"Common" Sense
At a time when the nation’s legislative wheels seem mired in partisanship, the last week of January turned out to be a busy one for retirement plan proposals.
First the president unveiled his myRA concept in the State of the Union (along with a reference to an automatic IRA proposal previously included in the White House’s annual budget), followed a day later by introduction of the Retirement Security Act of 2014, a bipartisan proposal by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Susan Collins (R-ME). A day after that, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, formally introduced the Universal, Secure, and Adaptable (USA) Retirement Funds Act of 2014, an updated version of his 2012 proposal.
All three were intended to expand and improve the retirement savings of Americans—although, as you might expect, the three take quite different approaches. Consider that the myRA calls for the development of a “new retirement savings security” to encourage savings in a kind of Roth IRA, while Sen. Harkin’s proposal would require employers above a certain size to offer a whole new type of retirement savings plan (and would impose some new threshold enrollment and withdrawal requirements on existing 401(k)s, as well). As for the Nelson/Collins proposal, it seems to be largely focused on lowering or removing certain current regulatory and administrative barriers to smaller employers offering retirement plans.
Despite their varied approaches to the commonly-stated goal of expanding retirement savings, all three do have one other key commonality: All look to leverage the success of the work place and systematic payroll deductions in fostering retirement savings. Of course, that’s a foundation whose worth previous EBRI research has documented:¹ the impact that eligibility for a work place retirement plan can have on retirement readiness,² as well as the additional help that automatic-enrollment designs can provide.
It remains to be seen whether the legislative proposals will go anywhere—and the potential impact of myRA on motivating new savers is also uncertain. Just this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) introduced a proposal on defined benefit pension smoothing—not to provide any kind of help for retirement, but as a way to pay for a three-month extension of unemployment benefits.
But as America Saves Week nears, the activity on Capitol Hill serves as an additional reminder that a good place to start—any time, with or without the incentives of legislative change—is to Choose to Save. ®³
Nevin E. Adams, JD
¹ The January EBRI Notes, “The Role of Social Security, Defined Benefits, and Private Retirement Accounts in the Face of the Retirement Crisis,” is available online here.
² See “The Impact of Automatic Enrollment in 401(k) Plans on Future Retirement Accumulations: A Simulation Study Based on Plan Design Modifications of Large Plan Sponsors,” online here, and “Increasing Default Deferral Rates in Automatic Enrollment 401(k) Plans: The Impact on Retirement Savings Success in Plans With Automatic Escalation,” online here.
³ You can find a wide variety of tools and resources—including the popular and widely recommended Ballpark E$timate—at http://www.choosetosave.org/
First the president unveiled his myRA concept in the State of the Union (along with a reference to an automatic IRA proposal previously included in the White House’s annual budget), followed a day later by introduction of the Retirement Security Act of 2014, a bipartisan proposal by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Susan Collins (R-ME). A day after that, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, formally introduced the Universal, Secure, and Adaptable (USA) Retirement Funds Act of 2014, an updated version of his 2012 proposal.
All three were intended to expand and improve the retirement savings of Americans—although, as you might expect, the three take quite different approaches. Consider that the myRA calls for the development of a “new retirement savings security” to encourage savings in a kind of Roth IRA, while Sen. Harkin’s proposal would require employers above a certain size to offer a whole new type of retirement savings plan (and would impose some new threshold enrollment and withdrawal requirements on existing 401(k)s, as well). As for the Nelson/Collins proposal, it seems to be largely focused on lowering or removing certain current regulatory and administrative barriers to smaller employers offering retirement plans.
Despite their varied approaches to the commonly-stated goal of expanding retirement savings, all three do have one other key commonality: All look to leverage the success of the work place and systematic payroll deductions in fostering retirement savings. Of course, that’s a foundation whose worth previous EBRI research has documented:¹ the impact that eligibility for a work place retirement plan can have on retirement readiness,² as well as the additional help that automatic-enrollment designs can provide.
It remains to be seen whether the legislative proposals will go anywhere—and the potential impact of myRA on motivating new savers is also uncertain. Just this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) introduced a proposal on defined benefit pension smoothing—not to provide any kind of help for retirement, but as a way to pay for a three-month extension of unemployment benefits.
But as America Saves Week nears, the activity on Capitol Hill serves as an additional reminder that a good place to start—any time, with or without the incentives of legislative change—is to Choose to Save. ®³
Nevin E. Adams, JD
¹ The January EBRI Notes, “The Role of Social Security, Defined Benefits, and Private Retirement Accounts in the Face of the Retirement Crisis,” is available online here.
² See “The Impact of Automatic Enrollment in 401(k) Plans on Future Retirement Accumulations: A Simulation Study Based on Plan Design Modifications of Large Plan Sponsors,” online here, and “Increasing Default Deferral Rates in Automatic Enrollment 401(k) Plans: The Impact on Retirement Savings Success in Plans With Automatic Escalation,” online here.
³ You can find a wide variety of tools and resources—including the popular and widely recommended Ballpark E$timate—at http://www.choosetosave.org/
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