About Commonwealth
Commonwealth is a national nonprofit building financial security and opportunity for financially vulnerable people through innovation and partnerships.
Commonwealth is a national nonprofit building financial security and opportunity for financially vulnerable people through innovation and partnerships. Black, Latinx, and female-led households disproportionately experience financial
insecurity due in large part to longstanding, systemic racism and gender discrimination. Addressing these issues is critical to Commonwealth’s work of making wealth possible for all. For nearly two decades, Commonwealth has designed effective
innovations, products, and policies enabling over 1.5 million people to accumulate more than $6 billion in savings. Commonwealth understands that broad changes require market players to act. That’s why we collaborate with consumers, the
financial services industry, employers, policymakers, and mission-driven organizations. The solutions we build are grounded in real life, based on our deep understanding of people who are financially vulnerable and how businesses can best
serve them.
About the RRC
DCIIA’s Retirement Research Center (RRC) was launched in 2018 with a mission to conduct rigorous, industry-informed research that is focused on actionable insights. We adhere to a disciplined research methodology, governance, and validation
process. Our goal is to serve the industry and stakeholders as a reliable, fact-based, and authoritative research resource supporting improved financial and retirement security through public policy, behavioral factors that affect decision-making,
and innovation that can improve financial security.
Research Agenda:
Core projects: Ongoing projects for DCIIA and with strategic research partners
Pillar projects: Determined collaboratively by RRC members working on each pillar team
Ad hoc projects: Based on tactical needs/opportunities
Commonwealth Research Collaborations
Parents and Caregivers Saving for Today and the Future
May 2024
aring for a child can seem like a series of endless expenses. For people earning low- to moderate incomes, addressing short-term emergency costs associated with caregiving may take precedence over saving for longer-term goals. We examined the impact of parenting and caregiving expenses on emergency and retirement savings behavior while exploring how 529 college savings plans may be an employer tool that could promote financial security for parents and caregivers earning LMI.
Read the Report
Incentives to Increase Emergency Savings Enrollment
April 2023
In this latest phase of research, Commonwealth and DCIIA RRC conducted surveys to explore incentive mechanisms tied to emergency savings plans among workers earning LMI in the hopes to understand how offering small-dollar rewards could
influence the possible demand for employer-sponsored emergency savings, notably oversampling for eligible participants who are Black, Latinx, and/or female.
Read the Report
Two-Year Research Project Yields Insights for Employers & Recordkeepers
January 2023
In this preview, our research demonstrates the significant benefits employees can gain when companies and retirement savings providers partner to offer emergency savings opportunities, and provides insights into steps employers
and recordkeepers can take now and going forward.
Read the Brief
Emergency Savings Features That Work for Employees Earning Low to Moderate Incomes
August 2022
In this brief, Commonwealth and the RRC shared insights from their latest research on how employers and service providers can build and offer emergency savings solutions that are inclusively designed for workers earning
LMI.
Read the Brief
Retirement Industry Leaders on Emergency Savings
April 2022
The RRC partnered with Commonwealth on a policy brief detailing emergency savings solutions and field insights. Their report supports public policy decision-making with highlighted research on various emergency
savings strategies and key principles of savings.
See the Report
Joint Research with Commonwealth
Commonwealth’s “Saving Through a Crisis” series shares research, in partnership with the DCIIA Retirement Research Center, on how low- to moderate-income plan participants are handling their retirement savings
during the pandemic.
Research Conducted over Last 18 Months Highlights Key Role of Recordkeepers in Employee Emergency Savings
December 2021
Phase Five
Financial Stress Through a Crisis: Supporting LMI Plan Participants to Build Long-Term Financial Security
August 2021
Phase Four
Losing Income Through a Crisis: Mixed Economic Recovery for LMI Retirement Plan Participants
May 2021
Eye on System Change in the Retirement Industry
March 2021
Recordkeepers’ Role in Providing Emergency Savings for an Inclusive Recovery Webinar: 3 Key Takeaways
March 2, 2021
Phase Three
Saving Through a Crisis - LMI Retirement Plan Participants’ COVID-19 Financial Strategies Six Months In
December 8, 2020
Phase Two
Saving Through a Crisis: LMI Plan Participants’ Financial Strategies During COVID-19
September 21, 2020
Phase One
Saving Through a Crisis: How LMI Retirement Plan Participants Are Weathering COVID-1
June 25, 2020
Read the related report: Record Keepers’ Role in Solving the U.S. Emergency Savings Crisis (November 2020)
