Graduate Andrew Fisher is supporting research into household finances

Graduate Andrew Fisher is supporting CHASM to carry out critical research into the local and global challenge of financial risk and insecurity facing a growing number of households. 

Ten years into supporting the Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM) at the University of Birmingham, Andrew (BSc Economics, 1982) is even more passionate about the need to support people facing financial insecurity, poverty and debt.

He says: ‘The work of CHASM has never been more important amidst the current cost-of-living crisis, which has been amplified by the pandemic, Brexit and the war in Ukraine. This is the right research at the right time.

‘CHASM’s work on the government’s Furlough and Mortgage holiday schemes has been used many times by Parliamentary committees, and the centre’s understanding of how people make decisions about private pensions is feeding into discussions about the MaPS Pensions Transformation Strategy. I am proud to invest in cutting-edge research to address the causes and consequences of financial risk and insecurity, to help bridge the growing gap between rich and poor.’

CHASM’s Financial Inclusion Monitor has also laid bare the financial and personal consequences so far of the cost-of-living crisis; new research undertaken by Ipsos for the Monitor shows that more than half of people in the UK have already cut back on heating and electricity. More than one in three say that they have experienced financial difficulties over the past year, with 81% of these people saying it has affected their mental and/or physical health, and more than half saying it has affected their relationships.

Professor Adele Atkinson, who recently joined CHASM from the OECD as a Professor of Practice in Financial Literacy and Wellbeing, says: ‘Receiving support from Andrew means CHASM has the resources to address urgent challenges through high-quality research with direct policy relevance. With his backing, we are also able to fund post-doctoral researchers to undertake detailed studies with long-term implications and mobilise more International Fellows to share their knowledge and create research synergies with CHASM.’

Louise Overton, Director of CHASM, says: ‘We are enormously grateful to Andrew for this major donation which is helping us to continue and expand our rigorous, multi-disciplinary research on the causes and consequences of household financial risk and insecurity. As we tackle these pressing problems against a backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis and high income and wealth inequality, Andrew’s support means we can invest more resource in our core research themes - Wealth, Assets and Inequality; Poverty, Precarity, Saving and Debt; and Risk and Financial Wellbeing in later life - Working in collaboration with our research partners and stakeholders, we will produce evidence of the highest quality to drive ambitious and workable solutions to these challenges.’

To find out more, visit the CHASM website.

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