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RETIREMENT SECURITY MATTERS
A forum for retirement innovation information sharing
focused on states, supporters, and service providers.
Vol 65 | November 3, 2022
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Greetings! Lisa, welcome to Retirement Security Matters – where we talk about retirement readiness innovation by the public sector, private sector, and policy organizations. | |
Happy November! If that sounds like the year is moving to a close quickly, we agree. Small solace: embrace the “yum!”. You might have a favorite food-related holiday this month. We're going with #10, National Vanilla Cupcake Day. But we digress. Grab that cupcake and catch up on the latest in retirement innovation:
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Natalie Braswell and Jessica Muirhead on MyCTSavings – access, equity, and early results
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*Fresh* State Auto IRA metrics
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Key updates from Connecticut, Illinois, New Mexico, New York State, Virginia and a Global update with cross-border application
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*New* savings training programs broadly available with NAST’s Kari Arfstrom
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Intriguing shorts in Hot Sauce, Cool Stuff -- Don't save yet?
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This week's PIX! - from the Chesapeake Bay to a living room in Oregon
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Cool in Connecticut with MyCTSavings: Access, Equity, and Early Results
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Natalie A. Braswell, Connecticut State Comptroller (left) and
Jessica Muirhead, Executive Director, MyCTSavings, (right)
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Persistence pays off. It’s not always easy getting a new retirement savings program off the ground. It is, however, very rewarding to see the results once you’ve done it. This week we have the pleasure of chatting with Connecticut’s Comptroller, Natalie Braswell, and Executive Director of the MyCTSavings Program, Jessica Muirhead, on progress and priorities in the Nutmeg State. Note, as of October 19 and until November 16, 2022, the Comptroller’s office has an RFP for Investment Consulting Services active for this program.
Let’s jump in! (This is an excerpt. The full piece can be found HERE.)
Natalie, MyCTSavings is live! Tell us how things are going.
Natalie: We think things are going pretty well. The program launched in April of this year. We just closed our second deadline on October 31st. The third wave of our smallest employers will have until March 2023 to sign up for the program.
Following the last legislative session, the program has moved into the Office of the State Comptroller, and we’ve officially moved Jessica into the role of Executive Director.
Jessica, you're in the trenches! How's it going from your perspective?
Jessica: Great! Every day brings its own challenges, but I think we have a lot to be proud of in Connecticut for what we've been able to accomplish in a fairly short amount of time.
We're in full swing here so we are dedicating most of our efforts to outreach. We have just crested over a half million dollars in assets, and we expect to see assets continue to grow as we move forward and get more businesses and more employees into the program.
Don’t have time to read it? Listen to our conversation HERE.
Connecticut was very persistent in bringing this program to life. Why does it matter to you and the folks around you?
Jessica: One top reason -- it's important for the small business market, in particular. It's difficult already for small employers to keep up when they don't have the ability to provide benefits to their employees even when they want to. And I think that's especially true now.
No program startup is without its challenges. What earned advice might you share with other states who are considering Auto IRA programs?
Natalie: I think staffing is really important. The other issue I would flag is access to the data that's key to the program functioning.
Jessica: That’s very true. Data access, it’s a key issue.
(Continued HERE! Don’t miss the rest of Jessica’s essential tips and insights on what’s coming up for 2023)
Natalie Braswell was appointed by Governor Ned Lamont as Connecticut’s State Comptroller, completing the term of her friend and former colleague Kevin Lembo. Braswell served for 10 years as General Counsel and Assistant State Comptroller. As the agency's chief legal officer, she negotiated and drafted a number of technology, healthcare, pharmacy and consulting contracts with statewide impact, and served as a chief negotiator for transformative agreements to modernize service delivery and save taxpayer dollars. Braswell played a critical role in the development of fiscal policy, retirement security programs, health care initiatives and other key agency operations. Meet Natalie.
