Children's Saving Accounts on MSNBC's "The Cycle"

As part of their week-long series with The Washington Monthly and the special, assets-themed issue of that magazine, MSNBC's "The Cycle" hosted Phil Longman on Tuesday afternoon. Phil was there to talk about his article, "How to Save Our Kids from Poverty in Old Age."

Watch the video:

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In the article and clip, Phil pitches a version of children's savings accounts (he calls them "American Stakeholder Accounts") as a key to long-term household financial stability. Stakeholder Accounts are a twist on The ASPIRE Act, our long-standing plan for a universal system of children's saving accounts. The basics are all in place:

• universal accounts, opened at birth
• $500 deposit into every account
• children of low-income parents will receive up to an additional $500 in seed money
• matching funds for contributions from low-income families
• funds could be used for post-secondary education and training, homeownership, and retirement

The big difference in this version though is that Phil proposes mandatory contributions. 4% of each worker's salary would be delivered into their own account. Phil also proposes restricting the amounts that could be used on on non-retirement uses, as he believes Stakeholder Accounts are a necessary supplement to Social Security.

Nicholas Tuths also has a fun read on Phil's proposal on "The Cycle's" blog, check it out. You can also read the summary of our event with The Washington Monthly, "Jobs Are Not Enough," and watch video of that conversation.