Money

We need your help to keep SB133, Small Employer Retirement Program, moving toward becoming law. This bill will help Utah workers have access to retirement savings vehicles at work. The Senate voted to approve the program but it is now headed to the House. The bill is facing new opposition from groups who benefit by keeping this current market confusing and high-cost for small businesses owners.

MORE WORKERS WILL GET ACCESS TO RETIREMENT SAVINGS VEHICLES UNDER SB133

AARP Utah's Advocacy Director Danny Harris is hard at work at the Utah State Capitol, fighting for legislation that will help caregivers with their legal rights, nurse practitioners with their ability to prescribe medications, and small business employees with their ability to save for retirement at work. Here's his update after week two of the Utah legislative session:

With the new year coming, it's time for resolutions about what's ahead for 2016. One of the most important areas to examine is your financial health. Do you have debt you want to control? Are you stuck in a predatory loan? Are you part of the sandwich generation--i.e., taking care of your parents and your children at the same time? AARP Utah and the AAA Fair Credit Foundation want to help by providing resources and information that can put you back on track. Together we're holding a workshop, "Making 2016 Financial Resolutions a Reality" on January 12 that will cover financial challenges for older adults, reverse mortgages, and financial issues around being in the sandwich generation.

AARP Utah co-sponsored a town hall meeting with the Vest Pocket Business Coalition and the Church and State Business Incubator on November 18 to discuss solutions to the private-sector employee retirement savings problem in Utah, including possibly implementing state-sponsored retirement savings plans through automatic payroll deductions established through legislation.

Join AARP on September 22nd for AARP’s Next Virtual Career Fair

This month we’re celebrating Social Security’s 80 th anniversary, and reminding all Utahns how important it is to protect your Social Sec urity number at all times.

Retirement planning during a person’s working life is crucial to having financial security after leaving the workforce. But according to an August 2015 fact sheet released by the AARP Public Policy Institute, Workplace Retirement Plans Will Help Workers Build Economic Security, approximately 50 percent of Utah’s private sector employers representing over half of a million people do not have access to such a plan at work.

Social Security Turns 80, Loved by Americans of All Ages

Social Security turns 80 on August 14, 2015 and has fulfilled the promise made by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he signed it into law, that it would “protect the average citizen and his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.” It has done just that. In Utah alone, Social Security lifts 94,000 Utah retirees from poverty; 42 percent of the state’s population age 65 and older would have incomes below the poverty line without Social Security. [1]