The State of Financial Security 2020: A Framework for Recovery and Resilience
The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
First published November 2020
Most Americans are contending with the twin pressures of stagnant real wages and rising household expenses, all while the systems designed to fill those economic gaps are not equitably reaching millions of Americans. The financial state of our country is grim – fewer than half of American adults possess the savings to cover three months of essential expenses – and it is clear that we need a new framework for understanding and addressing the challenges of household financial insecurity.
The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program has, for five years, tracked the challenges that face American households and learned from the leadership and example of our partners in the field. They have taken a step back to take stock of what leaders have learned over the past five years. The result is their new framework and an updated vision for the financial security field.