This newspiece is generously supported by Newton Investment Management
RETIREMENT SECURITY MATTERS
A forum for retirement innovation information sharing focused on
states, supporters, and service providers.
Vol 43 | December 2, 2021
Common Wealth for the Commonwealth: Increasing Savings Access in Virginia
Mary Morris, CEO
Virginia529
We met Mary Morris when a retirement savings program was still a twinkle in Virginia’s eye. Now, under her leadership, the state is moving steadily forward with a program that could cover more than 1.2 million workers who until now have not had payroll-based access to retirement savings.
As CEO of the nation’s largest 529 College Savings Plan, Virginia529, Mary directs and manages the operations, resources, and investments of the Invest529® program. Additionally, she oversees all operations for ABLEnow®, the leading independent ABLE savings program in the country, while serving as a national thought leader and policy advocate for the education and disability savings industries.
You’ve overseen some changes during your tenure.

Yes -- in more recent years, our mandate has expanded within Virginia529. We added a disability savings component when Virginia’s ABLE -- Achieving a Better Life Experience -- program launched in 2016. First approved at the federal level, ABLE plans have been implemented by almost every state now. In Virginia, the program is administered by Virginia529.

Our experience in working with the public, doing outreach, and understanding how to help individuals and families plan and save for the future, has expanded. We’ve followed the whole private retirement concept for many years as the idea has been considered and studied in Virginia.

We recall that Virginia spent a few years evaluating this concept. What made the difference in 2021?

We did an in-depth study last year that really moved the concept forward. If the state wanted to add a private retirement initiative, we suggested several ways to do it effectively. Ultimately, Virginia529 was directed to establish the program because of our interest and background in successfully running other savings programs.

Now we're laying the foundation to offer a portfolio of education, disability and retirement savings programs. We’re still called Virginia529 (for a little bit longer!) – but we have become an agency that really seeks to help all Virginians plan and achieve financial goals.

You're moving steadily forward to implement the new legislation. Tell us about your priorities going into 2022.

2022 is almost here! While we are talking, I’ll take a moment to introduce Peter Thompson, our new retirement program director. Peter joined us in September after working with the Virginia Retirement System on their defined contribution plans for a number of years. He has private sector experience, and he has worked with retirement program administrators. He brings expertise we did not yet have in house. Having Peter with us, I can't tell you how great that is.

We are fortunate that we have a great in-house team with experience in all aspects of program development and implementation, from investments to education and outreach to account administration. Hopefully, this gives us a jump start relative to other state agencies that have tackled this. We have a strong marketing and communications team and a really good understanding of the demographics of Virginia, of our employers and employees, and we think that's going to help as we move forward.

We've also formed a program advisory committee ... (More HERE! Donʻt miss the rest 🔥.)

Want more? Follow the development of Virginia’s retirement savings program on the web here. You can also connect with Mary on LinkedIn and Twitter.
*Fresh!* State Auto IRA Program Metrics
What is up? We now have a full set of data for October across the three funded Auto IRA programs. (We hope to add you soon, Connecticut!)

What we see – Program assets are up 9% for the month, 2.2x year to date, and 2.9x in the last 12 months. Funded accounts are up a whopping 36% in one month, 1.5x for the year, and 2.1x in the last 12 months.

The number of employers registered to facilitate is up 7% month over month, driven largely by California’s program rollout. In the month of October, the percent of employers facilitating payroll deductions into programs rose by 32%.
State Facilitated Retirement Programs - Fresh Highlights
I M P L E M E N T I N G
Illinois (workforce 5.7 million) – The Illinois Secure Choice Board met November 18, 2021, chaired by Fernando Diaz (the Designee for Illinois State Treasurer, Michael Frerichs). On the agenda: staff updates, the program quarterly report, and presentations on the fiscal year 2021 audit and the environmental landscape.

Staff provided an update on program rulemaking, anticipated to be final this month. This round establishes in rules the employer deadlines for program waves 4 and 5 covering employers with 5 to 24 employees. Enforcement activity is active for non-facilitating covered employers, who received notices this summer and will receive final, pre-penalty, notifications in the upcoming weeks. Following a legislative change this year the program will be auto-escalating (1% annually up to 10%) all savers whose accounts have been open for six months or more in January 2022.

The program also has a number of research and analytical projects under way. Consultant AKF is modeling a 5-year asset and account outlook based on expansion of the program employers with 5+ employees. The program is also working on analysis to get better information on participant demographics, one of the first programs to do so. This sort of work is part of “Auto IRA 2.0”, enabling programs to understand which parts of their covered populations are participating, and which parts may require different sorts of outreach and engagement to boost involvement.
 
