Financial Knowledge, Fringe Banking, and the Near Poor

Download Financial Knowledge, Fringe Banking, and the Near Poor PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (914 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Financial Knowledge, Fringe Banking, and the Near Poor by : Alexis Jill Cass

Download or read book Financial Knowledge, Fringe Banking, and the Near Poor written by Alexis Jill Cass and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I examine alternative methods of borrowing in the United States, such as payday loans, pawn shops, auto-title loans, refund anticipation loans, and rent-to-own shops. Utilizing two separate samples, a smaller national survey and a larger (over 28,000 respondents) state by state survey, I present a portrait of who the individuals are who utilize these high-cost borrowing methods. I found that approximately one in four respondents had used an alternative financial establishment in the five years prior to the survey. This percentage increases when looking at certain sub-populations and is highest among individuals with low financial knowledge and financial literacy. Unique to other research, I distinguish financial knowledge from financial literacy and look at application and not just knowledge. Both access and education are shown to play a role in explaining the use of alternative financial establishments, which is important information for non-profits and policy makers attempting to enact change to integrate the bifurcated financial system in the United States today.

Hard Choices

Download Hard Choices PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
ISBN 13 : 1442662611
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (426 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Hard Choices by : Jerry Buckland

Download or read book Hard Choices written by Jerry Buckland and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2012-03-30 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When low-income city dwellers lack access to mainstream banking services, many end up turning to ‘fringe banks,’ such as cheque-cashers and pawnshops, for some or all of their financial transactions. This predicament of ‘financial exclusion’ – faced by those underserved by conventional financial institutions – is comprehensively examined in Jerry Buckland's powerful study, Hard Choices. The first account of the nature and causes of financial exclusion in Canada, Hard Choices thoroughly integrates economic and social data on consumer choice, bank behaviour, and government policy. Buckland demonstrates why the current two-tier system of banking is becoming increasingly dysfunctional, especially in the context of new credit products that aggravate income inequality and stifle local economic growth. Featuring a foreword by esteemed economics scholar John P. Caskey, Hard Choices presents pragmatic policy improvements on both the public and private levels that can promote and build financial inclusion for all.

Financial Literacy and Adult Education

Download Financial Literacy and Adult Education PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118850165
Total Pages : 115 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (188 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Financial Literacy and Adult Education by : Karin Sprow Forté

Download or read book Financial Literacy and Adult Education written by Karin Sprow Forté and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-03-19 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many adults attend financial education classes to help them make more informed financial decisions, based on their knowledge of their financial situation available cash or funds planned expenditures. This volume brings together scholars from the fields of adult education and financial literacy and covers topics that reveal the interrelatedness of the two fields. They show how concepts and knowledge about adult education can be utilized in and illuminate financial education, and they offer insights about how financial education, as an eminently practical subject, shows adults learning and putting their new knowledge into action. This is the 141st volume of this Jossey-Bass series. Noted for its depth of coverage, it explores issues of common interest to instructors, administrators, counselors, and policymakers in a broad range of adult and continuing education settings, such as colleges and universities, extension programs, businesses, libraries, and museums.

Fringe Banking

Download Fringe Banking PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 1610441133
Total Pages : 180 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Fringe Banking by : John P. Caskey

