healthcare company designed a workplace emergency savings program for over 50,000 employees. The Company reached almost 70% enrollment in an out-of-plan emergency savings program…
Building 529 Engagement through Integrated Emergency and Educational Savings
With the Pennsylvania Treasury Department and Flourish FI (a fintech), we designed a “Savings Pocket Pilot” to see how families might to save and engage with 529 plans if they could simultaneously save and access funds for emergencies without penalty. …