Leslie Parrish

Millions of low-income Americans are hearing two conflicting messages from their government: Save, and don’t save. Over the last decade a consensus has been emerging among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners around the importance of enabling low-income persons to save and build wealth, and state and federal programs have emerged to do just that. Yet, with limited exceptions, the rules of our nation’s public assistance programs aimed at such persons – Food Stamps, Medicaid, and TANF, for example – send the… more

The new bankruptcy reform law that will take effect in October fails to address one of the root causes of bankruptcy, particularly among young adults: a lack of basic financial education.

So where can we remedy that?

In our schools. Supporters of the bankruptcy reform effort argue that because it will be harder for individuals to wipe out their debts by filing for bankruptcy, it will curb the abuse of the bankruptcy system by imposing greater responsibility on spending decisions.… more

The purpose of this annual report is to summarize and take stock of the current state of federal policy through an asset-building lens, especially as it affects the asset base of the poor.

In his Second Inaugural Address, President Bush reaffirmed his commitment to promoting an “Ownership Society” and unambiguously connected asset building policy to the most cherished ideals of the nation. He proclaimed:

In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of… more

This menu of policy options is presented with federal policymakers in mind. It reflects our latest and best thinking, and draws heavily on the work of many experts focusing on various facets of savings and asset-building policy. The menu includes calls for new structures and policies as well as small changes to existing financial products and government programs. As there are many policy routes to broadening savings and asset ownership, there is necessarily some overlap among the ideas presented. The… more

The purpose of this annual report is to summarize and assess federal assets policy efforts from last year, in the President’s new Budget, and for the coming session of Congress. While not intended to be exhaustive, this report identifies almost $320 billion in resources related to asset building included in the Bush Administration’s 2005 Budget. The overwhelming majority of these resources, $302 billion, are catalogued as tax expenditures, while almost $17 billion of discretionary spending is proposed.

Overall, this report… more

A college education is not only increasingly a necessity to secure a good job, but also often the first step to acquiring assets and creating greater opportunities. Each additional year of educational attainment yields increased earnings and makes the ownership of assets such as investments, retirement savings, a home, and other sources of wealth more likely. With the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act underway in 2004, an opportunity now exists to make a college education available to every qualified… more

This menu of policy options was written with federal policymakers in mind. It reflects the latest and best thinking, and draws heavily on the work of many experts focusing on various facets of savings and asset-building policy. As there are many policy routes to broadening savings and asset ownership, there is necessarily some overlap among the ideas presented below. The proposals are at varying stages of development—some (such as Individual Development Accounts) are fully developed, others (on asset protection, for… more

Based on the assumption that lifelong learning is a form of asset accumulation, this paper discusses a range of financing strategies. The paper includes a summary of what has been learned about assets, both from research and demonstrations largely centered in the U.S. While the evidence strongly suggests that assets are worth accumulating for both economic and social reasons, this begs the question, how can the poor possibly accumulate assets? To answer this question, we closely examine the U.S. experience… more