Download or read book Fringe Banking written by John P. Caskey and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 1994-08-24 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Cogently argued, fills an important gap in the literature, and is accessible to undergraduates." —Choice "Dismantles the mythology surrounding pawnshops and check-cashing outlets, and demonstrates that they are no longer on the fringe of our financial system but integral to it."—San Francisco Bay Guardian In today's world of electronic cash transfers, automated teller machines, and credit cards, the image of the musty, junk-laden pawnshop seems a relic of the past. But it is not. The 1980s witnessed a tremendous boom in pawnbroking. There are now more pawnshops thanever before in U.S. history, and they are found not only in large cities but in towns and suburbs throughout the nation. As John Caskey demonstrates in Fringe Banking, the increased public patronage of both pawnshops and commercial check-cashing outlets signals the growing number of American households now living on a cash-only basis, with no connection to any mainstream credit facilities or banking services. Fringe Banking is the first comprehensive study of pawnshops and check-cashing outlets, profiling their operations, customers, and recent growth from family-owned shops to such successful outlet chains as Cash American and ACE America's Cash Express. It explains why, despite interest rates and fees substantially higher than those of banks, their use has so dramatically increased. According to Caskey, declining family earnings, changing family structures, a growing immigrant population, and lack of household budgeting skills has greatly reduced the demand for bank deposit services among millions of Americans. In addition, banks responded to 1980s regulatory changes by increasing fees on deposit accounts with small balances and closing branches in many poor urban areas. These factors combined to leave many low- and moderate-income families without access to checking privileges, credit services, and bank loans. Pawnshops and check-cashing outlets provide such families with essential financial services thay cannot obtain elsewhere. Caskey notes that fringe banks, particularly check-cashing outlets, are also utilized by families who could participate in the formal banking system, but are willing to pay more for convenience and quick access to cash. Caskey argues that, contrary to their historical reputation as predators milking the poor and desperate, pawnshops and check-cashing outlets play a key financial role for disadvantaged groups. Citing the inconsistent and often unenforced state laws currently governing the industry, Fringe Banking challenges policy makers to design regulations that will allow fringe banks to remain profitable without exploiting the customers who depend on them.

Taming the Fringe

Download Taming the Fringe PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9783030706142
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (61 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Taming the Fringe by : Craig McMahon

Download or read book Taming the Fringe written by Craig McMahon and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2021-05-13 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taming the Fringe analyses the regulation and evolution of two credit products that were, and remain, vital to the working poor. Policymakers have struggled with pawnbroking and moneylending because they raise broader issues pertaining to poverty, capitalism and financial regulation. The values of easily accessible credit and financial independence compete with society’s desire to protect people from predatory loans. Policymakers have pondered whether regulation can lower costs without reducing access for those most in need of small cash loans. Can government policy protect borrowers while also providing sufficient profit for lenders? The many attempts at doing so reveal the difficulty of safeguarding the needs of people who have experienced financial trouble before seeking a loan. Taming the Fringe is the first extended study of the payday lending and pawnbroking markets in Britain, and the only one to examine over 160 years of financial results and market data. This work explains why small-value lenders have generated such passionate debate, even being described as the devil incarnate. It adds to our knowledge of fringe banking and the evolving role of financial regulation to protect the working poor. Since 1870, pawnbrokers and moneylenders have actively shaped regulation – a viewpoint the existing literature does not address adequately. This work contributes to the scholarly and policy dialogue on financial inclusion, working-class poverty and the development and legitimacy of fringe lending. This book analyses the motivation, content and outcome of critical regulatory episodes that have shaped fringe banking. While historians have written volumes about consumer credit, few have analysed why elite policymakers have sought to protect the working poor from some credit markets. This work demonstrates that, across time, conflicting views on poverty and liberal economic theory have, to varying degrees, influenced how the government has protected the working poor, and will be of interest to financial and economic historians.

Shortchanged

Download Shortchanged PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1609943880
Total Pages : 263 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (99 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Shortchanged by : Howard Jacob Karger

Download or read book Shortchanged written by Howard Jacob Karger and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2005-09-01 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An eye-opening read in the school of Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel & Dimed . . . shines a bright light on the economy’s darker side.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) Drive through a low-income neighborhood and you’re likely to see streets lined with pawnshops, check cashers, rent-to-own stores, payday and tax refund lenders, auto title pawns, and buy-here-pay-here used car lots. We’re awash in “alternative financial services” directed at the poor and those with credit problems. Howard Karger describes this world as an economic Wild West, where just about any financial scheme that’s not patently illegal is tolerated. Taking a hard look at this fringe economy, Karger shows that what seem to be small, independent storefront operations are actually part of a fully-formed parallel economy dominated by a handful of well-financed corporations, subject to little or no oversight, with increasingly strong ties to mainstream financial institutions. It is a hidden world, Karger writes, where a customer’s economic fate is sealed with a handshake, a smile, and a stack of fine print documents that would befuddle many attorneys. Filled with heartbreaking stories of real people trapped in perpetual debt, Shortchanged exposes the deceptive practices that allow these businesses to prey on people when they are most vulnerable. Karger reveals the many ways this industry has run amok, ruining countless people’s lives, and shows that it’s not just the poor but, more and more, maxed-out middle class consumers who fall prey to these devious schemes. Balancing compassion with a realistic awareness of the risks any business faces in working with an economically distressed clientele, Karger details hard-headed, practical recommendations for reforming this predatory industry.

