The Aspen Institute Initiative on Financial Security joined leaders from the financial services industry and nonprofit sector at a briefing to release their report, The Case for Child Accounts, on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 3:30 pm in the Senate Banking Committee Hearing Room, Dirksen 538. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) served as honorary host of the event.
This groundbreaking report emphasizes the critical need to address the US savings challenge and offers up one bold new solution: Child Accounts. The Aspen IFS model for Child Accounts seeks to build a financial asset for every child to fund the transition to adulthood. The proposal would create a new generation of savers and financially savvy consumers, as well as connect more families to the U.S. savings system while increasing overall savings in America.
Child Accounts represent one element of the Aspen IFS’s “cradle-to-grave” initiative Savings for Life, which was released May 2007 on Capitol Hill. All four proposals in Savings for Life, including Child Accounts, were the product of two years of intense research and collaboration with financial industry leaders and policy experts to develop sensible savings solutions.
Speakers at the event included:
- Bill Bynum, CEO, Enterprise Corporation of the Delta
- Mary Laraia, Group Senior Vice President of Community and Sustainable Development, LaSalle Bank
- Peter Morris, Director of Strategy & Partnerships, National Congress of American Indians
- John Thompson, Assistant Vice President, Outreach & Business Development, H&R Block
- John Tippets, President and CEO, American Airlines Federal Credit Union
