New Jersey is the latest state, along with Maryland, Connecticut, New York, Washington state, Vermont, Massachusetts, Oregon, California, and Illinois, to establish a state-run retirement savings plan for private-sector employees whose employers do not offer a retirement plan. Though there are various concerns about the states running the retirement plans such as administrative capabilities, management of the investment funds, etc., the new option to save part of the income in the retirement accounts should benefit employees who currently do not have such an opportunity through their employers.
According to a new survey from Bankrate, as many as 65% of Americans are saving too little of their incomes. With this “better-than-nothing” option a lot of people can start to put aside money for their retirement. Hopefully, such programs will be moving in the right direction by providing easy to enroll, step by step guide to assist in the process. The state-run programs must provide all necessary education for participants which in turn will help them to make important decisions about selecting funds and choosing a retirement strategy. It is important to remember that when it comes to saving early for retirement financial education should never be overlooked (read more about this HERE).
