“A Toolkit for Expanding Financial Capability at Tax Time” is now available and free to download. The 70-page book presents the current evidence underpinning various tax-time efforts to expand financial capability among low- and moderate-income households.
Michal Grinstein-Weiss, PhD, was installed as the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor on April 2 before an audience of colleagues, collaborators, supporters and family members, including many from her native Israel.
JPMorgan Chase, Prudential and Staples were among the companies that sent representatives to a conference about financial wellness programs for employees, hosted by the Center for Social Development at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work.
On Tuesday, September 19, leading human resources executives are coming to Washington University in St. Louis to discuss how companies can help alleviate their employees’ financial stresses.
The Center for Social Development at the Brown School of Social Work has partnered with Prosperity Now to produce a guide for companies: “Workplace Financial Wellness Services: A Primer for Employers.”
With the Center for Social Development as a partner, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau held two events in June at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work.
Low-income people who gain health insurance are much more likely to make their rent and mortgage payments, according to a new Washington University study of families living near the poverty line.
Financial Capability and Asset Building for All is one of the 12 Grand Challenges for Social Work and a growing practice in the social work profession. The Center for Social Development is committed to working with its partners to increase the financial capability of individuals, families, and communities across the globe!
Michal Grinstein-Weiss, associate director of the Center for Social Development, was a speaker in Tel Aviv at the conference “Making Finance Great Again,” which explored how the Trump administration may affect Israel and the global economy in finance, health care and more.
Motivational prompts to save tax refunds and suggested savings amounts for the tax refund can increase saving among low- and moderate-income households, finds a new experimental study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
Families who get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act are significantly more likely to make their rent and mortgage payments than are those who remain uninsured, suggests a new study from the Brown School and Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.
Michal Grinstein-Weiss, associate director of the Center for Social Development, spent part of December with Israel’s leading media providing insight on the country’s new law creating Child Development Accounts, the Savings for Every Child law.
Students who come out of college with debt — especially larger amounts — are more likely to face hardship and financial difficulty during their lives, finds a new study from the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.
Building on a longtime working history, leadership from the Center for Social Development formally advised the Israeli government in May on best practices for implementing the country’s new law to confer universal savings accounts on children born in Israel. The law takes effect in January 2017.
New research from the Center for Social Development at Washington University showed that low- to moderate-income black students and graduates accrued $7,721 more education debt than their white counterparts.
Just days before this year’s April 18 tax filing deadline, U.S. Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) proposed a plan to encourage Americans to build emergency funds.
In the midst of the 2016 tax season, leaders from philanthropy, policy, practice and academia convened in at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for a symposium about using tax time to build Americans’ financial capability.
The Volunteer Income Tax Preparer’s Toolkit: Showing Clients Why Tax Time is the Right Time to Save is a communications and resource guide for tax preparers on encouraging clients to save a part of their refund at tax time.
Michal Grinstein-Weiss, associate director of the Center for Social Development, spent part of December traveling in Israel on an important mission: to spread the word about how Israel can best implement its new law to provide universal child savings accounts known in the United States as Child Development Accounts, to all newborns.
Israel’s parliament has passed a law funding long-term savings accounts for all newborns, based on a proposal developed by Michal Grinstein-Weiss, associate director of the Center for Social Development, and on research efforts led by Michael Sherraden, director of CSD.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced the national launch of the myRA program, a government-backed retirement plan for people who don’t have access to a retirement savings plan at work or who haven’t found an easy enough way to save.
Israel’s parliament will consider a state budget this fall that includes funding for long-term savings accounts for all newborns, a proposal authored by Michal Grinstein-Weiss, PhD, the associate director of the Center for Social Development, and based on research efforts led by Michael Sherraden, PhD, the director of CSD.
An experimental Individual Development Account had no effect on whether participants opened a retirement account or on the adequacy of their retirement savings, according to a newly published article in the Journal of Gerontological Social Work.
Tax-time savings programs help low- and moderate-income families save significantly more of their refunds than those who choose not to participate, finds an analysis of such a program called $aveNYC.
The Great Recession exposed the financial fragility of millions of American families. Now researchers and policymakers are striving to improve the next generation’s grasp of personal finance and its access to safe financial products.
The associate director of the Center for Social Development urged U.S. senators on Thursday to create long-term asset-building policies and to use such “golden moments” as tax time to urge Americans to save.
While many Americans took a big financial hit during the Great Recession, homeowners were less likely than renters to lose very large proportions of their wealth, finds a new study from the Center for Social Development in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
The 80 experts attending the event were brought together by a common interest in creating strategies for using the “golden moment” of tax time to help Americans build savings by changing the way consumers make economic decisions.
Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Ph.D., the associate director of the Center for Social Development and associate professor at the Brown School at Washington University, presented to a visiting delegation of Israeli government officials in New York City.
The U.S. Treasury Department has awarded a $1.08 million research contract to the Center for Social Development at Washington University’s Brown School. One of 11 contracts awarded nationally under the Financial Empowerment Innovation Fund, this award will fund research on myRA accounts (“My Retirement Accounts”).
The Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis built on an already engaged and productive relationship this month when it co-sponsored a symposium with the Center for Household Financial Stability at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
As the 2014 tax season opens, the Refund to Savings initiative continues with adjustments designed to better understand consumer savings behavior and help more Americans build savings.
The Great Recession, characterized by devastating mortgage defaults, has challenged the traditional belief that homeownership is a good investment. This is particularly true for those with low and moderate incomes.
As taxpayers make the final push to file before the April 15 deadline, they often have visions of refund checks and plans to spend their windfall. But the question that more and more people are asking is, “How can I make the most of my refund?”
The 2013 tax season has officially launched, and there is a 75-percent chance taxpayers will be eligible for a refund. What would it take to get them to save most, or all, of that money?
Grinstein-Weiss is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the field of asset building whose research focuses on developing programs and policies to promote economic and social development of vulnerable groups.
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) recently launched the first large-scale test of college savings accounts when it incorporated a college savings and financial counseling component into GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness for Undergraduate Programs), its initiative to prepare youth for college.
The Center for Social Development congratulates Michal Grinstein-Weiss on her receipt of the Deborah K. Padgett Early Career Achievement Award from the Society for Social Work and Research.