Effects of an Individual Development Account Program on Retirement Saving: Follow-up Evidence From a Randomized Experiment

• Published in: Journal of gerontological social work Vol. 58; no. 6; pp. 572 - 589
• Main Authors: Grinstein-Weiss, Michal, Sherraden, Michael, Gale, William G., Rohe, William M., Schreiner, Mark, Key, Clinton, Oliphant, Jane E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Routledge 18.08.2015; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: Aged; Asset effects; Banking, Personal; Community development banks; Education - methods; Educational programs; Financial literacy; Financial Statements - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Individual Development Account (IDA); low-income households; Oklahoma; Patient Education as Topic - methods; Patient Education as Topic - organization & administration; Pensions; Poverty - economics; Poverty - statistics & numerical data; Program Development; Random Allocation; Retirement; Retirement - economics; Savings; Savings accounts; Tulsa Oklahoma; United States > US; Asset effects; Individual Development Account (IDA); savings; retirement; low-income households
• ISSN: 0163-4372; 1540-4048; 1540-4048
• DOI: 10.1080/01634372.2015.1052174

We examine the 10-year follow-up effects on retirement saving of an individual development account (IDA) program using data from a randomized experiment that ran from 1998 to 2003 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The IDA program included financial education, encouragement to save, and matching funds for several qualified uses of the saving, including contributions to retirement accounts. The results indicate that as of 2009, 6 years after the program ended, the IDA program had no impact on the propensity to hold a retirement account, the account balance, or the sufficiency of retirement balances to meet retirement expenses.