Legislative Report

National Save for Retirement Week Kicks Off Oct. 19

National Save for Retirement Week kicks off Oct 19 this year. It is a great opportunity to promote retirement savings among employees across the nation. National Save for Retirement Week was created to make workers more aware of how critical it is to contribute to a supplemental retirement savings plan, in order to have a secure retirement.

Traditional pension plan and Social Security benefits have long been the backbone of most workers income in retirement. However, financial experts agree that they may not be enough.

Longer life spans and rising costs, especially for health care, has changed the retirement outlook for many Americans. Workers may need 65 percent or more of their pre-retirement income to maintain their current standard of living.

In the public sector, over 90 percent of employees have an excellent foundation in defined benefit plans. However, only 30 to 40 percent of them are saving in a defined contribution plan or other supplemental savings vehicle.

Even the strongest advocates for defined benefit plans agree that these plans alone do not provide for a secure retirement.

Take action today to help your employees build retirement security. Visit www.retirementweek.org to learn more about this important campaign.

• Visit RetirementWeek.org and learn more
• Download the Proclamation and get your hometown involved
• Download the Calendar of Events to get your employees involved

The Washington Perspective is a periodic online newsletter highlighting legislative and regulatory proposals affecting public sector retirement plans.

• September-October 2008
• January 2008
• November-December 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• February 2007
• September 2006
• June 2006

• Emergency Economic Stabilization Bill Becomes Law
  The House of Representatives Friday (October 3, 2008) gave final approval of the $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act on a vote of 263 to 171. President Bush signed the legislation into law shortly after.
• Treasury Department Rolls Out Money Market Guarantee Program
  On September 29, 2008, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the establishment of a Temporary Guarantee Program for Money Market Funds. Under this program, Treasury will guarantee that eligible money market fund investors will receive $1 for each money market share held as of September 19, 2008. The program is designed to respond to what Treasury called "temporary dislocations in the credit markets" that came after some money market funds saw their share prices fall below $1, known as "breaking the buck."
• Senate HELP Committee Hearing Focuses on 401(k) Fee Disclosure
  At a mid-September hearing two members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) reemphasized their commitment to expanding 401(k) fee disclosure and the use of software programs that would aid individuals in making investment decisions.