This is a presentation by J. Michael Collins explaining why financial coaching is a more effective intervention to achieve financial capability, compared to financial literacy. He explains the role of counseling, a definition of financial coaching, the role of the coach, and coaching as a form of...

This is an editorial opinion written by J. Michael McGinnis, MD, MPP, on findings by John Hopkins Boomberg School of Public Health connecting life expectancy with income level. It has long been known from national-level data that incomes and standards of living are associated with life expectancy,...

Canadians with disabilities have consistently experienced low levels of employment, as well as barriers in the educational, economic and social spheres. They face massive obstacles in participating in the labour market, especially those with severe disabilities or low educational attainment....

Population health survey data are not routinely linked to specific health care organizations, limiting organizational capacity to assess performance improvements in relation to the observed risk and prevalence of differences in health. The lack of demographic information hinders the growth of...

This presentation examines the financial coaching model and suggests an approach to measure outcomes of financial coaching and financial...

This article explores benefits screening, a system of auditing patients to identify those living in poverty and the benefits they may be eligible for, as an innovative step towards realizing the right to health in Canada by advancing health equity. In particular, it assesses one online tool...

This report describes the rationale and design of a project that will carefully implement and evaluate an innovative program — called Learn$ave — that aims to help low-income Canadians build savings for use in enhancing their labour market skills through adult education and micro-enterprise...

Financial shocks like these happen to financially vulnerable families every day. Such shocks destabilize household finances and can create hardships that threaten overall well-being. Having tools to manage financial emergencies is critical for people’s long-run financial security. The Asset...

The Asset Funders Network (AFN) developed this primer to inform community-based strategies that can help economically-vulnerable families to better manage financial setbacks, shortfalls, and shocks. The goal of this brief is to provide a common understanding and language for funders and financial...

The Center for Financial Security (CFS) and Annie E. Casey Foundation have developed a short set of standardized client outcome measures to create the Financial Capability Scale (FCS).  In 2011, CFS worked with four organizations to collect data on client outcome measures, with the goal of...

This pilot study explores the delivery and effectiveness of MyBudgetCoach, a financial coaching program designed to help low- and moderate-income adults develop budgeting skills, set financial goals, and work towards those goals. Specifically, this study compares two modes of program delivery,...

Modern financial planning is dominated by one topic: retirement planning. However, in spite of extensive study and wide attention, retirement savings rates remain perplexingly low and remarkably resistant to policy intervention. One approach that does seem to work is employer-based education....

This brief summarizes key findings from a pilot study of MyBudgetCoach (MyBC).1 MyBC is a financial coaching program designed to help low- and moderate-income adults develop budgeting skills and work towards their financial goals. Trained coaches use the program’s online platform...

This pilot study explores the delivery and effectiveness of MyBudgetCoach, a financial coaching program designed to help low- and moderate-income adults develop budgeting skills, set financial goals, and work towards those goals. Specifically, this study compares two modes of program delivery,...

Financial coaching is a promising strategy to help people improve their financial well-being, but is often not yet universally understood. Practitioners are turning to coaching strategies to better facilitate behaviour change as opposed to the disappointing results often found when only financial...

Financial counselling may be an effective way to improve individuals’ financial behaviour and outcomes. However, its impacts have not been adequately studied. Previous studies show weak positive effects of counselling, but are subject to a number of limitations. This study, a collaboration...

In the spring of 2012, the Center for Financial Security (CFS) interviewed financial coaches at 11 organizations in order to document emerging practices and ongoing challenges for the field. The organizations were selected based on prior familiarity and through suggestions from CFS coaching...

According to a 2013 Federal Reserve Board Survey, technology is increasingly being used by people at all income levels to manage basic financial tasks. With the popularity of smart phones increasing the convenience and accessibility of the internet, combined with the ever increasing public access...

This report examines the growing racial wealth divide for Black and Latino and the ways that accelerating  concentrations of wealth at the top compound and exacerbate this divide. It looks at trends in wealth...

The intention at the time of the creation of the Market Basket Measure was that the content of the basket and its definition of disposable income would be reviewed once several years of data had been collected using the original measure. This was necessary to ensure that it continued to embody a...

Current income is usually insufficient to cover college costs in most families, who believe that they must save for college for their children. Furthermore, effects of household savings and asset holding may extend beyond financial security and affect long-term development of children through...

Financial literacy has been proposed widely as an effective approach to preparing people to manage their finances. This paper proposes an alternative concept, financial capability. Financial capability includes both the ability to act (knowledge, skills, confidence, and motivation) and the...

This report, “Determinants of Asset Building,” provides a policy-oriented conceptual framework that has the potential to explain saving and asset accumulation across the entire population and to account for the low levels of saving and asset accumulation in the low-income population. The report...

Almost all poverty measures commonly used in Canada work by setting a dollar amount – a poverty line – below which a household is said to be in poverty, above which a household is not considered poor. But when we measure poverty only according to income, we may incorrectly assess whether or not...

Large health care systems are beginning to invest core operating dollars in connecting their patients to community resources, in service of the ultimate solution to better costs and outcomes: keeping patients...