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…”