A Novel Unconditional Gifted Savings Program

NCT06119074 | Withdrawn

• 1 other identifier: 854513
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: N/A
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this randomized control trial is to test the impacts of an unconditional Gifted Savings account of $2,000 of assets ($100 United States Dollars available upon enrollment; $500 United States Dollars available for emergency use each year for two years) on adults with household incomes of three times the Federal Poverty Level or less in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Conditions

Poverty

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (9)

• Financial-well being (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Financial Well-Being Scale)

  Each item is scored 0 to 4 and summed to a total. The sum total is then converted to a total response value on the CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale score from 0-100.

  6 months

• Financial shock

  Five items to assess participants' ability to cover a $400 emergency expense, frequency of $400 emergency expenses over past 6 months, length of time savings could sustain household, likelihood of finding $2,000 for emergency expense, and estimated savings needed for future emergency expenses.

  6 months

• Savings

  Eight items to assess bank account ownership status (yes/no), savings and investing behaviors, past month's amount saved, total amount saved, confidence about meeting future financial obligations, and savings horizons.

  6 months

• Stress and coping (Perceived Stress Scale - 4)

  Each item is scored from "never" to "all of the time" on a 5-point scale. Scores of 4 items are then summed, yielding a minimum score of 0 and a highest score of 16. Higher scores are correlated to more stress.

  6 months

• Mental health (Kessler 10)

  Each item is scored from one "none of the time" to five "all of the time." Scores of the 10 items are then summed, yielding a minimum score of 10 and a maximum score of 50. Low scores indicate low levels of psychological distress and high scores indicate high levels of psychological distress.

  6 months

• Hope (Adult Hope Scale)

  Four items measure pathways thinking, four items measure agency thinking, and four items are fillers. The four pathways thinking items and the four agency thinking items are scored from one "definitely false" to eight "definitely true," then summed for a total score. Higher scores indicate higher levels of hope.

  6 months

• Financial confidence

  Two items to assess confidence in household's ability to meet longer term goals and comfort with current financial situation.

  6 months

• Liabilities

  Eleven items to assess: past 6 month use of shadow banking services (e.g., check cashing, payday loans, auto title loans), late fees charged, spending compared to income, credit score (very bad to very good/I don't have a credit score/I don't know), types of debt, and debt payments.

  6 months

• Housing hardship

  Three items from the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation to assess rent/mortgage payments, recent eviction, and utility payments/disconnections.

  6 months

Secondary Outcomes (6)

• Relational finances

  6 months

• Employment status

  6 months

• Subjective financial knowledge

  6 months

• Cryptocurrency knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors

  6 months

• Mastery (Pearlin Mastery Scale)

  6 months

Other Outcomes (1)

• Website usability

  12 months

Study Arms (2)

Gifted Savings

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in the treatment group will receive an unconditional Gifted Savings account with $2,000 of assets ($100 USD available upon enrollment; $500 USD available for emergency use each year for two years).

Other: Gifted Savings

No Gifted Savings

NO INTERVENTION

Participants in the control group will not receive a Gifted Savings account.

Interventions

Gifted Savings OTHER

Gifted Savings assets will be in the form of cash, Bitcoin, and/or stock. Participants will receive identical asset portfolios. The asset mix will be determined by Gifted Savings. Participants will not have any control over the assets they receive, nor the proportion of each in their account. After registration on the Gifted Savings website, participants can immediately withdraw $100 USD if they choose. Then, for each of the first two years, participants may withdraw up to $500 USD for an emergency (self-attested) if the value of the account is 50% or more of its value 30 days prior and the account has sufficient funds to fulfill the request. Two years post-enrollment, participants may withdraw the entire value of their GS account or continue holding the assets in their GS account (in perpetuity or until the GS non-profit ceases to exist). GS funds are unconditional; there are no restrictions or limitations on how the money can be spent.

Gifted Savings

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Resident of Yellow Springs, Ohio
• At least 18 years of age
• Annual household income of three times the Federal Poverty Level or less

You may not qualify if:

• Not a resident of Yellow Springs, Ohio
• Under 18 years of age
• Annual household income of more than three times the Federal Poverty Level

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Pennsylvania: lead
• Universal Gifted Savings: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19106, United States

Location

Study Officials

• Stacia West, PhD

  University of Pennsylvania

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor & Co-Founding Director of the Center for Guaranteed Income Research

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 31, 2023
• First Posted: November 7, 2023
• Study Start: January 8, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2027
• Last Updated: February 3, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)