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RETIREMENT SECURITY MATTERS
A forum for retirement innovation information sharing focused on
states, supporters, and service providers.
Vol 52 | April 7, 2022


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5 Things We've Just Heard - Part 2
Last edition we promised you the inside scoop from five rooms, but we only gave one room #1. So what’s behind those other doors? Good stuff you need.

These five hot topics are culled from conferences and calls thoughtfully curated and hosted by the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program, DCIIA’s Innovation Forum Team, Georgetown Center for Retirement Initiatives’ State Retirement Savings Program Network, NAST’s Legislative Conference Team, and even the Conference of the Western Region Chartered Financial Analyst Societies.

We bring it. You chew on it. Just remember, the world is a better place because you’re here. Act accordingly.
Get in the room! This room is NAST on March 14 at the Watergate.
Door No. 2: We’re not the youngest people in the room anymore. There was a time when we were – remember that bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, fresh-faced feeling? Together we learned how to talk the financial services talk, wear the suits, and sling acronyms with the best of them. We are Bad! … but somedays we are just little “b” bad … at communicating with Millennials, Gen Z, and the Alphas nipping at their heels. They don’t really care about our acronym skills, our product sheets, and especially not our perfect-ness. They want it real. Very real.
Door No. 3: Retirement Security, Part One. Rooms we go into naturally focus on retirement security. This conversation starts with a robust discussion of the merits of SECURE 2.0 – adding sponsors regularly and rumored to be up for a Senate action late this spring – and the RISE Act. Important, but arguably not focused on expansion of retirement savings coverage at work. Where we went next may surprise you.
Door No. 4: Retirement Security, Part Two. What’s retirement security without … security. And what are the edges of retirement security – do they fold in emergency savings, artificial intelligence, insurance-based risk management, financial wellness diagnostics?
Door No. 5: What We’re Learning. It’s no secret, we’re big fans of good research. The environment of the last five years has provided a synchronicity of natural experimentation and data relevant to retirement security and financial wellness. Each of the rooms we entered referenced very recent, excellent work. 
Bonus: Your Doors. We love what we’re seeing in the space as good people tackle good hard problems – and create change. It’s often the tiniest meaningful changes that can have incredible lasting impact. In just the last five years we’ve started to change the retirement savings opportunities for over 20 million working Americans. Started. To. And we are changing how we talk to each other about money. Just ask TikTok, and Yemi Rose, and Patrice Washington. We are gradually creating a financial system in the US that is more inclusive and that works better. So what are you working on? Are you building something that’s better – even a little bit better? We want to know. Because your small change might be the one that propels us over the next line.

We think you are amazing. Thank you for joining us on Part Two of this spring journey - What now? Let’s keep talking.

- Lisa
*Fresh!* State Auto IRA Program Metrics
What we see: we’ve got a blend of data dates here, providing you with the most current consolidated view across the three state-wide Auto IRA programs. See the footnotes if you’d like more detail.

Highlights: Across the three programs, funded accounts are now over 450,000. For comparison, they’re up 5% this year so far, up 1.7x in the last year and up about 4.1x since December 2019. 

Current combined assets are up $5 million since our last report, to $422 million. This is 2.6x increase over their year-ago value, and more than 7x their level two years ago.
Across the three programs almost 54,000 employers are now registered to facilitate and over 19,000 have begun facilitating. 
State Facilitated Retirement Programs - Fresh Highlights
I M P L E M E N T I N G
Colorado (workforce 3.2 million) – The Colorado Secure Savings Program Board met March 31, 2022, and approved their first annual report. It is now headed to the Governor's Office, and the House and Senate Finance Committees. This document provides a concise overview of the implementation status of the program. It also highlights work of the Board and Treasury staff thus far, including progress on program design, vendor procurement, rulemaking and more. Stay tuned for the release of the report!  

Colorado will launch its Pilot Program around October 2022, followed by formal employer registration beginning in early 2023. On the current timeline, the Colorado Secure Savings Program will be one of the quickest launches of a state-facilitated retirement savings program, as well as the lead state of the nation’s first multi-state partnership arrangement. For more information about Colorado and New Mexico’s unique retirement savings partnership, check out NCSL’s recent article on how these two states have joined forces. 
Connecticut (workforce 1.8 million) – Congratulations Nutmeggers! Authority Chair Comptroller Natalie Braswell announced the launch of the MyCTSavings Auto-IRA program for more than 600,000 private-sector workers in Connecticut who aren't otherwise offered a plan. “Everyone deserves a financially secure retirement” said Comptroller Braswell. Governor Ned Lamont extended his gratitude to Comptroller Braswell and former Comptroller Kevin Lembo, both involved in bringing the program to life. For more see the related press release. Additional coverage in Yahoo Finance and CT Insider. You can follow the program on #Twitter -- @MyCTSavings.
New Jersey (workforce 4.4 million) – *Executive Director Opportunity* The New Jersey Secure Choice Savings Program Board issued an RFP for recruiter for program Executive Director search. View position description here. 
A C T I V E
Hawaii (workforce 647,000) – Hawaii’s retirement savings bill is progressing to the Senate, having passed the House with a few amendments.
Missouri (workforce 3.0 million) - Missouri’s retirement savings bill passed second reading and was referred to the Committee on Small Business and Industry on March 31, 2022. As a refresher, House Bill 1732 would create a voluntary, state-run open MEP for small employers (those with no more than 50 workers). Members would be able to begin contributing under the plan no later than September 2024. The bill would also create the Missouri Workplace Retirement Savings Board to run the program.
G L O B A L
Setting expectations – we’re not doing official global monitoring, but as things pass our desk, we want to share them with you. Here’s this week’s rotation.
Ireland (workforce 2.3 million) – The Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys, has recently announced the details of the Final Design principles for the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System for Ireland (AE), if the enabling legislation passes. AE is a system where employees who do not have an occupational pension are automatically enrolled into a retirement savings scheme, with the ability to opt-out. The government estimates that approximately 750,000 employees would be eligible and automatically enrolled in the first phase. For more see the press release here. Additional coverage includes a piece The Irish Times here and a great summary by Mercer here. 
Jamaica (workforce 1.2 million) – In our last edition we mentioned that the Pension Industry Association of Jamaica released a new piece titled Increasing Pension Coverage in Jamaica Through the Introduction of a Statutory Auto-Enrolment Scheme - here's the direct link. 

