AARP Supports a Secure Choice for New Jersey

The future for too many New Jersey workers is in danger. Just look at these statistics:

• 54% of  New Jersey’s private sector workers have no retirement savings plan at work.
• The average working family has $3,000 in retirement savings.
• 40% of households headed by a 45 to 54 year old have no savings at all.
• Social Security pays New Jersey residents around $1,377 a month - hardly enough to live on.

 

Workers are 15 times more likely to save for retirement if their employers offer a plan. The Secure Choice Savings Program Act (A4275/S2831) offers New Jersey workers an easy way to save for retirement at their jobs:

• Secure Choice automatically enrolls workers without workplace savings plans into private sector, professionally managed Individual Retirement Accounts.
• These accounts start with an automatic 3% payroll deduction. You can choose how much you save.  You can opt out at any time.
• These accounts are reliable and portable. They grow as people work and move with them between jobs.
• Funds are protected through a comprehensive risk management and oversight program.
• Workers will have access to financial education and retirement savings guidance from trained professionals at their private investment firm.

 

Secure Choice is a low cost, plug-and-play solution for businesses to offer retirement security for employees:

• Businesses only have to set up a payroll deduction for employees, like they already do for medical and dental benefits.
• Employers cannot contribute to Secure Choice accounts, and are not liable for how their employees’ accounts perform.
• Taxpayers do not fund the program. The state is not liable for how accounts perform.

 

Too many New Jersey workers don’t have a way to save for retirement through their job. They are not putting enough money away for the future. Secure Choice offers employees an easy, low cost, hassle free way to achieve financial security for the rest of their lives. That’s why AARP supports Secure Choice. If you are interested in joining this campaign, send a message to Brian McGuire, Associate State Director at: bmcguire@aarp.org.