The Economics of Financial Inclusion

Download The Economics of Financial Inclusion PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1040119301
Total Pages : 357 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (41 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Economics of Financial Inclusion by : Firdous Ahmad Malik

Download or read book The Economics of Financial Inclusion written by Firdous Ahmad Malik and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-10-15 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a thorough examination of the economics of financial inclusion and management from a contemporary standpoint. It covers a vast array of financial inclusion-related topics, surveying economies around the globe and analyzes the factors that contribute to both financial inclusion and exclusion. The book discusses the role of technology, examining how technological advances have revolutionized financial services and increased access to populations that were previously underserved. It studies the intersection of financial inclusion and sustainability, highlighting the significance of green finance and its role in fostering inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Financial literacy and the theories underlying financial inclusion efforts are examined, as is the impact of financial criminality. Further, the authors consider regional development and the extant gaps in financial inclusion as well as the urban-rural divide, investigating disparities between urban and rural areas and proposing strategies to bridge the gap. They also assess the effect of inflation and recession and discuss how monetary and fiscal policies can impact inclusion initiatives. The book concludes with a management perspective on financial inclusion, with chapters devoted to various aspects of administering inclusive financial systems. It combines theoretical insights with empirical evidence and case studies, from both developing and developed nations, to illustrate the various approaches and challenges and to provide a comprehensive understanding of worldwide advancements and developments. The comparative approach provides readers with insights into diverse strategies and best practices for overcoming challenges and obstacles and for promoting financial inclusion in various economic contexts. Overall, readers will benefit from the book's comprehensive analysis and exhaustive coverage. It is an invaluable resource for advanced students, scholars, researchers and policymakers.

Fringe Banking in Winnipeg's North End

Download Fringe Banking in Winnipeg's North End PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Canadian Centre Policy Alternatives
ISBN 13 : 0886274281
Total Pages : 55 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (862 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Fringe Banking in Winnipeg's North End by : Jerry Buckland

Download or read book Fringe Banking in Winnipeg's North End written by Jerry Buckland and published by Canadian Centre Policy Alternatives. This book was released on 2005 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The geographic boundaries of the North End, as determined by the North End Community Renewal Corporation, is north of the CPR tracks, south of Caruthers Avenue, east of McPhillips Street, and west of the Red River. [...] This 5 In his examination of fringe banking in the US, Caskey (1994, p. 84) argues that a chief reason for their rise is the increase in the number of households without bank accounts, rising from 9.5% of the US population in 1977 to 13.5% in 1989, the result of processes affecting banks (supply side) and bank clients (demand side). [...] The second focus credit risk related to high levels of debt-servicing and personal bankruptcy; the contraction in the bank and finance company supply of non-revolving, unsecured loans; the growing numbers of people with higher credit risk due to increased legal and illegal immigration to the US; the increase in gold prices; the growing awareness among entrepreneurs of the profits in fringe banking [...] Winnipeg and the 16.5% of the population of the North End, North End both have around 13.5% of comprise a smaller percentage at 11.9% their population over the age of retire- of the population of Winnipeg. [...] This is sub- the number of people contributing income stantially higher than the 35% average in to a household, the greater the likelihood the rest of Winnipeg.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Download Corporate Social Responsibility PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319350838
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (193 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Corporate Social Responsibility by : Stephen Vertigans

Download or read book Corporate Social Responsibility written by Stephen Vertigans and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-08-02 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book highlights the multi-faceted nature of corporate social responsibility and the need for greater engagement across academia to help develop the mechanisms needed to encourage socially responsible approaches across the board. The product of a cross-disciplinary collaboration of authors from various academic disciplines, the book reflects the emergent diversity of academics now studying corporate social responsibility (CSR). Accordingly, it includes contributions from economists to social anthropologists, from accountants to philosophers, and from clinical psychologists to social geographers. Together they provide new insights into aspects that challenge, hinder and enable CSR practitioners and corporations with regard to their financial impact and accountability, governance and supply chains. The book is divided into four parts focusing on the practical, sociological, theoretical and environmental aspects of corporate social responsibility.

