You’re 70 years old, and you have a choice. Do you pay your heating bill—or for prescription drugs? Do you stay in a home you can no longer afford, or do you move in with your children?
These aren’t hypotheticals. We’re in the middle of a national retirement savings crisis, and seniors across the country are facing choices like these everyday. They are over-relying on Social Security payments because they lack sufficient savings to meet their basic needs. And as more and more businesses fail to offer a retirement savings option for their employees, this trend will only get worse.
The solution to this national crisis might flow from a local source. Earlier this month, Illinois became the first state to pass legislation—the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program—that will automatically enroll private-sector workers without access to an employment-based retirement plan into such a savings program. The question is: Can we replicate this program in other states and stem the crisis?
