7 Surprising Findings (from the Asset Building Field)

As you may know, Ray Boshara recently left his day to day gig at New America for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. We’re really excited for Ray (and that we still maintain a strong relationship with him.) One of the reasons we’re so excited is that Ray will bring his unique perspective and focus on asset building to an institution as powerful and important as the Federal Reserve Bank. In fact, Ray started on that endeavor a while back, publishing a piece in the St. Louis Fed’s Bridges newsletter, “Seven Surprising Findings from the Asset Building Field.”

It’s a really nice introduction for people who are new to the asset building framework and a great reminder for people with some more familiarity with the subject.

The seven surprising findings:

1. The poor save, and the poorest save more.
2. Low-income families want short-term, unrestricted savings, not just savings restricted to long-term, productive assets.
3. Matches matter less than we thought.
4. Assets matter more than we thought.
5. Financial education matters, but defaults matter more.
6. Our biggest successes thus far have required no government funds.
7. Saving and asset building are still the right ideas—even in this economy, and even as asset values have shrunk.

Read the whole thing here, or check out the newsletter above.