Getting Going on Savings: Evaluation of a Pilot Roth IRA Program for Low-Income Young Adults

Prompted by The Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, this pilot will evaluate an initiative to provide information plus a $1,000 cash transfer for young adult workers living in low-income households to open and fund their own retirement savings accounts. We will conduct a randomized controlled trial in partnership with the City of Boston’s Office of Youth Employment and Opportunity (YEO) to measure near-term and long-term impacts on financial and general well-being by randomly assigning 1,200 participants from Boston’s SuccessLink summer jobs program to either (1) a treatment group that receives information on saving for retirement including how to open a Roth IRA plus $1,000 and assistance to open and fund their own Roth IRA, (2) a treatment group that receives only information including how to open a Roth IRA and assistance but no funding, or (3) a control group that receives only information but no assistance. To prepare for this study, we propose a pilot with 50 participants from summer 2025 allocated evenly into groups (1) and (2) so that we can test and refine our study processes and measurement strategy. This pilot will include all procedural elements of the full evaluation including enrollment, randomization, cash transfers, follow-up surveys, and administrative data collection.