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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Tag: Asset poverty

Individual Development Accounts

Can the poor save?, By Mercedes White, July 16 2013, Deseret News: “When Regina Berrios, a 34-year-old single mother of two girls and a boy, talks about her dreams for her family, her eyes sparkle and her smile gets wide. The Redwood City, Calif., resident would like to finish college and get a master’s degree in social work, open up her own business and buy a home for her family. Until recently, Berrios wasn’t optimistic she’d achieve any of these goals. Dreams cost money, something Berrios doesn’t have much of. She supports her kids working full-time at a flower shop where she earns around $16,000/year ($1,200/month). To put in perspective how meager her income is, the Department of Health and Human Services pegs the poverty line at $23,500/year ($1,900 a month) for a family of four. Just buying groceries and paying her phone bill were tough. Berrios is what economists call asset poor, meaning she does not have sufficient savings to sustain life for three months at her current consumption rate…”

Asset Poverty – New Orleans, LA

Asset poverty is a big problem in New Orleans, where many have no cash cushion, By Rebecca Mowbray, August 14, 2012, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “Some 37 percent of New Orleans households would not be able to survive for more than three months without falling into poverty if their main source of income were disrupted, according to a new study released Tuesday by the Greater New Orleans Foundation and the Ford Foundation. While many examinations of poverty look at a family’s income, this study of ‘asset poverty’ looks at how large a financial cushion households have to protect them in times of crisis…”