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Jan. 20, 2010

Allowing Automatic Enrollment in Employee Retirement Plans

Rich Jones
Director of Policy and Research
The Bell Policy Center

Summary

A financially secure and healthy retirement is our ninth and final gateway to a life of opportunity. A secure and healthy retirement should be the reward for a life of hard work and contribution to family and community.

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Colorado???s political, business and community leaders should encourage employers to use automatic enrollment for 401(k) pension plans. We should also educate workers about the value of participating in these plans and of increasing contributions over time to meet retirement needs. Automatic enrollment is allowed under federal law, and pension reform legislation passed by Congress in August provides additional incentives to do so.

A Boulder Daily Camera commentary outlining the problems with the country's main mechanisms for saving for retirement - Social Security, company pensions and personal savings accounts - and proposing some solutions to improve the system.

This bill proposes to create a [name of State] retirement savings program to promote expanded pension and retirement security for the citizens of [name of State] and assist them to achieve economic independence by making it easier for working families to save and for smaller employers to sponsor plans for their employees.

Colorado can restructure its education system for the 21st Century, ensure Colorado families can afford the health care they need, renew the promise of secure pensions and retirement plans and make strategic investments in the jobs and infrastructure that underpin a competitive economy.

Colorado???s political, business and community leaders should encourage employers to use automatic enrollment for 401(k) pension plans. We should also educate workers about the value of participating in these plans and of increasing contributions over time to meet retirement needs. Automatic enrollment is allowed under federal law, and pension reform legislation currently pending before Congress provides additional incentives to do so.