Study One: Money and Savings

D2D found that money impacts all aspects of study participants’ lives, including their

  • Identities;
  • Finances; and
  • Social networks.

FootprintsIn terms of identity, LMI individuals describe how money related stress can changes people’s personalities, making them anxious, depressed, or desperate, and often bringing out their “dark side.” With regard to finances, LMI households struggle to meet even basic needs. Beyond physical survival, many study participants complain that their lack of financial resources leads to social isolation from loved ones and friends. In this way, finances impact the social networks and interactions of LMI adults. Men in particular report feeling invisible and unattractive without money.

FamilyStudy one also explored how LMI individuals think about savings. Participants articulate a number of barriers to saving.

  • First, the process of saving is not a lesson learned during childhood in many LMI families. Many individuals have simply never saved money before.
  • Second, those heading LMI households are overwhelmed by life and by living paycheck to paycheck. Their precarious financial situation leads to a constant state of anxiety, clouding judgment and creating powerful incentives to avoid facing financial problems or planning for the future
  • Third, with checkered and sometimes tragic histories, participants are wary of planning for an uncertain and seemingly distant future. Long- term goals seem unattainable, rendering saving behavior futile
  • Finally, atop all this sits a social stigma around saving; in many low income social networks, strong pressure exists to share any resources and lend savings to those in need, especially family.

In reviewing the findings from the four segments in the study—female parents, male parents, women without children, and men without children—female parents have the most robust savings mental constructs. The research suggests that:

  • Parents, especially women, can be motivated to save for their children.
  • The welfare of one’s children is an instinctive parental concern rather than a voluntary, chosen goal.
  • Young kids are a “clean slate” where parents find their own dreams unhindered by past mistakes or chronic present- day financial anxiety.