Login | April 30, 2026
Options for Combating Retirement Insecurity
JULIE JASON
Published: April 30, 2026
Americans are in a good position when it comes to retirement security, correct?
Consider this: The median retirement savings across all workers (ages 21 to 64) is just under $1,000 ($955), according to the National Institute on Retirement Security's "Retirement in America" report, released in February 2026 (tinyurl.com/5hye6xj9/).
Or consider that 20% of nearly 7,000 adults age 30 or older surveyed by the AARP in January 2025 indicated that they had no retirement savings at all (tinyurl.com/2uaa9k5a).
Or what about the 56 million private-sector workers who do not have access to a retirement plan at work, as reported by The Pew Charitable Trusts in 2024 (tinyurl.com/bnsrm38p)?
We would probably all agree that more work needs to be done.
New state retirement plans are now available. The Center for Retirement Initiatives at Georgetown University reported that as of April 8, 2026, 22 states had enacted retirement savings programs for private-sector workers who were not covered by a qualified retirement savings plan (tinyurl.com/52r2a2tb).
To give an example of how such a program operates, I'll use my home state of Connecticut, which has the MyCTSavings program. (If you want to read a previous column I wrote about the program, write to me at readers@juliejason.com.)
According to the state government website Business.ct.gov (tinyurl.com/bdd43sds), the MyCTSavings program:
-- is overseen by the Connecticut Office of the State Comptroller;
-- requires employers with five or more full- and/or part-time employees to enroll in MyCTSavings if they don't offer a qualified retirement savings plan;
-- allows employees to save for retirement through automatic (post-tax) payroll contributions to a Roth IRA.
The AARP article "How Auto IRAs Are Helping More Workers Save for Retirement" points out that participating employers in state-sponsored retirement savings programs "do not make matching contributions" and "cannot terminate an in-house retirement plan for the purpose of switching to a state program" (tinyurl.com/6aar52tc).
Findings reported in 2025 by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College indicated that between 2019 and 2024, the number of funded accounts in 11 state auto-IRA programs rose from 50,000 to 965,000 (tinyurl.com/2nuhfekj).
Meanwhile, on the federal level, a retirement plan is on the drawing board for 2027. The plan, full details of which have not yet been announced, would pay each enrolled employee a matching contribution of up to $1,000 per year.
(The proposed plan is not to be confused with the Trump savings accounts for children, which was established under 2025's One Big Beautiful Bill. According to the IRS, taxpayers had signed up more than 4 million children for the tax-favored investment accounts as of March 31 -- tinyurl.com/bdf7muby. The accounts include a one-time, $1,000 federal contribution for children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028. See more details at trumpaccounts.gov.)
Will the state-sponsored versions of retirement saving coexist with the newly envisioned federal version?
That remains to be seen. Brian Anderson, the editor in chief at 401(k) Specialist Magazine, wrote that for retirement plan advisers and sponsors, "until details emerge, the industry is left parsing possibilities" (tinyurl.com/ewj2jrea).
Something else to keep in mind when it comes to retirement savings: In 2027, a provision of the SECURE 2.0 act is set to kick in for all qualifying retirement accounts (including IRAs, 401(k)s and 403(b)s) -- the Saver's Match, which replaces the current Saver's Credit (tinyurl.com/bd9xjs35). The new version will provide a 50% match for up to $2,000 of retirement savings for low- to moderate-income workers, with up to $1,000 going directly into a worker's retirement account.
In the meantime, if you are in a situation where your employer does not offer a retirement plan, you can fund an IRA on your own. For 2026, the maximum you can contribute is $7,500 ($8,600 if you are 50 or older). Read more about funding IRAs online at the IRS webpage "IRA contribution limits" (tinyurl.com/yeaf67yy).
On another note, if you are interested in attending one of my presentations, let me know. Topics coming up: In-person presentation at the 4th Annual Women's Conference at Christ Church Greenwich on April 18; Trust Basics (April 22, Virtual, Greenwich Library); and Integrating Financial and Estate Plans (May 6, Virtual, Greenwich Library). For more information, please email readers@juliejason.com.
Seasoned investment counsel (tinyurl.com/52nus8hz) and award-winning columnist and author, Julie Jason, JD, LLM, promotes financial literacy and investor protection. Read her latest book, "The Discerning Investor: Personal Portfolio Management in Retirement for Lawyers (and Their Clients)" (tinyurl.com/4u7h9pjs), published by the American Bar Association. Write to Julie at readers@juliejason.com. While all questions cannot be answered, each email is read and reviewed and can lead to discussion in a future column.
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