Dr. Stephanie Moulton and her research team have been awarded funding for their project “Field Experiment on the Impacts of Financial Planning Interventions for Recent Homebuyers,” through the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Financial Security. This project is part of a larger collaborative partnership between The John Glenn School, OSU Extension and the Ohio Housing Finance Agency to launch the “Homeownership Investment Program”, which will provide financial planning services to low and moderate income homebuyers within the first year after home purchase. This award from the Center for Financial Security substantially builds upon an OSU Outreach and Engagement Grant of $50,000 awarded to the project earlier this year.  

Dr. Moulton’s project is one of one of 14 projects funded through the Center for Financial Security's second year award from the Social Security Administration Financial Literacy Research Consortium (FLRC).  The Center for Financial Security is an applied, inter-disciplinary research center that examines the financial security of vulnerable populations and the Center received a $3.1 million award in 2010-2011 from the SSA FLRC.

As a member of the FLRC, the Center for Financial Security performs applied research that seeks to understand the financial context of consumers and families, with a special focus on helping vulnerable populations manage assets and debt for retirement and other significant life events. “Improved financial capacity, particularly for people in vulnerable situations, contributes significantly to one’s lifelong financial security,” said J. Michael Collins, faculty director of the Center for Financial Security.  “Yet rigorous research is particularly lacking and we believe our focus on intervention and key teachable moments will have meaningful implications over time for policy and practice.”

Dr. Moulton’s project will focus on low and moderate income households purchasing their first home through an affordable mortgage program. According to Moulton, “Targeting low and moderate income households with efficient and effective financial education and planning interventions is challenging because intensive financial planning services are costly, individuals are not likely to seek out financial planning services, and research demonstrates that those who do seek financial counseling are typically those who are already motivated to be successful.” By combining the financial planning interventions with the purchase of a first home, Moulton’s project will leverage a teachable moment to provide innovative services to a pilot group of 600 low and moderate income homebuyers in Ohio.  Moulton’s research team will work with the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, the Center for Financial Security and other industry experts to design and validate financial planning interventions, including an online financial assessment tool, interactive education modules, and telephone based financial coaching. A unique study design will employ random assignment to overcome selection biases typically present in other evaluations of financial education and planning interventions. The results of this rigorous design will not only inform research, but will provide evidence based practices that can be replicated with other programs serving low and moderate income households nationwide.