Key strategies

  • Requiring employers to provide a retirement savings option or facilitate employee enrollment in a state plan (tax-deferred plans with multiple investment options)

  • Enrolling employees automatically, but allowing them to opt out

  • Ensuring employee contributions are portable between jobs and fully vested immediately

  • Making participation open to independent contractors as well as traditional employees

  • Advocating a change to federal law to allow state/local governments and employers to contribute to accounts (federal law must exempt state/local governments and employers from fiduciary responsibilities under ERISA when they contribute to these savings options); under such a change, states and municipalities could:

    • Contribute matching funds up to a certain amount or one-time/regular contributions of a fixed amount

    • Means test contributions

    • Use tax breaks to incentivize or require contributions to accounts from employers who are not otherwise contributing to their employees’ retirement