Jessica Muirhead is the Executive Director of MyCTSavings, a state-facilitated retirement savings program for employees who lack access to a retirement benefit through their workplace. A Connecticut and Hartford County native, Jessica has found fulfillment in a career of public and non-profit service at the Brown University, the University of Connecticut, the Capitol Region Council of Governments, and now at the Connecticut Office of the State Comptroller. Jessica is also a UConn alumna twice; earning a Master of Public Administration (‘20), and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (’09) from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
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*Fresh!* State Auto IRA Program Metrics | |
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Top Line. This data includes four of the five live state programs; Connecticut and Maryland are likely to start publishing regular data on their programs in 2023. Assets over $500 million. Funded accounts closing in on 600,000. The next time we hear someone say there are still 57 million Americans without access to retirement savings at work, we're going to correct them. Because through these programs and through facilitating employers, more than a million workers *now do* have at-work access. (More are coming; these five states have a "reach" of 10-11 million workers.)
In Detail. Funded accounts are up 37% this year, up 2.2x since December 2020, and up about 5.4x since December 2019. Over 134,000 employers are now registered to facilitate a state Auto IRA program.
Saver assets are up 26% year-to-date and 3.2x since December 2020. Average account balances have declined a bit to $875, to be expected when new funded accounts surge. Finally, effective opt out rates are steady relative to December 2020 levels, at about 34%.
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State Facilitated Retirement Programs - Fresh Highlights | |
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Connecticut (workforce 1.8 million) – The Connecticut Retirement Security Authority met on October 21, 2022. Key items on the agenda included the Chairman’s report and program updates including regulations and fund class change.
Program administrator Vestwell provided a program status update covering progress of Wave 1 sign-ups (employers with 100 or more employees) - with a 49% response rate to date. Wave 2 (employers with 26 top 99 employees) deadline was October 31, 2022, and Wave 3 (employers with five or more employees) program notices will begin in January 2023.
Also included on the agenda was an update from communications consultant on the actions and results of the program’s annual marketing and outreach plan.
On a procurement note, the Authority approved issuance of an RFP for investment consulting services (previously issued in 2019, now updated to fit the program’s current needs). Bids are due November 16, 2022. You can get your copy of the RFP here.
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Illinois (workforce 6.2 million) – The registration deadline for employers with 16 or more Illinois employees just passed this week - November 1, 2022. As a quick reminder, the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program’s next and final wave deadline is November 1, 2023 (employers with five to 15 employees). Enforcement for noncompliant employers will begin in early 2023.
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Virginia (workforce 4.3 million) – *three cheers* RetirePath Virginia launched its Pilot Program on October 2022, prior to the program’s statewide registration beginning in early 2023. Interested employers are invited to learn more and apply by December 9, 2022. These businesses will take a lead role in this innovative savings program designed to reduce financial disparities and make a significant difference in the lives of working Virginians. Here’s a good place to stay informed.
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G L O B A L
Setting expectations – we don’t officially monitor the globe, but as things cross our desk, we'll curate them for you.
United Kingdom (workforce 35.8 million) – Nest Insight recently published “Retirement Savings in the UK 2022,” the fifth annual research report and one of the largest annual studies that includes around a third of the country’s working population. This detailed analysis of Nest’s membership continues to shed light on pension savings behaviors. Key findings include:
- Contribution levels paid by employers and employees remained largely stable in the 12 months ending March 2022; the number of member enrolments increased by 17%, compared with previous year; there was a steady increase in account balances (11% increase) and contribution amounts (10% increase); and opt-out levels remained low at around 8%.
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Even more, “the vast majority of Nest members have continued to follow the default settings that they’ve been enrolled into and, as a result, overall levels of retirement savings have continued to rise throughout these challenging times” says the report.
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C O M I N G U P
Join where you’d like, and count on us to follow these meetings for you:
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Oregon (workforce 2.1 million) – The next meeting of the OregonSaves Board is scheduled for November 15, 2022.
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California (workforce 19.0 million) –The next meeting of the CalSavers Board is scheduled for November 21, 2022.
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Maryland (workforce 3.1 million) – The next meeting of the Maryland$aves Board is scheduled for December 12, 2022.
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Best Practices in National Savings Training Programs | |
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We had a chance to catch up with our friend Kari Arfstrom of NAST this week. They’ve got a cool new initiative afoot we thought you’d like to know about. Kari shares the latest, here.