Rethinking Poverty

Download Rethinking Poverty PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN 13 : 0268076235
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (68 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Rethinking Poverty by : James P. Bailey

Download or read book Rethinking Poverty written by James P. Bailey and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2010-09-14 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Rethinking Poverty, James P. Bailey argues that most contemporary policies aimed at reducing poverty in the United States are flawed because they focus solely on insufficient income. Bailey argues that traditional policies such as minimum wage laws, food stamps, housing subsidies, earned income tax credits, and other forms of cash and non-cash income supports need to be complemented by efforts that enable the poor to save and accumulate assets. Drawing on Michael Sherraden’s work on asset building and scholarship by Melvin Oliver, Thomas Shapiro, and Dalton Conley on asset discrimination, Bailey presents us with a novel and promising way forward to combat persistent and morally unacceptable poverty in the United States and around the world. Rethinking Poverty makes use of a significant body of Catholic social teachings in its argument for an asset development strategy to reduce poverty. These Catholic teachings include, among others, principles of human dignity, the social nature of the person, the common good, and the preferential option for the poor. These principles and the related social analyses have not yet been brought to bear on the idea of asset-building for the poor by those working within the Catholic social justice tradition. This book redresses this shortcoming, and further, claims that a Catholic moral argument for asset-building for the poor can be complemented and enriched by Martha Nussbaum’s “capabilities approach.” This book will affect current debates and practical ways to reduce poverty, as well as the future direction of Catholic social teaching.

Quixote's Ghost

Download Quixote's Ghost PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190292733
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (92 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Quixote's Ghost by : David Stoesz

Download or read book Quixote's Ghost written by David Stoesz and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-07-14 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American social policy, writes David Stoesz, is currently experiencing an alarming paradigm shift. Quixote's Ghost, a provocative new analysis of the ideological fight for control of American social welfare policy, demonstrates how the Right pirated the pragmatism championed by the Left since the New Deal and what that means for the future of social policy. Stoesz's fascinating account documents how conservative think tanks arose to combat the dominance of liberal intellectualism in the university system, and by now have taken command of the "means of analysis," flooding Congress with proposals and effectively shifting American public philosophy from liberalism to conservatism. While the Right devoted enormous amounts of energy in reconstructing social policy, Stoesz argues that the American liberal-intellectual class-the Liberati-abandoned its original mission, defecting from the welfare state project to pursue a philosophical tangent, postmodernism, that vilified social policy and romanticized oppressed populations. Presenting case studies from welfare reform and children's services, he illustrates how both the Right and the Left have shortchanged American social policy. In the process, he proposes radical pragmatism as the solution to counter the dominance of an emerging welfare-industrial complex and revive a Progressive orientation to social policy. Only through citizen empowerment, social mobility, and government restructuring, Stoesz argues, can we effectively craft a new approach to social policy that meets the requirements of the 21st century and transcends the impasse between the Left and the Right. Quixote's Ghost, framed by the metaphor of a Romantic Left whose actions-like Don Quixote's obsession with chivalry-are out of synch with the present reality, will be of immense interest to students and academics alike. As one of the few books to chart this radical shift in social policy and its implications on the ground, it will be sure to challenge both the Right and the Left to craft a new approach to thinking about American social policy.

Building Financial Resilience

Download Building Financial Resilience PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319724193
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (197 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Building Financial Resilience by : Jerry Buckland

Download or read book Building Financial Resilience written by Jerry Buckland and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-02-19 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines how credit and finance schemes affect the financial lives of vulnerable people around the world. These schemes include payday lending, matched savings, and financial literacy in the Global North, and micro-credit and mobile banking in the Global South. Buckland sets these schemes within the context of financialization and seeks to identify strengths, weaknesses, and ways to enhance the well-being of vulnerable people. This book’s coverage of a wide range of financial products and geographic regions makes for a unique and innovative perspective on this topic. It presents a balanced critique of credit and finance schemes under the assumption that reform is the most practical means to improve human well-being.

