Digital Financial Innovations, Investment Behaviors, and the Financial Well-Being of Low-Wage Workers

Digital financial innovations (DFI) are an increasingly prominent part of the financial market. These innovations may be attractive to low-wage workers as alternative investment vehicles. This brief examines low-wage workers' use of DFIs through their ownership of digital trading accounts and investment in several financial assets, including assets that are traditionally more stable as well as newer, nontraditional assets that may carry higher risk, across income levels and employment status. We also investigate whether workers reported receiving returns from using these assets, and finally, we compare use of traditional assets and nontraditional assets against workers’ savings, with emphasis on the investing trends of workers with and without retirement savings accounts. Data come from the Workforce Economic Inclusion and Mobility (WEIM) survey, a nationally representative survey of vulnerable workers in the United States.