Rhode Island Is The Latest State To Help Americans Lacking A Retirement Plan At Their Job
In a Forbes column, Dan Doonan writes the Rhode Island made news this month when it became the twentieth state to establish a state-facilitated retirement savings program and the seventeenth to do so with an auto-IRA model. This action by the Rhode Island legislature means every state in New England, except New Hampshire, will now offer a state-facilitated savings program. States elsewhere in the nation are considering these programs as well, including large states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, with millions of potential beneficiaries in those states.
State legislatures are adopting these programs because they are both good policy and good politics. These programs represent a real effort to close the persistent retirement plan access gap in the U.S. At any given moment over the past 45 years, half or more of American workers have not been participating in either a defined benefit (DB) or defined contribution (DC) retirement plan through their employer. This lack of coverage means these working Americans are much less likely to save for retirement and, therefore, less likely to be financially independent after their working years have ended.
Is America’s Retirement System Failing Future Retirees?
In a Forbes column, NIRS Executive Director Dan Doonan writes that as America ages and income inequality deepens, concerns about retirement security are mounting. Some voices, however, indicate that retirement concerns are exaggerated, relying on data indicating that older Baby Boomers have largely fared well in retirement. But new research published in The Journal of Retirement […]
U.S. public policy typically encourages saving. Our retirement system has undergone a major transformation over the past four decades, shifting workers to an individual savings-based system. Public policy supports saving for college costs, health costs, and emergencies, so it seems odd when a specific group of Americans is denied the ability to save, but that […]
National Institute on Retirement Security to Hold Retirement Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.
MEDIA ADVISORY National Institute on Retirement Security to Hold Retirement Policy Conference on March 3 – 4 in Washington, D.C. February 20, 2025, Washington, D.C. – The National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) will hold its 16th Annual Retirement Policy Conference, Choices, Challenges, and Opportunities | Strengthening Our Retirement Infrastructure, in Washington, D.C. At the […]
New Research Finds Americans Supportive of Pension Benefits for Public Employees
New Research Finds Americans Supportive of Pension Benefits for Public Employees Nationwide Survey by the National Institute on Retirement Security Indicates 86 Percent of Americans Say All Workers, Not Just Public Employees, Should Have a Pension WASHINGTON, D.C., October 29, 2024 – A new research infographic from the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) finds […]
In a Forbes column, Dan Doonan writes the Rhode Island made 
