Getting Going on Savings: Evaluation of a Pilot Roth IRA Program for Low-Income Young Adults

(1) Education, Assistance, and $1,000 Transfer: participants will receive curated financial literacy materials, a Roth IRA workshop, individual support, and $1,000 to open/fund a Roth IRA.
(2) Education and Assistance: participants will receive the same materials and support but without funding.

2025-07-30

2026-01-01

From administrative data:
(1) Roth IRA account opening (binary)
(2) Roth IRA balance amounts ($)

From follow-up surveys:
(3) Perceived comfort level with managing finances
(4) Confidence in meeting financial goals

From administrative records:
- Roth IRA contributions ($)
- Roth IRA withdrawals ($)
- Closing Roth IRA account

From credit report data:
- Credit score
- Credit limit ($)
- Total balances ($)
- Available credit, total and by type (e.g., installment, revolving)
- Balances past due ($, 30+ days)
- Balances in default ($, 90+ days)
- Debt in collections ($)
- Number of credit cards (integer)
- Any auto loan (binary)
- Any student loan (binary)
- Any mortgage loan (binary)

From monthly touchpoint surveys:
- Enrollment in college, technical or vocational school, or in career training program
- Working full- or part-time
- Monthly savings ($)
- Monthly income ($)
-Monthly spending ($)
- Use of financial services

From follow-up baseline survey:
- Savings behavior (amount of savings out of paycheck, whether they save)
- Whether they use a budget to manage their money
- Installment loan (any and amount)
- Financial assets or investment accounts (any and amount by type)
- Use of alternative financial products (e.g., buy-now-pay-later, payday loans)
- Financial hardships (any by type; e.g., paid late fee, contact by collections agency, utilities disconnect, car repossessed, eviction, bankruptcy)
- Trust in financial institutions
- Financial literacy (based on 3 of the Big 5 questions)

Depending on enrollment in the summer jobs program, we will run a financial education workshop for between 50 and 100 youth who are at least 18 years old. We will randomly assign 25 of the eligible participants (youth over the age of 18 who attended the workshops) to receive the $1,000 cash transfer in order to open and fund their Roth IRA account.

Not available

Computer

Individual

No

We will run three different workshops for three different groups of youth and stratify randomization within these groups.

50 to 100, depending on enrollment. 25 will be in the treatment group regardless.

25 in cash transfer treatment group, the remainder in the education-only control group.