On November 18, 2011, over 80 individuals from an array of sectors – including financial services, public policy, government, academia, nonprofits, and start-ups – gathered in Boston, MA for the first-ever prize-linked savings (PLS) conference.
Prize-linked savings (PLS) products hold great promise as a tool for improving savings outcomes for financially vulnerable Americans. In early 2011, Doorways to Dreams (D2D) Fund commissioned a panel survey of low-to-moderate income (“LMI”) households in five states.
The firm ProManage profiled D2D Fund in its PROspective newsletter. ProManage commissioned author Chuck Miller to do a series of interviews with thought leaders who help shape the defined contribution plan industry.
The results of this unique demonstration confirm our growing conviction that a well designed and implemented prize-linked savings product will appeal to consumers and generate new savings.
This paper reports on a small-scale survey of the potential American demand for prize-linked savings accounts, an account that awards prizes as part of the saving product’s return. In October 2006, Centra Credit Union launched a prize-linked savings pilot. As part of that initiative, we conducted a mall intercept survey of over 500 people in Clarksville, Indiana, the community where the program was launched.
For over three centuries and across the globe, lottery-linked savings (LLS) programs have offered individuals the opportunity to save, and in lieu of paying traditional interest, have given savers periodic chances to win money or prizes. Despite their long history, LLS programs are relatively unstudied by scholars.1 In this paper, I detail a LLS program that the U.K. government has continuously offered since 1956, the U.K. Premium Bond (PB) program. PBs guarantee holders risk-free return of nominal principal.
