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An Individual Development Account (IDA) is an asset building tool designed to enable low-income families to save towards a targeted amount usually used for building assets in the form of home ownership, post-secondary education and small business ownership. In principle IDAs work as matched savings accounts that supplement the savings of low-income households with matching funds drawn from a variety of private and public sources.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) )〕 While anti-poverty policy makers have traditionally focused on issues of income and consumption, an expanded vision of poverty alleviation has emerged in recent years — one that encourages savings, investment, and asset accumulation in conjunction with, not instead of, traditional anti-poverty programs.〔 Assets play a vital role in poverty alleviation by providing not only economic security but also a psychological orientation that encourages low income families to save and plan for the future. In his book, ''Assets and the Poor: A New American Welfare Policy'', Michael Sherraden proposed establishing individual savings accounts for the poor calling for the government and the private sector to match individual contributions to IDAs as a means of encouraging savings and breaking the cycle of poverty. Sherraden argued that asset and saving accumulation requires institutional structures and incentives and that asset based development policies can have psychological, social and economic impacts. Since then IDAs have been adopted by United States federal legislation via the The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and in more than 40 states of the country.〔 Evidence of IDA programs also exists outside of the continental United States especially in Hawaii and Sub Saharan Africa. ==How IDAs work== Most IDAs are offered through programs that involve partnerships between local nonprofit organizations, also called IDA program sponsors, and financial institutions. The IDA program sponsor recruits program participants and provides financial literacy classes. Additionally they may also provide counseling and training for efficient saving practices and money management. When recruiting, IDA program sponsors need to ensure that participants meet certain criteria that the Corporation for Enterprise Development specifies as follows: *Income: Most IDA programs specify a maximum household income level for IDA eligibility. Depending on the program sponsor, the eligible maximum income levels can range from 250% below the poverty line to less than 80% of area median income.〔 *Earnings: The source of the savings are another important criterion. Many IDA programs require that all or part of the savings accumulated during the course of an IDA program should come from "earned income". This is usually defined as the income coming from a paycheck, but welfare, disability, social security, or unemployment checks also qualify as earnings. An example of ineligible source of income would be money received as a gift. *Net Worth: Besides looking at maximum household income, some IDA programs additionally take into consideration household assets such as a car, home, savings, etc. when determining IDA eligibility. *Credit History: Certain barriers to savings are also taken into account when determining eligibility. One of them is debt from credit cards and loans. Therefore, too much debt or bad credit history can prevent one from qualifying for an IDA. The number of eligibility criteria employed varies by the IDA program sponsor and their funding sources. Once recruited, participants open IDA accounts with the partnering financial institution and begin making deposits. Account holders generally make monthly contributions to an account, usually over a period of one to four years, and their savings are matched by donations typically at a rate ranging from 1:1 to 3:1. Match dollars for IDAs come from many different places, such as government agencies, private companies, churches, or local charities. Any individual, organization or business can contribute match dollars to IDAs. In most cases, donors can get a tax deduction for contributions to IDAs, and they are also recognized for helping others in their community. Each month, IDA participants receive a report telling them how much money is accumulating in their IDA, which is a sum of their individual savings, matched dollars and interest. Individual and matching deposits are never co-mingled; all matching dollars are kept in a separate, parallel account. When the IDA account holder has accumulated enough savings and matching funds to purchase the asset and has completed a required financial education course, payments from the IDA are made directly to the asset provider to complete the asset purchase.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Individual Development Account」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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