Postrecession, the asset-building movement continues to gain momentum across the country. Individuals and families pursue wealth-building strategies based on such time-honored principles as budget to save, save to invest, credit building, controlling debt and protecting wealth once it has been...

What began several years ago as a network of matched savings programs to encourage low-income Texans to save has blossomed into a statewide, comprehensive asset-building movement now known as RAISE Texas.

Building and maintaining financial security is increasingly difficult for a growing portion of American households. Wealth is less prevalent in middle-class households and increasing among the already well-to-do. At the same time, poverty is growing and concentrating disproportionately among the...

Leigh Tivol, senior program manager with the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) in Washington, D.C., presented the national perspective on the asset-building movement at the RAISE Texas Action Summit in April.>

The increased complexity of the financial markets has made it difficult for consumers to choose products that best serve their interests. Behavioral economists explore consumers' psychological process in making decisions, such as immediate gratification, overconfidence, inertia or a lack of...