Also, with many countries in the Caribbean experiencing low pension coverage, there is a need for an adaptable framework that is inclusive of all types of employment. So don’t miss a great article by expert and retirement savings advocate Sanya Goffe on designing flexible pension products featured by the Jamaica Observer. 
C O M I N G U P




  • Maryland (workforce 3.1 million) – The next meeting of the Maryland$aves Board is scheduled for May 9, 2022.


  • Oregon (workforce 2.1 million) – The next meeting of the OregonSaves Board is scheduled for May 17, 2022. 


  • California (workforce 19.0 million) –The next meeting of the CalSavers Board is scheduled for May 24, 2022.


Culture Matters
We hear all the time about the amazing social safety net programs and innovative ways other countries are improving financial security for their people. Sometimes, we can adopt similar solutions, but other times, those ideas simply have no traction or just don’t work the same way here in the United States. There are a lot of reasons for that - legal, logistical, and political - but one you can’t ignore is culture.

In the world of state-sponsored retirement programs, we can learn from the successes and challenges of programs like NEST in the UK or KiwiSaver in New Zealand. I remember being in a conference where staff from several states had the benefit of hearing directly from officials in Ontario, Canada about their attempts to start up a similar retirement savings program. Even Canada, with so much shared history and culture, however, is still a very different place from the United States.

While doing outreach for the OregonSaves retirement savings it was important for us to consider just what set apart Oregon and the people who lived there from other places and other people. You can design a great product or service, but nobody is going to use it if it doesn’t feel like it’s meant for them.

The first lesson?
Understanding cultural similarities and differences is vital, if you really want to make sure good ideas turn into solutions that actually work for the people you’re there to serve.

More to come! / Joel
Columnist and Senior Associate Joel Metlen is based in Oregon. Joel is a pioneer of the state facilitated retirement savings space, woven into a career of public service and innovation. At OregonSaves, Joel’s responsibilities ranged from marketing and employer engagement to operations and data analysis. You’ll see his insights from that experience, and more, here.
Hot Sauce! Cool Stuff
SECURE 2.0 – the much-talked-about federal legislation, made some progress this week, passing the House. We like Ascensus’ summary of the bill’s features, including the fact that it now incorporates some of the proposals from the RISE Act. Please notice there is lots to love in this bill, and it deepens and improves existing coverage, but we don’t think it will expand coverage very much. Expansion of coverage requires employer action, and there’s only a little of that here. Links to leg: SECURE 2.0 / RISE Act; additional coverage: ASPPA’s piece and Pension & Investments article (subscription may be needed to view this piece). 

Interesting series – Blomberg Opinion just released a two-piece series on America’s Retirement Crisis. The first piece focuses on the size of the issue. One quote: “The lack of savings is more than a humanitarian crisis. It’s also a fiscal disaster in the making.” The second editorial in this series touches on why savings for retirement is harder than it should be.

Ears on – if we haven’t convinced you to listen to How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg yet because it’s just not your thing, scroll on. But we will say the way he dissects Beethoven’s 5th Symphony is incredible. We’ll never hear it the same way again. Worth your time!

The Osterholm Update – like us, you are probably quite tired of thinking about COVID. A physician friend recommended this balanced and humans-oriented podcast. We’re liking it. We like it a lot more now that we’ve contracted COVID in a foreign country. It’s super relevant!

And ...
PIX OF THE WEEK! So your friends at RSM are in Israel this week.
We have thousands of photos to share with you. But we’ve pared it back to six.
There’s a lot of old stuff … and some very new stuff.
Friday sundown was both the start of the Jewish Sabbath and the beginning of Ramadan. In Jerusalem the holy sites are only a few feet, and sometimes a few inches, apart.

Someone near us described Jerusalem as a “living tel” – that’s hard to argue with. And when you’ve had enough old stuff you might just walk through the Jaffa Gate to Mitchell Park across the road, lie on your back, and contemplate life for a while. 
That’s it for this edition. ❤ Hug your people and change the world.
If you like this piece, please stick with us. We’ll be back in about two weeks. If you don’t like it, please unsubscribe below. Comments for us? Please let us know. Want your own subscription? Request one here. All information shared is from public sources or used with express permission.
Massena Associates provides process, policy, and implementation consulting on retirement savings programs and products.

Our clientele includes public entities, policy organizations, and private sector providers. Our specialty – efficient, targeted results. We are an active speaker on retirement security topics, including state-facilitated programs, MEPs and more.

If you’d like to explore working together, we welcome the conversation. Connect with us here, and at 339-236-0684.
RESOURCES you can use:
Looking for a great retirement savings innovation resource? Led by Dr. Alicia Munnell, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College develops and hosts terrific content and proprietary research related to states, financial security, social security, and more.

The Georgetown Center for Retirement Initiatives, Exec Angela Antonelli, provides excellent information on state-based and other retirement security innovation and policy.

Pew’s Retirement Savings Project studies the challenges and opportunities for increasing retirement savings and is another great resource - check out the work of John Scott and his terrific team.

If you want a great source of broad-based, consumer-focused retirement news, Jeffrey H. Snyder’s The Morning Pulse is your ticket. You can subscribe here.