It should be easier to save money for retirement. We can all agree on that, right?
But about half of all Americans who work in the private sector do not have access to an employer-based retirement plan like a 401(k). Federal legislation to increase those numbers has not amounted to much. And fledgling state efforts, while welcome, seem most likely to create the same confusion we now have with college savings and the patchwork of differing 529 plans all over the land.
A requirement that employers siphon money out of every employee’s paycheck and put it into a retirement savings plan (unless the worker opts out) would both promote self-reliance and create a foundation for a safety net. So is it too much to hope that a president-elect who promised to throw the rope back to people who feel left behind might agree to something like this?
– The New York Times