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 The Center for Financial Security Newsletter |
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CFS Quarterly Vol. 1 Issue 1
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February 2011
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"The mission of the Center for Financial Security is to conduct applied multidisciplinary research that informs practitioners, policymakers and the general public on strategies that build financial capacity and security over the life course."
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Calendar of Events
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February
Tues. 15th - CFS 2011 Webinar Series
Financial Advice: Who Gets it and Who Doesn't?
Presenter: J. Michael Collins, UW-Madison
Thur. 24th - IRP Financial Security, Literacy, and Public Policy Seminar Series
Reaching Out: Integrating Financial Capacity Building into Human Services Systems
Presenter: Margaret Sherraden, University of Missouri- St. Louis
April
Thur. 7th - IRP Financial Security, Literacy, and Public Policy Seminar Series
Financial Literacy for Low Income People: Lessons from Soldiers and Implications for Financial Reform
Presenter: Jeanne Hogarth, Federal Reserve
Fri. 8th - Financial Coaching Training
One-day training session on strategies for financial coaches -- Stevens Point, WI
Trainers: Joan Sprain and Peggy Olive
(more info regarding event and registration)
Tues. 19th - CFS 2011 Webinar Series
Understanding Attitudes of Disabled Populations about Savings and Financial Education
Presenter: Katherine Dahlem, Abt Associates
28th-29th Federal Reserve Board Community Affairs Research Conference
Arlington, Virginia
(more info regarding event and registration)
May
Thur. 5th - IRP Financial Security, Literacy, and Public Policy Seminar Series
Falling through the Cracks of Consumer Protection: The Financial Decisions of Low Income Homeowners
Presenter: Carolina K. Reid, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
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Welcome to the UW-Madison Center For Financial Security
Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Center for Financial Security Newsletter, a quarterly e-newsletter reporting on the Center's research, outreach and events. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Financial Security (CFS) was founded by the School of Human Ecology (SoHE) in 2008. The CFS focuses on applied research that promotes individual and family financial security and informs public policy about financial issues on the local, state, and national levels.
The CFS engages researchers and graduate students through inter-disciplinary partnerships with the goal of identifying the role of products, policies, and advice that help overcome personal financial challenges. In general, CFS research can be categorized as:
- Measurement - how to measure financial security
- Targeting - who should be the focus of interventions, and
- Testing - which interventions work and for whom.
The work of the CFS is notable for its focus on vulnerable populations as defined by income, education, race, household status and disability. Households facing financial crises are another key population. The CFS seeks to take on a leadership role in training the next generation of policy and social science researchers on issues related to financial security.
The CFS partners with a number of agencies and organizations including the Social Security Administration's Financial Literacy Research Consortium (FLRC), the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the University of Wisconsin-Extension, the Institute for Research on Poverty, Abt Associates, the Certified Financial Planners Board, MDRC, The Financial Clinic in New York City, The Center for Economic Progress in Chicago, and many others.
Want to learn more about the CFS? Visit our website www.cfs.wisc.edu.
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A CFS Researcher:
Pamela Herd
Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Sociology. Faculty Affiliate, Institute for Research on Poverty
Pamela Herd is Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Sociology and an expert on social welfare policies, including Social Security, Medicare, and long term care policies. She became co-director of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study in 2010.
Herd is author of numerous articles and chapters that have appeared in Social Forces, Gender and Society, The Gerontologist, Journal of Aging and Social Policy and the Blackwell Companion to Sociology. She has a Ph.D. in sociology from Syracuse University.
As part of the CFS, Herd is investigating the measurement of financial literacy and financial outcomes in late life as well as the effects of cognitive decline on financial literacy. Utilizing data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, Herd hopes to provide insight into beneficial opportunities for interventions promoting financial literacy in later life.
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Wisconsin Longitudinal Study
The CFS is excited to be working with the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS). Taken from the Class of 1957, the WLS is a sample of 1 in 3 Wisconsin high school graduates, their spouses, and their selected siblings. Providing extensive data on life course, intergenerational transfers and relationships, family functioning, physical and mental health and well-being, and morbidity and mortality from late adolescence through 2008, the WLS meets the needs of researchers from an array of disciplines, including financial capacity and literacy.
Researchers at the CFS are looking to the WLS as a rich resource of longitudinal data on financial literacy. Pamela Herd and Robert Hauser (UW-Madison) are leading a project that looks at the Class of 1957 to measure financial literacy skills and financial outcomes in late life to improve financial literacy and identify opportunities for meaningful and helpful interventions amongst the cohort. Pamela Herd and Karen Holden (UW-Madison) are leading a project using the WLS data to identify the impact of cognitive decline on financial literacy skills and provide insights into interventions to help maintain financial literacy skills in later life.
