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Way back in 2011, we conducted a survey of readers that told us a number of things: importantly, we learned that many of you look to us for timely news from the asset building field and that a regular round-up of articles would be a welcome addition to our other content. In keeping with the spirit of 2012 and resolutions and all that good stuff, the Asset Building Program is introducing a new weekly blog feature: a Friday news round-up. We hope this will help you (and us, for that matter) keep up with developments in the field, note-worthy news, and learn about partner organizations working around the U.S. on asset building, economic security, anti-poverty policy, and accessible financial services for low- and middle-income Americans. Topics will vary week-to-week (and depending on the news!) but we’ll aim to provide a diverse overview of the things we’re keeping an eye on that we think you’ll find interesting too.

If you live or work in the Washington, D.C. / Virginia / Maryland area and are interested in asset-building, you are in for a treat. During January 11-15, 2012, approximately 20 individual research papers and posters focusing on asset-building research will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR). This research is the latest and greatest from some of the leading researchers in the asset-building field, including Gina Chowa, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Vernon Loke, Jin Huang, and Youngmi Kim. Topics include savings at tax time, financial capability of youth in international settings, home ownership and housing stability, and debt and asset accumulation. The conference will be held at the Grand Hyatt Washington. Presentations that are "don't miss" are listed below. Click on the number at the end of the titled presentation for a direct link to the complete abstract.

During one of our recent events, Sheldon Garon of Princeton University and Ray Boshara of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis referred to the weak household balance sheet as one of the core economic challenges of our time, suggesting that households must focus on asset-building rather than rely on credit and debt.

The George Washington University School of Business and the Federal Reserve Board host a Financial Literacy Seminar Series  which bring together academics, policy makers, practitioners, and other experts interested in research on financial education and capability building.  Tuesday’s session featured Brigitte Madrian from the Harvard Kennedy School whose research is a cornerstone for our understanding of household saving and investment behavior,

On November 14, 2011, the Asset Building Program of the New America Foundation submitted a response to the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Financial Education and Financial Access (OFEFA) request for feedback on its financial access activities.

Every cloud has a silver lining. In the case of the Great Recession, that silver lining is an increased awareness that Americans—especially those in lower-income households—are better off when they have access to a stock of liquid savings to weather unexpected events.  Without these precautionary savings, families are economically insecure. The process of building up these savings largely depends on access to an array of financial products and services, such as low-cost and high-quality savings accounts.

After two decades, the asset building field has grown up and learned some really important lessons along the way.  The field started with a focus on promoting access to long-term assets for major investments like housing and post-secondary education.  Since then, we’ve come to recognize that short-term, discretionary, liquid savings – aka emergency and precautionary savings -- is just as, if not even more important, for lower-income families.  As Ray Boshara describes in “7 Surprising Findin

This presentation was given for “Coming Up with Cash in a Pinch: Emergency Savings and Its Alternatives,” a Family Financial Security Webinar by the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin.  The webinar details a comprehensive review of savings and households' ability to access cash quickly to meet unexpected expenses, policy recommendations that can support emergency savings, and the work of a non-profit counseling and financial empowerment center in New York City. 

NPR recently ran a two part series about the racial wealth gap – the economic divide between white families and Black and Hispanic families that stems from disparities in wealth (income and assets minus any debts). Both pieces illustrate how assets make the difference between financial stability and perpetual economic insecurity. Assets provide a cushion to fall back on during difficult times as well as a vehicle of economic mobility.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas dedicated an issue of its series “Banking and Community Perspectives” earlier this year to the issue of asset building in a rural context. “Asset Building Taking Root in Rural Communities” provides a thorough overview of the unique challenges of building wealth and economic security in rural areas and features promising regional initiatives that seek to do just that. To date, policymakers, non-profits, and the private sector have collaborated on diverse approaches to asset building in the area from IDAs in New Mexico and Louisiana to community tax centers and financial literacy efforts in Texas.