The National Association of State Treasurers (NAST) is the professional association for the equivalent of the chief financial officer in all 50 states, D.C., and the territories. Not only are they the state treasurers, but they also could be the directors of 529 savings plans, ABLE savings plans, state debt management, investments, and sometimes pension and retirement programs, as well as the fun one – unclaimed property. (If you haven't visited https://www.missingmoney.com/ - go!)
As the Deputy Executive Director for Learning I help run our foundation, which received a grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation to focus on financial wellness and savings programs.
NAST now runs a financial wellness program where states and other entities can sign up for a free financial wellness learning platform. The platform includes articles, videos, and other interactive assets on dozens of topics. Along with NAST subject matter experts, we also released four courses on May 29, ABLE and retirement savings programs, and unclaimed property. Check out these courses!
In particular interest to this readership, we recently released a short primer where people can learn about state-facilitated retirement savings programs, and what they can do for you if you're self-employed, a gig worker, or work for a small business that doesn't offer a retirement program. After the user completes the primer, there is a hot map where users can check to see if their state participates. You can view the primer here.
In addition to offering continuous learning projects, our annual and legislative conferences, NAST is also interested in making sure our members' issues are addressed in Congress. Here’s a key issue we’re currently working on:
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Financial wellness matters! / Kari
Kari Arfstrom is Deputy Executive Director for Learning at the National Association of State Treasurers (NAST), where she leads the continuous professional learning strategic programming. For more information and to connect directly, you can reach Kari by email here.
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Provocative thinking. Don’t save for retirement when you’re young. Don’t delay Social Security if you’re single. What?! But it’s important to look at well-loved “truths” in new ways. We’re just becoming familiar with the work of Dr. Sita Nataraj Slavov. You might want to take a peek too. Start here, with this piece from ThinkAdvisor. Then consider this piece that challenges the one-size-fits-most nature of automatic enrollment. We won’t all agree. But the questions raised are good ones to look at. Editorializing: there’s an element not directly addressed in these pieces worth considering. If you work at a lower-wage, higher-turnover job, is it a good idea not to offer you the same access and benefits that other workers automatically get alongside their paychecks?
And a different view. From Commonwealth, a wealth building blueprint for closing the wealth gap. We love it when people get specific. Check this out too. This piece was developed by Charles de la Cruz, Anahit Fitzpatrick, and Gosia Tomaszewska.
Current events. Don’t miss Part 2 of the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program new virtual event “Benefits21 Financial Resilience Series” on November 17 at 2pm ET. This second virtual event will explore commitments by private sector leaders to support workers’ financial resilience and elevate the benefit innovators who are currently leading the way to modernize workplace benefits. Register here.
New episode out! Check out the State of Retirement – Shaping the Future podcast with the Georgetown Center for Retirement Initiatives. In this episode, Angela Antonelli interviews three outstanding thought leaders - Anne Ackerley of BlackRock, Catherine Collinson of the Transamerica Institute, and Lori Lucas of the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) - as they discuss American workers' financial well-being, retirement confidence and readiness, the employer-employee relationship and how it's all shaping the future of retirement
Are you a Gig Worker? Bringing retirement plans to nontraditional workers will require imagination and innovation. A recent brief by The Pew Charitable Trusts examines the paths to boost retirement security for nontraditional workers. One key takeaway from Pew’s research is that this workforce varies a great deal in its savings preferences and needs.
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Kari Arfstrom! We want to live at your house. Kari sez: “This is a morning pic from my front yard. We have a house on the western side of Chesapeake Bay, where I’ve spent my Covid lock down, about 45 minutes away from Capitol Hill in DC.” We don’t know if Kari is among the many having a tough time returning to office work in the office, but if she is, #wegetit. | |
Now tell us, what does this pic evoke for you? A little sadness, a sense of the forlorn good-bye? It’s "sayonara" to the big house in the city for the Lamberts (including Lisa Massena Lambert), and "aloha" to the little house in the big woods. | |
Yes, we are moving because we want to. But we hate good-byes, of virtually all types. We probably shouldn’t be so public, but if you’d like to follow our #logcabin adventures, you’ll find us on TikTok (yes, TikTok!) @lisa.in.oregon ❤️ | |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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