Cash Alone or Cash Plus Mentoring? Financial Well-Being in the San Antonio GOALS Initiative

• In Event: Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 14. Welfare

Abstract

Poverty and economic insecurity continue to affect low-income adults in the United States, prompting renewed interest in guaranteed income programs and financial coaching interventions. While unconditional cash transfers have demonstrated short-term improvements in financial stability, mentoring programs aim to strengthen financial capability through goal setting, planning, and sustained behavioral change. An open question remains whether cash alone is sufficient to improve multidimensional financial well-being, or whether pairing cash with structured mentoring produces stronger outcomes.

This study uses longitudinal data from the San Antonio Generating Opportunities to Achieve Lasting Success (GOALS) Initiative to compare the effects of cash transfers, mobility mentoring, and their combination. The GOALS Initiative is a randomized controlled trial including four groups: Cash only (n=125), Mobility Mentoring only (n=135), Cash Plus (n=125), and Control (n=212). Cash recipients received $500 per month for two years (2022–2024), while mentoring participants engaged in structured sessions focused on financial literacy and long-term goal attainment.

Financial well-being is measured across three domains: financial knowledge, financial goals and behaviors, and financial difficulty, using validated composite scales. Intent-to-treat effects are estimated using ordinary least squares regression, adjusting for baseline measures and demographic covariates.

Preliminary findings indicate that the Cash Plus group exhibits the largest and most consistent gains across all domains. Participants receiving both cash and mentoring report significant improvements in financial knowledge and goal-oriented behaviors, alongside reductions in financial difficulty. Mentoring alone also produces meaningful improvements, while cash alone yields more limited effects concentrated in financial behaviors.

These findings suggest that pairing guaranteed income with structured mentoring generates broader and more sustained improvements in financial well-being than either intervention delivered independently.

Authors

• Jessy Rugeyo, University of Texas at San Antonio

• Melinda Lundquist Denton, University of Texas at San Antonio

• Kara Joyner, University of Texas-San Antonio

• Raymond R. Swisher, University of Texas-San Antonio