Where Have You Been All My Blog-Life?

The other day I met with a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur to discuss SaveTogether. The matched savings account was a new concept to him. But he thought the basic idea of asset-building was compelling and sounded like the kind of thing that would be on the agenda of the nonpartisan Hope Street Group, which promotes policies fostering an “Opportunity Economy.” I admitted that I had never heard of the Hope Street Group but was glad for the pointer.

When I googled Hope Street, I discovered, sure enough, that “Savings & Assets” is one of their core areas of interest. The website has a policy brief on “Personal and Family Savings” and their blog includes such recent posts as “Encouraging Employees to Save” and “Incentivizing Savings in an Economic Downturn.” 

I’ve written this blog on asset-building for almost two years now. How could I not have heard of the Hope Street Group all that time?

In my own defense, they haven’t put out any new publications related to savings and assets (other than blog posts) since mid-2007. And they don’t seem to be very well networked with other organizations in the asset-building field. Makes me wonder if they’ve kept a low profile by choice, or if they just lack the resources and connections of the leading think tanks in the field — The Aspen Institute and New America Foundation. In any event, I’ll keep an eye on their blog from now on and report any interesting news they send out.

And Jesus Said to His Disciples, Build Them Some Assets

I was interested to read this article in the Christian Science Monitor on a national ecumencial initiative to fight poverty, with matched savings programs figuring quite prominently in the set of policy proposals that was released last week. It makes sense that asset-building could be an area of common ground for both conservative and progressive ends of the Christian spectrum.

I’ve been thinking for some time about how to get religious organizations engaged with asset-building, starting with my own very New England progressive congregational church, which is extremely committed to social justice and community-building. I’ll have to send the CSM link to our pastor and see what kind of reaction I get. I know that many churches across the country have become involved in Kiva and other microcredit efforts in recent years. Perhaps SaveTogether could provide a more tangible outlet for church involvement in the asset-building movement.

Understanding the 2009 Stimulus Bill First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

My most widely read post ever, by far, was last July when I noted the passage of the 2008 Housing Bill that contained assistance for first time home buyers.

Are those first time home buyers paying careful attention to this stimulus bill, too? It looked for a while like Congress might enact a temporary $15,000 credit for all home buyers below certain income limits: the Senate had favored such a plan. Now, it turns out, the negotiated bill that will soon be voted on by both chambers (and in all likelihood will be passed and signed by the president) contains generous assistance for first time home buyers. The maximum credit is $8,000, not far off from the $7,500 credit currently in place via the 2008 Housing Bill.

But the big difference from that Housing Bill, as reported in The New York Times this evening, is that this time Congress has jettisoned the requirement for the credit to be paid back over 15 years. Now it’s a true credit instead of an interest-free loan. That makes it immensely more valuable, enough so that it could actually stimulate some activity in the housing market (but not the kind of speculation that might have resulted from the Senate’s proposed $15,000 credit for all homebuyers).

The credit will only be available to buyers between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009, so only the more prepared first time home buyers will get to benefit. And the credit does phase out for higher income levels (above $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples). But this is encouraging news for many first time home buyers who may have been sitting on the sidelines.

This time next year I’ll be thinking of creative ways to help encourage first time home buyers who bought in 2009 to put their windfall into an asset-building investment, and get a double bang for this buck.

Assets for Artists 2009

I’m in the throes of item 1 on my 2009 asset-building to-do list: applications for my artist IDA program are due February 23. We’ve picked up some good press (click here for a pdf of an article in Berkshire Trade & Commerce), and a helpful grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

I’ve also completed item 6, and I’m making progress on items 2, 3, and 5, in case anyone’s keeping track.

Hasn’t left a lot of time for blogging, or sleeping.  I’ve completely neglected to note a couple of very interesting news items from Reid Cramer on the New America Foundation’s asset-building blog:

1. The Boston Globe has people debating children’s savings accounts with a feature article in the Sunday paper not long ago.

2. NYC’s Office of Financial Empowerment has announced a tax season pilot program to provide low-income residents with a savings match to incentivize savings deposits from tax refunds. This is a bit like my idea to provide a tax season match tied partly to use of the Saver’s Credit, although my idea (item 5 on my to-do list) is more narrowly focused on retirement savings while the NYC program is trying to boost general savings from tax refunds. I do think I’ll have a little money to try out some version of an IRA/Saver’s Credit incentive for Berkshire County artists: I’m working on getting a local bank or two to buy in and provide additional match funds and outreach.

Mitty Owens of the Office of Financial Empowerment is the friend of a friend, and I’ll have a chance to talk shop with him in a few weeks on a trip down to New York. I look forward to hearing more about the great programs coming out of the OFE, and getting his feedback on SaveTogether, Assets for Artists, and anything else I can think of between now and then.