RETIREMENT SECURITY MATTERS
A forum for retirement innovation information sharing focused on
states, supporters, and service providers.
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Greetings! welcome to Retirement Security Matters – where we talk about retirement readiness innovation by states, supporters, and service providers.
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That’s it, back to school! This week we give you a proper edition with a great slate of content: |
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Maine – State Treasurer Henry Beck talks Retirement Security, and real estate
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Updates from Connecticut, Vermont, and the Sooner state – Oklahoma
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Grant’s Best Practices – Why you care about engaging Stakeholders
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And, milking our holidays, we share Pix of the Week!
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Mainers Seek Retirement Security |
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Henry Beck, State Treasurer, Maine |
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What’s it like to live in a place where daily life can look like a continuous natural vacation, but in fact, prices for energy and transportation are high, and it takes just as much effort as anywhere else to get ahead?
Maine ranks 42nd for population, for now – and like every state faces a set of both common and unique challenges when it comes to emergency savings and saving for retirement.
We talk with Treasurer Henry Beck, one of five statewide elected officials in Maine, about the work he’s been doing to promote retirement security and increasing equity in the state. And of course we get his pandemic silver lining and a few insights from a born Mainer. Highlights below, or read our full chat here. |
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Treasurer Beck, Maine is working on retirement security – give us the latest!
Right now, we are working to take meaningful steps to promote private retirement savings among Maine workers. We are trying to replicate in our own Maine way what Oregon has done, what Illinois has done, what California is also doing. You can learn about our current bill, LD 594, here.
What makes Maine unique in this “retirement security” space?
Let me start with the positives. Mainers are more likely than others in the US to use traditional financial institutions: banks and credit unions. So that's a positive starting point for us.
On the other hand, our savings rate is just not what it should be. There is just not sufficient savings for people to retire with dignity. Added to this mix Maine also has the highest median age of any state in the country, any state.
The highest median age in the country? We didn’t know that.
Yes. That by itself poses a unique challenge when it comes to retirement planning and retirement savings.
So we have some factors make savings more difficult, but I've also found in promoting this bill, working on this issue across political lines, demographic lines, people understand the need to save. I think by passing legislation and doing some thoughtful work, we could become a leader for Mainers who want to work and retire here.
Who’s partnering with Maine in this effort – how does retirement security link to equity and opportunity in Maine – and is it true that Maine property values are going up as pandemickers look for a more bucolic place to live and work?
Get the rest of this story here.
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State Facilitated Retirement Programs in Rollout and Study Mode |
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Combined assets broke the $100 million mark in August and are up 22% from June 30 to ~about now. While new registrations are growing at a slower rate, programs in total have added 5% more facilitating employers since the end of June. Savers' funded accounts are up 9% to over 164,000. In this period, Oregon and Illinois added the most assets, while California added the most new employers and funded accounts. CalSavers’ first employer deadline is coming up at the end of the month – September 30 for employers with 100 or more California-based employees, and who also do not offer a retirement savings plan.
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Connecticut (workforce 1.6 million). At its August 21 meeting, the Connecticut Retirement Security Authority Board approved a term sheet for contracting with BNY Mellon for program administration and recordkeeping. The Board’s next meeting is scheduled for September 18, 2020. Watch this space for the meeting agenda.
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Vermont (workforce 282,000). The Green Mountain Secure Retirement Plan Board has been in the process of completing its contract with TAG resources for management of Vermont’s MEP program. That contract was approved by the Board last week and is in the signature process. Stay tuned for more in our next edition.
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Professor Ferrell’s presentation, “Unicorns and Retired Farmers: Retirement Challenges in Rural America,” cites U.S. Census data indicating that low income households in the rural U.S. have significantly lower retirement savings account balances than their counterparts in metropolitan areas. The presentation notes that “banking deserts” are more prevalent in rural areas and that farms – as small businesses – are less likely than other employers to offer retirement savings plans. Ferrell also shares data indicating that 88% of farmers have no retirement plan in place.
Imagine That is the state’s new tagline – launched in February of 2020.
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Grant's Best Practices: Supporters? Opponents? Engage! |
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“Get the policy right and the politics will follow” was a favorite saying of an elected official with whom I had the privilege of working. While it may be true that support can generally be found for sound public policy, I have learned through experience not to let the “politics will follow” portion of the phrase lead to complacency. There is nothing inevitable about building and maintaining critical support. It takes planning and effort.
When California’s initial “Secure Choice” legislation was signed into law in 2012, I was assigned to work with the newly created board to conduct a feasibility study and to pursue legislative authority to implement the program. Steeped as I was in research on the retirement savings gap and lack of access to workplace savings plans, I was convinced that a state-administered program to encourage workers to save more for their own futures is good policy. With the naïve enthusiasm of a true believer, I was not worried about the politics.
Say what!? Read more here.
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... and now, Pix of the Week!
for a little reverie and vacation refresher ...
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First of all, who doesn’t like to kayak? Here’s our own Mainer splashing around in an undisclosed location. Looks awesome. Want to know more? We encourage you to reach out to the Treasurer and make a connection here. Life in Maine -- can't complain -- and even better on the water.
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We had a chance to get remote ourselves over Labor Day – cruising out Route 218 – the Journey Through Time Scenic Byway – to Clarno, population 697. It’s impossible to describe how beautiful this area is, in a remote and wild way. It’s so dark that you can see all the stars at night, until the moon comes up and blinds you.
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It’s so quiet that as you lie under the early morning sky, you can hear individual wing beats of a flock of birds aimed for the cool water of the John Day river. The scenery is majestic, giant lahars, palisades and paleosols that tell us even though it’s hot and dusty now it was once both hotter – volcanic – and after that, lusher. But mainly we like it because our cell phones don’t work here.
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Here in Oregon, we are experiencing a dry spell, with high temps and unusually high winds. It’s led to a lot of fires in the last few days, both in the eastern and western parts of the state. This pic below looks pretty but it captures heavy smoke blowing up from fires in the Santiam and closer to us, in Molalla and Oregon City – the end of the Oregon Trail. |
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We’re thinking about our friends and neighbors who may be disrupted, and how we can help them. ♥ You may have this opportunity where you are too, for these and other reasons. #stepin #bepresent #showshareyoucare |
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OK, that's a wrap. Thank you for joining us!
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. 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. |
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Looking for another great retirement savings innovation resource? 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.
We talk with the articulate, thoughtful Delaware's State Treasurer Colleen Davis about the issues facing state treasurers today, including retirement security. We're pleased to be of support. Watch this space, and the Treasurer's site, for more information on her upcoming series of Treasurer Talks. |
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