The Retirement Security Project (RSP) has advanced an array of proposals that aim to make retirement saving more accessible and more rewarding for middle- and low-income households. The proposals would:
promote the adoption of automatic features in 401(k) plans (e.g., enrollment, escalation, investment);
- establish Automatic IRAs;
- expand and improve the Saver's Credit;
- allow taxpayers to split direct deposit of income tax refunds into several accounts; and
- reform the asset eligibility tests for means-tested government programs.
The goal of this paper is to provide rough, ballpark estimates of the potential effects of these proposals on private and national saving. We calculate that the enactment and implementation of the proposals could plausibly, over the long term, raise net national saving by 0.6 percent of GDP.
Download the full PDF of the report for more information.
Eleni Constantine, director of the Pew Health Group’s financial security portfolio, issued the following statement in support of legislation creating an “automatic IRA,” S. 3760, introduced by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and H.R. 6099, introduced by Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA).
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The Retirement Security Project announced today that J. Mark Iwry, Principal of The Retirement Security Project, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and former Treasury Department official, has been appointed by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as Senior Adviser to the Secretary and Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary for Retirement and Health Policy, effective April 27, 2009.
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The Administration’s budget outline, released today, includes the Automatic IRA proposal developed by the Retirement Security Project.
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In the midst of a campaign with opposing views on most aspects of domestic policy, the presidential candidates have now both endorsed the Automatic IRA.
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As traditional pensions fade from the retirement landscape and workers are forced to take a lot more responsibility for their own financial futures, employers are rolling out a variety of features to help workers prepare for retirement.
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