Mypath Savings: Testing a Low-Touch Youth Financial Capability Program

Abstract

Background and Objective: This study explores the effects of MyPath Savings, a low-touch financial capability program, on a range of financial management, behavioral, and psychological indicators. MyPath Savings targets youths participating in various youth employment programs, and is layered and integrated as part of these programs. A key component of MyPath Savings is the automatic establishment of a savings account for each participant, for payroll purposes and as a savings vehicle to direct deposit a portion of the participant’s income each pay period. MyPath Savings participants also receive basic financial education through completing two short exercises on an online app. While previous evaluations have demonstrated the effectiveness of a higher-touch version of MyPath, the effectiveness of this low-touch and more scalable version has yet to be tested.

Methods: Data on 69 participants from youth employment programs at six agencies in the City of San Francisco were analyzed in this study. These participants are a subset of the overall sample, and represent the early adopters for the program. Three of the agencies were assigned to the comparison condition, while the remaining three were assigned to the treatment condition. Participants were administered surveys at baseline, and at the end of their youth employment programs. The measures in the survey included items that tested the financial knowledge, financial self-efficacy, future orientation, and financial management and behaviors.

Results: Participants in the treatment group experienced significant increases in their level of financial knowledge (t(31) = 3.42, p < .001), financial self-efficacy (t(29) =2.42, p < .01), whereas no significant changes were observed among participants in the comparison groups. In addition, the time orientation among treatment participants shifted from the present to more of the future at post-test, while comparison group participants became more focused on the present. The data further indicated a trend among treatment group participants towards an increased frequency in adopting and practicing positive financial management behaviors at the end of the program. On the other hand, no changes in the financial management behaviors were observed among the comparison group participants.

Implication: Unlike the majority of financial capability programs, MyPath Savings has little to no in-person interaction with participants. The program consists of coupling participants with savings accounts, and short financial education delivered through online apps. As such, MyPath Savings has the potential to be highly scalable and cost-effective. The results indicate that MyPath Savings participants experienced significant improvements in financial knowledge and financial self-efficacy, as well as increased frequencies in exercising positive financial management and behaviors. Implications for the design and implementation of scalable financial capability programs, with MyPath Savings as a model, are explored.