The next generation of reforms to the retirement saving system

Over the past several years, the SECURE Act (2019) and SECURE 2.0 (2022) took meaningful, bipartisan steps to expand retirement plan coverage, encourage automatic saving, improve portability, and open the door to lifetime income options. Yet significant gaps remain: tens of billions in annual tax subsidies for retirement saving are not always well targeted, access to workplace plans is still far from universal, employers remain reluctant to offer lifetime income, and savers continue to lose momentum when they cash out small balances between jobs.

On September 30, the Retirement Security Project at Brookings held a public launch for a set of practical, evidence-based, and fiscally-sound policy proposals designed to address these persistent shortcomings and offer policymakers actionable, ready-to-use solutions as the next wave of retirement legislation and rulemaking takes shape. The event featured four proposals, covering topics like access to workplace retirement plans, expanding the Saver’s Match, safe harbor rules for employer matching, and default lifetime income options. Senator Whitehouse joined the program to discuss legislative efforts to help close the retirement coverage gap through automatic enrollment into IRAs.