Improving Consumer Financial Literacy Under the New Regulatory System

Download Improving Consumer Financial Literacy Under the New Regulatory System PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 190 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Improving Consumer Financial Literacy Under the New Regulatory System by : United States. Congress. House. Committee on Financial Services. Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit

Download or read book Improving Consumer Financial Literacy Under the New Regulatory System written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Financial Services. Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Clearinghouse Review

Download Clearinghouse Review PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 104 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (3 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Clearinghouse Review by :

Download or read book Clearinghouse Review written by and published by . This book was released on 2011-07 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Power and Everyday Practices, Second Edition

Download Power and Everyday Practices, Second Edition PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
ISBN 13 : 1487588224
Total Pages : 434 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (875 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Power and Everyday Practices, Second Edition by : Deborah Brock

Download or read book Power and Everyday Practices, Second Edition written by Deborah Brock and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2019 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rather than view social inequality as a problem for marginalized populations, Power and Everyday Practices turns the spotlight on the ways power and privilege are produced and reproduced in our everyday worlds

Credit Markets for the Poor

Download Credit Markets for the Poor PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 1610440757
Total Pages : 315 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Credit Markets for the Poor by : Patrick Bolton

Download or read book Credit Markets for the Poor written by Patrick Bolton and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2005-06-30 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Access to credit is an important means of providing people with the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. Loans are essential for most people who want to purchase a home, start a business, pay for college, or weather a spell of unemployment. Yet many people in poor and minority communities—regardless of their creditworthiness—find credit hard to come by, making the climb out of poverty extremely difficult. How dire are the lending markets in these communities and what can be done to improve access to credit for disadvantaged groups? In Credit Markets for the Poor, editors Patrick Bolton and Howard Rosenthal and an expert team of economists, political scientists, and legal and business scholars tackle these questions with shrewd analysis and a wealth of empirical data. Credit Markets for the Poor opens by examining what credit options are available to poor households. Economist John Caskey profiles how weak credit options force many working families into a disastrous cycle of short-term, high interest loans in order to sustain themselves between paychecks. Löic Sadoulet explores the reasons that community lending organizations, which have been so successful in developing countries, have failed in more advanced economies. He argues the obstacles that have inhibited community lending groups in industrialized countries—such as a lack of institutional credibility and the high cost of establishing lending networks—can be overcome if banks facilitate the community lending process and establish a system of repayment insurance. Credit Markets for the Poor also examines how legal institutions affect the ability of the poor to borrow. Daniela Fabbri and Mario Padula argue that well-meaning provisions making it more difficult for lenders to collect on defaulted loans are actually doing a disservice to the poor in credit markets. They find that in areas with lax legal enforcement of debt agreements, credit markets for the poor are underdeveloped because lenders are unwilling to take risks on issuing credit or will do so only at exorbitant interest rates. Timothy Bates looks at programs that facilitate small-business development and finds that they have done little to reduce poverty. He argues that subsidized business creation programs may lure inexperienced households into entrepreneurship in areas where little profitable investment is possible, hence setting them up for failure. With clarity and insightful analysis, Credit Markets for the Poor demonstrates how weak credit markets are impeding the social and economic mobility of the needy. By detailing the many disadvantages that impoverished people face when seeking to borrow, this important new volume highlights a significant national problem and offers solutions for the future.

Financial Vulnerability in Canada

Download Financial Vulnerability in Canada PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030925811
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (39 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Financial Vulnerability in Canada by : Jerry Buckland

Download or read book Financial Vulnerability in Canada written by Jerry Buckland and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-03-02 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines financial vulnerability: a state in which a person or household cannot absorb any substantial spending or negative income shock without substantial financial and ultimately broader harm such as job loss, emotional harm, or mental illness. The focus of the book is on the experiences of low- income and modest income Canadian families – families which, by virtue of being in the lower income brackets, are particularly at risk of experiencing financial hardship. Looking at vulnerability from a conceptual and empirical lens, this book offers a framework to better understand the complex and interdependent ways in which financial vulnerability emerge and can be addressed. By locating its analysis of individual and household financial management in wider community, cultural, and economic contexts, this book seeks to offer holistic policy recommendations to reduce financial vulnerability, with implications that go beyond Canada and to other developed countries.