CIAO DATE: 10/2008
May 2006
Increased saving for education, housing and investments among even the poorest Americans helps not only those households, but could bolster the national economy and net national savings as well, along with reducing the country’s reliance on overseas investments. This white paper explores barriers to savings and fresh policy approaches to help lower- to middle-income Americans save, including new initiatives such as universal children’s accounts and enhanced Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), as well as improvements to existing programs such as matched subsidies for retirement savings, and an enhanced, refundable tax credit for low-income savers. It is co-authored by Suzanne Nora Johnson, Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs and Chairman of the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs (GMI), Lisa Mensah, Executive Director of The Aspen Institute Initiative on Financial Security (Aspen IFS), and Eugene Steuerle, Senior Fellow at The Urban Institute.
Resource link: Savings in America: Building Opportunities for All [PDF] - 400K