Briefing Note 13 - Money Managers: The Poor and Their Savings

This note briefly discusses the savings needs of poor people in various stages of their lives and categorises the expenditures into life cycle events, emergencies and opportunities, which are often more than their savings back up. It also suggests three ways to covert the savings into a good lump sum—savings up means putting aside a small sum of money till it accumulates in a large sum, savings down in which poor receive an advance against future savings, and savings through where the poor continuously saves on a regular basis, and a matching lump sum is made available at some point in time during this flow of savings deposit. It suggests designing products which are convenient, quick, appropriate, flexible and affordable.

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