A recent report dispels the myth that kids can’t save. In fact, younger youth (those under 13) save more than older youth. Parents also play an important role in youth savings.

All youth panelists had started saving little by little, from as young as 8 years old like Robert, and they have never looked back.

Impressions on the final MSM in Kenya on October 23, 2014

How can policymakers and youth advocates create a supportive regulatory environment for youth savings at financial institutions in the developing world such that the pool of potential youth savers is expanded?

Statistics show children who save money are more likely to set goals for their future, do better in school, and less likely to engage in risky behaviors. YouthSave teaches kids from low-income communities how to save their money. Here's the story of 13-year-old Mercy, a YouthSave participant from Naivasha, Kenya.

How can policymakers and youth advocates create a supportive regulatory environment for youth savings at financial institutions in the developing world such that the pool of potential youth savers is expanded?

New America recently convened a panel of financial inclusion experts to explore a range of questions related to the use of youth savings accounts as a poverty alleviation tool in the developing world.

Creating a supportive regulatory environment for youth savings may require identifying specific barriers and proactively crafting policy to overcome them.

How can policymakers and youth advocates create a supportive regulatory environment for youth savings at financial institutions in the developing world such that the pool of potential youth savers is expanded?

Can youth savings in the developing world be good social policy and make business sense for banks? New America Senior Policy Analyst Scarlett Aldebot-Green and guest, Tanaya Kilara, a Financial Sector Analyst for the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, discuss a new framework that helps financial institutions decide whether ...

Those seeking to recommend policies, particularly in the context of a development framework, must be exceptionally calculated in their recommendations and must, at times, acknowledge that, while broad frameworks can create a point of departure, local stake-holders, particularly youth themselves and groups that work closely with youth, might be better positioned to craft context-specific policies that strike the necessary balance between rights and protections.

For financial service providers looking to offer savings products to young clients while still making a profit, there are factors at three levels that affect profitability: the market level, the institutional level, the client-segment level.

Having firmly planted our feet, as Ehlers suggests we do, in the camp of conceptualizing youth as assets and not problems, we must move to discussing the dynamics of what harnessing that potential can look like in the context of developing (and developed) economies.

Is it more difficult to financially include girls? Data from some programs seeking to increase girls’ participation in formal savings seems to suggest it might be.

Is it more difficult to financially include girls? Data from some programs seeking to increase girls’ participation in formal savings seems to suggest it might be.

Is it more difficult to financially include girls? Data from some programs seeking to increase girls’ participation in formal savings seems to suggest it might be.

Statistics show children who save money are more likely to set goals for their future, do better in school, and less likely to engage in risky behaviors. YouthSave teaches kids from low-income communities how to save their money. Here's the story of 14-year-old Nayid, a YouthSave participant from Santa Rosa, Colombia.

Statistics show children who save money are more likely to set goals for their future, do better in school, and less likely to engage in risky behaviors. YouthSave teaches kids from low-income communities how to save their money. Here's the story of 13-year-old Pramod, a YouthSave participant from Bhaktapur, Nepal.

Is it more difficult to financially include girls? Data from some programs seeking to increase girls’ participation in formal savings seems to suggest it might be.

Dispelling the myth that poverty is the biggest barrier to saving, the latest figures from a five-year program indicate that 85,000 low-income youth in four countries, Nepal, Kenya, Ghana and Colombia, have opened savings accounts designed specifically for and with them.

Time and time again proponents and practitioners noted the long-term investment that CSAs required and the limitations encountered by projects funded exclusively or primarily through philanthropy.