Commonwealth Investing Research Participant Hub
Welcome! This digital hub is a resource for participants in Commonwealth’s new investor research program. On this page you can:
- Access more information about the program
- Provide Commonwealth researchers with feedback about how your investing experience is going
- Find answers to common questions (FAQs)
If you don’t find what you’re looking for on this page, please reach out to us at investing@buildcommonwealth.org.
About the Project
Investing is one of the primary paths people living in the United States have available for building long-term wealth today. However, many people who are interested in investing are not participating for a variety of reasons that go beyond a lack of funds. For many, they may not know how to get started, feel overwhelmed by how much they need to learn, or just not feel like investing opportunities are designed for them. Commonwealth’s inclusive investing research is focused on understanding how to build a more diverse and inclusive investing system where everyone can feel welcome and capable of building wealth.
How It Works
For this research program, we’ve partnered with three different investing platforms: Public, Ellevest, and Stash. If you are a participant in this research, you will have an account with one of these platforms and have received seed funding to invest. You will have also signed a data sharing consent agreement allowing your platform to share data on your investing activities with Commonwealth researchers so that we can learn more about the behavior of new and inexperienced investors.
Depending on when you joined the program, we will collect this data for 9-12 months after you join. We will also be sending you a link to take a couple of surveys during this time, one at the halfway point and one at the end of the program. You will receive a gift card for completing these surveys, so please keep an eye out and help provide us with data to help build a better investing system. These surveys will also include an opportunity to sign up for interviews and focus groups, for which you will receive an additional $50 if selected to participate.
How Is It Going?
If you are a program participant, we would love to hear about how you are feeling about investing at the moment. Please feel free to share using the survey below:
Frequently Asked Questions – Getting Started
What is Commonwealth?
Commonwealth is a nonprofit research organization on a mission to make wealth possible for all people living in the United States. We are dedicated to closing the racial and gender wealth gaps, and changing the financial system to better support the financial well-being of working families.
Do I need to use my own money to participate in the program?
Commonwealth provides all participants in this research with $150 in seed funding so that they can try investing without risking their own money. You are not required to add your own funds to your investing account at any point to participate in the research, but are free to if you choose.
Why do you need us to sign a consent form to data sharing? What kind of data will be shared?
Collecting data through surveys, interviews, and our platform partner is important in our research on finding ways to make investing more inclusive and accessible to all. We will be receiving information about what investments participants are making and how their investing accounts are performing.
This data will be de-identified and used for aggregate analysis; nobody will be looking at or sharing activities at an individual level. Any publications of this research will not include any personal information about participants.
I have onboarded on the platform and created an account. When will I get my funds to invest?
If you have completed the baseline survey and consent agreement and have a platform account, you should receive your seed funding within two weeks. If it has been more than two weeks and you have not received your seed funding, please contact Commonwealth at investing@buildcommonwealth.org.
I got my funding. Now what?
Now that you have your seed funding, you are free to invest it however you wish. We encourage you to explore the platform and use their educational resources as a starting point for your investing journey.
I’m having issues with my Public/Ellevest/Stash account.
Please contact the appropriate customer service line and explain the issue you are experiencing. Let them know you are part of the Commonwealth research program. If they are unable to help, please contact us at investing@buildcommonwealth.org.
You can contact the specific support teams with list emails below:
Public: support@public.com
Ellevest: support@ellevest.com
Stash: support@stash.com
What are participants expected to do during the pilot?
During the pilot, participants are free to invest the seed funding however they like. Participants will also be asked to complete two surveys, and have the opportunity to participate in interviews and focus groups if they complete the surveys. Survey, interview, and focus group participants will receive additional compensation.
What investing resources are going to be provided?
Commonwealth cannot advise participants on investment decisions, so most of this pilot will be self-guided by the participants. That said, both Public and Ellevest will have educational resources on their platforms that can be leveraged.
Commonwealth will also periodically send participants emails with program updates, links to platform resources, and invitations to take surveys.
Frequently Asked Questions – End of the Research
Can I continue to invest after the research project is finished?
Yes! Even though the research portion of this project is complete, we hope you do continue to learn and invest over time. If you have not already, explore the learning section and other tools on your investing platform that can help you continue to build your base of knowledge.
What happens to my account after the research project is finished?
Please note that if you do not take action to close your account, your account will remain active and open. Depending on the platform you’re using, there may be fees for premium services and trading activities. We have included links below regarding potential fees and costs by platform.
How can I close my investing account?
Please read the account or plan closing information for the platform you use for investing. We have included links below. In most cases, after your account is closed and your investments are sold, any remaining funds will be transferred back to your linked bank account. See next question regarding potential tax implications.
Are there any taxes associated with having my investing account?
Please note this is not tax advice. We recommend consulting with a tax professional for advice. There are typically two times when your taxes are affected by your investments.
- The first is when you receive income from the investments (this applies when you’re still invested). If you earned $10 or more on investing last year, you’ll receive a Form 1099. You’ll need to file this with your income tax return. For information specific to your provider, see below:
- The second is when you sell the investments for a capital gain, or the profits on an investment. If you close your investing account and earned a profit of $10 or more, you may owe capital gains taxes. You can learn more about reporting capital gains on your income tax return from the IRS. For information specific to your account, see below:
Where can I see the results of the research?
Check back at Commonwealth in the summer of 2024 when the complete results from this research project are published. Thank you for your participation!