Are Families Prepared for Financial Emergencies? (Article/Opportunity and Ownership Facts)Caroline Ratcliffe,
Katie VinopalData from the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances show a disturbing reality. Even prior to the current recession, many families did not have enough assets to see them through a modest spell of unemployment or another financial emergency. In 2007, nearly one in three U.S. families were liquid asset poor. Low-income, young, and nonemployed families are more vulnerable to economic emergencies. For example, two-thirds (68 percent) of bottom income quintile families and 47 percent of second income quintile families are liquid asset poor, while such shortfalls affect only 1 percent of top income quintile families.
| Posted: September 17, 2009 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Enabling Families to Weather Emergencies and Develop (Series/New Safety Net)Signe-Mary McKernan,
Caroline RatcliffeLow-wage jobs can be unstable, leaving families struggling to cope with employment gaps and financial emergencies that can strike without warning. About four in five low-income families are "asset poor," lacking enough liquid savings to live for three months at the federal poverty level without earnings. In this essay, McKernan and Ratcliffe suggest a cluster of policies that would improve financial markets and savings opportunities for low-income families across the life cycle.
| Posted: July 16, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Portraits of the Assets and Liabilities of Low-Income Families (Policy Briefs/Opportunity and Ownership Project)Adam Carasso,
Signe-Mary McKernanNearly one quarter of low-income families do not have a checking or savings account, more than one-third do not own cars, 60 percent do not own a home, and 90 percent have no retirement account. In contrast, the typical middle-income family has checking or savings accounts, retirement accounts, owns a car and a home. This brief synthesizes current research on the assets and liabilities of low-income families into a variety of portraits and provides suggestions for future research and policy.
| Posted: May 23, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Do Welfare and IDA Program Policies Affect Asset Holdings? (Policy Briefs/Opportunity and Ownership Project)Signe-Mary McKernan,
Caroline Ratcliffe,
Yunju NamThis brief presents an empirical analysis of how asset tests affect families’ asset holdings. The findings suggest that more lenient asset tests and more generous IDA program rules can lead families to increase their asset holdings. Relaxed vehicle asset limits, for example, are associated with increased vehicle ownership. Since people often need a reliable car to get to work, this finding suggests that exempting at least one vehicle in all states may increase employment and job stability among low-income families. The findings also suggest that restrictions on withdrawals and incentives built into restricted asset accounts and IDA programs may provide families with motivation to build assets.
| Posted: May 23, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Determinants of Asset Building (Series/Poor Finances: Assets and Low Income Households)Sondra Beverly,
Michael Sherraden,
Min Zhan,
Trina R. Williams-Shanks,
Yunju Nam,
Reid CramerThis report provides a policy-oriented conceptual framework that has the potential to explain saving and asset accumulation across the entire population and to account for the low levels of saving and asset accumulation in the low-income population. The report also reviews empirical evidence that supports or challenges this framework.
| Posted: April 15, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
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