Analyzing Household Engagement and Financial Behavior on UpTogether

Background

The Family Independence Initiative (FII) is committed to empowering low-income households through financial investments and technological support via their UpTogether platform. To enhance their effectiveness in promoting financial stability and systemic change, FII sought to deeply understand household engagement, financial behaviors, income trends, and patterns in platform retention.

Project Details

In collaboration with FII, the SUDS team conducted a comprehensive analysis covering household engagement trends, income fluctuations, and detailed financial transaction behaviors over two years. The project leveraged extensive household-level data to uncover key insights, including:

• Retention and Engagement Analysis: Examining detailed engagement data to identify critical points of household attrition and retention, as well as factors influencing sustained platform participation.
• Income Trajectory Assessment: Investigating income data to determine patterns and underlying factors contributing to households experiencing increases, decreases, or financial stability.
• Financial Transaction Analysis: Utilizing transaction data from Plaid to categorize household expenditures, identifying patterns of local versus external transactions, and improving accuracy through advanced machine learning-based text analysis.
• Enhanced Transaction Categorization: Refining Plaid’s transaction classifications through sophisticated data mining and natural language processing techniques, resulting in clearer, more actionable financial insights.

Deliverables

• Detailed Engagement and Attrition Report: Comprehensive analysis identifying factors affecting household retention and engagement longevity on the UpTogether platform.
• Income Change Analysis: Clear identification of key indicators associated with positive and negative financial trajectories, providing insights into household economic mobility.
• Financial Behavior Insights: In-depth categorization and analysis of financial transaction patterns, highlighting spending behaviors and economic management among low-income families.
• Interactive R Markdown Reports: Visualizations and statistical summaries clearly presenting engagement trends, income trajectories, and financial transaction insights.
• Codebase Documentation: Well-organized GitHub repository containing reproducible data processing scripts, analysis methods, visualizations, and comprehensive README documentation.

Outcomes

The project’s insights significantly advanced FII’s understanding of how households interact with the UpTogether platform and manage financial resources. By clearly identifying engagement patterns, financial behaviors, and factors influencing economic outcomes, the analysis directly informed strategic improvements in platform design, resource allocation, and policy advocacy efforts. Ultimately, this collaborative effort supported FII’s broader mission of fostering financial stability, economic mobility, and lasting systemic change for low-income communities.