To learn more about the WLS, visit their website at http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/wlsresearch/ or read a feature story from The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. |
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CFS People
CFS Staff and Students ________________
J. Michael Collins, Faculty Director Collin O'Rourke, Outreach Specialist
Nicole Truog, Associate Director Rachel Cusatis, Associate Research Specialist
Hanif Nu'Man Damiana Gibbons
Karen Walsh Melissa Berger
Sara Kock Nilton Porto
Emily Ley Victoria Fernley-Gonzalez
Stephanie Chase Zariat Rahman
Dee Warmath Xiao Wang
Yung Ting-Su John Rehbeck
Raghav Mohan Dillon Weisner
Researchers and Collaborators _
Wendy Way, UW-Madison Catherine Arnott-Smith, UW-Madison
Roberta Riportella, UW-Madison Cäzilia Loibl, Ohio State University
Pamela Herd, UW-Madison Constance Steinkuehler, UW-Madison
Nancy Wong, UW-Madison Anya Savikin, University of Chicago
Maximilian Schmeiser,The Federal Reserve Cathie Mahon, NYC Dept. of Consumer Affairs
Board of Governors Office of Financial
Karen Holden, UW-Madison Empowerment
Jason Seligman, Ohio State University Kristin Eschenfelder, UW-Madison
Nandita Verma, Manpower Demonstration Ellen Seidman, Mission & Strategy
Research Corporation Shorebank Corp.
Robert M. Hauser, UW-Madison Susan L. Parish, Brandeis University
Stephanie Moulton, Ohio State University Jeanne M. Hogarth, The Federal Reserve
Jackie Lynn Coleman, Center for Economic Board
Progress Damon Jones, University of Chicago
Jonathan S. Spader, Abt Associates
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CFS Opportunities
The CFS Fellowship
The Center announced a new post-doc training opportunity in applied research that promotes individual and family financial security and informs public policy and financial decisions. The program provides multidisciplinary training in consumer science, financial capacity, individual and family financial security.
For more information, including instructions on how to apply for the fellowship Click Here.
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Family Financial Security Symposium Family Financial Security: Implications for Policy and Practice Madison, Wisconsin April 19-20, 2010 In the spring of 2010 the CFS hosted its flagship endeavor, a day and a half symposium centering on the need to better understand consumer behavior and financial decision-making. Featuring four panels, over twenty presenters, speakers and discussants, and an audience of over one hundred from various financial fields, the symposium ignited ideas and created a forum for discussion on the topic of family financial security. The event addressed three key research questions: 1. How do people choose and use financial products? 2. How do people save and borrow? 3. What helps support financial security in retirement? The format and context of the event offered high levels of interaction among speakers, discussants and participants. The CFS is proud and grateful for all the program sponsors, participants, and attendees who helped make this event such a great success. Proceedings from the event and video footage of sessions are available on the CFS website cfs.wisc.edu.
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CFS Issue Brief
Financial Education and Domestic Violence Prevention
A brief written by CFS Outreach Specialist, Collin O'Rourke, highlights the literature and research surrounding the links between economic status and domestic violence, the effectiveness of financial education for survivors of domestic abuse, and future outlook into the link between asset building and domestic violence.
Setting the stage with an explanation of Weavers et al. (2009) description of the three links between women's economic circumstances and domestic violence, the brief establishes economic abuse as a form of domestic abuse. The brief also outlines a model inspired by relative research on how financial education may benefit survivors of domestic violence. Again, looking to research in the field, the 2010 brief points out potential mechanisms, for example facilitating asset building, as a means to reduce domestic violence.
Conclusively, the CFS issue brief shed light on the need for valuable research on both the link between financial education and domestic violence and asset building initiatives on domestic violence.
Click Here to read the full brief.
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We value your opinions. If you have comments or questions, please contact us at cfs@mailplus.wisc.edu. Thank You.
If you wish to unsubscribe from the CFS Newsletter, please send an email to cfs@mailplus.wisc.edu with the subject line "Unsubscribe." |
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>> The Center for Financial Security is a cross-campus, interdisciplinary center focusing on applied research that promotes individual and family financial security. The CFS has a focus on households, consumers and personal financial decision making, but works collaboratively with other centers, institutes and schools at the University. The CFS defers to other units on issues of corporate and commercial finance, as well as securities and other traditional finance issues.
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