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learn$ave Project: Final ReportTable 6.1Impacts on Incidence of Budgeting and Financial Goal Setting (Percentage Points) at 18, 40 and 54 Months,All Participants – AdjustedControlGroup IncidenceImpact of MatchedSaving CreditsImpact of Serviceswhen Offered withCredits ∑Combined Impact ofCredits + ServicesAt 54 Months% who set a budget 49.4 3.5 3.8 7.3***% who set financial goals 59.3 5.4** 3.7 9.1***At 40 Months% who set a budget 47.6 4.3* 2.2 6.5**% who set financial goals 53.6 4.4* 7.6*** 12.0***At 18 Months% who set a budget 44.6 6.0** 5.1** 11.1***% who set financial goals 56.2 5.1** 7.4*** 12.4***Source: Calculations from 18-month, 40-month and 54-month survey data.Note: Overall sample sizes for the control, learn$ave-only and learn$ave-plus groups are 568, 842 and 859, respectively for the 54-month survey,607, 833 and 814, for the 40-month survey, and 748, 920 and 915 for the 18-month survey.Sample sizes vary for individual measures because of missing values.Two-tailed t-tests were applied to impacts estimated by regression-adjusted differences in outcomes between research (program and control)groups.Statistical significance levels are indicated as * = 10 per cent; ** = 5 per cent; *** = 1 per cent.Rounding may cause slight discrepancies in sums and differences.∑The figures in this column show the extra impact of the financial management training and enhanced case management services whengiven to those eligible to receive matched credits. It does not represent the impact of those services alone for those not eligible to receive thematched saving credit; it represents the impact of the services when provided with the credits.and could not be cashed out after month 48, however, thisdiminishing impact over time is perhaps not surprising.These impacts, though modest, are potentiallyimportant. Financial goal-setting and budgeting havethe potential to increase participants’ savings and networth both during the learn$ave project and after. Thefact that these effects were still being observed at 54months (some 18 months after the end of the 36-monthsaving period) is promising. However, they need not leadto increased savings and net wealth, as goals and budgetsmay not be kept or any freed-up resources may be spentrather than saved.Impacts on savings and saving incidenceAs discussed in Chapter 5, participants were expectedto save in their learn$ave IDA during their first 36months in the project. During this time, financial assetsin the learn$ave account would be expected to increase;however, these same financial assets would have beenexpected to be withdrawn for eligible program purposesduring Phase 3 of the project (Figure 6.1).The available evidence from learn$ave confirms thisexpected pattern. Table 6.2 looks at savings measuredas changes in the average value of total financial assets,including savings in learn$ave accounts, bank accounts,retirement savings, as well as other financial assets. 1The table shows that, in the early stages of the project,between baseline and month 18, the learn$ave matchedcredits increased average financial savings by $583;the combined impact of the credits and services wasslightly larger at $674. As observed in Chapter 5 (seeFigure 5.3), by month 18, a large minority (41 per cent)of participants had saved the maximum savings eligiblefor matched savings credits pulling the average savingsas a percentage of maximum program savings to 64percent (or $957) at this point in the program model. Itwas further noted in Chapter 5 that early savers werelikely to cash out their savings more fully and earlier thanother participants. Therefore, it is perhaps not surprisingthat by month 40 (during which time no new creditswould have been available to many participants) nosignificant effects on financial assets were apparent. Bymonth 54, it is still the case that neither program grouphad significantly more average financial savings than thecontrol group.This pattern suggests that learn$ave participants savedmore than the control group early in the program in order1 Other financial assets include stocks, mutual funds, bonds, Guaranteed Income Certificates(GICs), term deposits, home ownership saving plans, savings at home or with family orfriends, loans to family or friends, foreign financial assets and any other (unspecified)financial assets held by the participant.68 | Chapter 6 Social Research and Demonstration Corporation