President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Thursday to create access to retirement plans for workers whose employers don’t provide one, according to a White House official. That would build on promises made during Trump’s State of the Union address in February to boost retirement security for millions of Americans.
Under the plan, the Trump administration will combine the effort with the Saver’s Match, which was created through the Secure 2.0 Act of 2022 and directs the federal government to match retirement-plan contributions for workers making less than $35,000, with up to $1,000 a year starting next year.
About 56 million Americans lack access to a retirement plan through their employer, according to AARP. About 27 million who qualify for the Saver’s Match do not have access to a plan where they can collect the benefit, Semafor reported.
The Treasury Department will launch a new website, TrumpIRA.gov, to publicize the matching funds and issue guidance for private-sector donors who want to contribute to workers’ accounts, the media report said.
Americans are struggling to save for retirement. A recent study from the National Institute on Retirement Security found that the median amount American workers have saved for retirement — including those who have nothing saved at all — was $955.
Meanwhile, Social Security is facing insolvency in 2032 if Congress doesn’t act to shore up its finances. At that point, Social Security benefits would be cut by about 24%. The current average Social Security check is just over $2,000 a month.
“This is a big moment for retirement. Federal action to address the access gap is something huge,” said KC Boas, the retirement-savings initiative lead at the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program. “But this cannot and should not replace Social Security stability. Social Security remains the foundation for retirement.”
Last year, the president unveiled “Trump accounts,” which are investment accounts for children under 18. Babies born between 2025 and 2028 are eligible to receive $1,000 in seed money for these accounts.
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The retirement-account match may be a powerful incentive for workers, who tend to contribute more when employers match their contribution, the Congressional Budget Office found in 2019.
Small businesses are especially likely not to have an employer-based retirement plan in place. As many as 78% of businesses with less than 10 employees do not offer an employer-based retirement plan, according to AARP.
Those without access to employer-based retirement plans are more likely to be nonwhite, AARP found. About 63% of Hispanic workers, 52% of Black workers and 44% of Asian-American workers lack access to an employer-provided retirement plan.
Those without employer plans also tend to be lower-income workers. Almost 80% of the workers who lack access to an employer-based retirement plan make less than $53,000 per year, AARP said.
“Expanding enrollment in retirement accounts for workers without employer plans sounds like it could be a good thing. There are tens of millions of workers who currently lack access, and making it easier to open an account could help at the margins. That said, access alone isn’t the main barrier to saving, said Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
“Eligibility is quite limited — the full match is only available to low-income workers … and individuals have to contribute their own money to receive it,” Boccia said. “For many households living paycheck to paycheck, that’s a significant hurdle, so take-up may be more modest than proponents would hope — especially since those savings would be locked up until 59½ years of age or be subject to tax penalties.”
Boas agreed that access to retirement accounts alone isn’t enough.
“This is coming at a moment where we have an affordability crisis. We need to prioritize making daily life more affordable” Boas said. “This is a down payment on a good idea if implemented well. Access alone isn’t enough.”
Boas said details such as access to funds and emergency-saving features, as well as auto-enrollment and auto-escalation of savings rates, will be critical to watch.
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