Emergency savings is crucial to building financial security. Unfortunately, millions of people lack access to these proven tools from employers, financial institutions, and other actors. Providing an emergency savings account product through the workplace is key to raising financial security and ultimately building wealth for workers earning low to moderate incomes (LMI). Retirement plan sponsors and recordkeepers are uniquely positioned to provide quality emergency savings products to plan participants.

Commonwealth and the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA) Retirement Research Center (RRC) partnered to understand retirement plan participants’ financial needs, actions, and sentiments. We also interviewed recordkeepers to understand their perspectives on offering emergency savings products, particularly for workers earning LMI. The full body of our research with DCIIA RRC which supports the institutionalization of emergency savings through the workplace, can be found below.