One note, Illinois is now taking in over $3 million a month in net contributions through the employers who are facilitating that have 25 or more employees.
Colorado (workforce 3.2 million) – The office of Colorado State Treasurer Dave Young has posted a timeline for the Colorado Secure Savings Program. Key milestones identified on the timeline include:
 
  • The start of the rulemaking process (March 2022)
  • Rules finalized (July 2022);
  • Pilot program launch (October 2022); and
  • Enrollment begins (2023)
 
A November 27, 2021 story by Colorado Public Radio Colorado is launching a retirement program for all employees. Here’s what that means. provides a useful local summary of the program and its timeline.
Maryland (workforce 3.1 million) – The Maryland Small Business Retirement Savings Program announced in a news release that the program will launch in the summer of 2022, administered by Vestwell/BNY Mellon Sumday and with investments through BlackRock, State Street Global Advisors, Lincoln Financial Group and T. Rowe Price. *Woohoo Maryland!* The announcement was summarized in stories by Pension & Investments and Plan Sponsor. CEO John Wasilisin left the program in October; Glenn Simmons is serving as Acting Executive Director.
Oregon (workforce 1.9 million) – OregonSaves effected its program administration transition to Vestwell/BNY Mellon Sumday from Ascensus over the weekend of November 5-7. The two providers and the programʻs staff worked very closely together to effect a smooth transition. An informal comment from one staffer: “it went really well”. Employers are now in the process of re-establishing their payroll contribution pathway data. Partipant account transitions did not require any participant action, but savers who use the online functionality are being encouraged to reactivate their accounts. Hereʻs what that looks like:
C O M I N G U P

  • New Mexico (workforce 1 million) – The next meeting of the New Mexico Work & $ave Board is scheduled for Dec. 2, 2021. For updates, please visit the Board’s website here.  

  • Virginia (workforce 4.3 million) – The next meeting of the Virginia529 Retirement Advisory Committee is Tuesday, December 7. A 2022 schedule will be discussed at the Committee’s December meeting.
 
  • Colorado (workforce 3.2 million) – The next meeting of the Colorado Secure Savings Program Board is scheduled for December 10, 2021. The agenda includes SB20-200 bill sponsors (Senators Donovan and Pettersen), an update on procurement and a fiduciary update.
 
  • California (workforce 17.9 million) –The next meeting of the CalSavers Board is scheduled for December 13, 2021.
 

Grant's Go-To's: 2021 - The Year in Review
As 2021 winds down, I thought I’d take this opportunity to reflect on all that happened in the world of state-facilitated retirement savings programs (SFRPs) during the past year.

In a piece I wrote for RSM in June (“Patience, Perseverance and Perspective”), I predicted that despite setbacks and headwinds we would continue to see steady progress because of momentum and the success of existing programs. The results from 2021 bear that out.

In addition to a flurry of legislative proposals considered in 2021, we’ve been watching with interest as states such as Colorado, Connecticut, New Mexico and Maryland make progress toward launching their programs.

Although there was a lot to choose from, here is my list of the top 5 stories of 2021:
Massena and Associates counted more than 20 SFRP-related legislative proposals in 2021. In addition to legislation that established new programs in Maine and Virginia and expanded programs in Illinois and New York, ten additional bills would have established new auto-IRA programs, two would have created Multiple Employer Plans (MEPs) and several others would have established hybrid programs or required feasibility studies.

Even though not all proposals were successful, the level of legislative activity this year indicates growing support and momentum for SFRPS. Indeed, the recent National Institute on Retirement Security’s report Americans’ Views of State Facilitated Retirement Programs shows broad public support.

This is a risky way to end my piece, but I’m diving in! To put things into context, recreational marijuana is now legal in 18 states and the District of Columbia. SFRPs, which have a much shorter history than the movement to legalize marijuana, have already been approved in 13 states and 2 cities. It seems only a matter of time before that number equals or exceeds the number jurisdictions where recreational marijuana is legal.

Stay tuned for 2022! / Grant
Columnist and Senior Associate Grant Boyken is based in California. You’ll see his Golden State perspectives reflected here – along with 50-state insights into retirement security innovation around the country.
Hot Sauce! Cool Stuff.
Are you wondering How the Pandemic Has Impacted Retirement Confidence? Us too. This piece from Forbes contributor Ron Carson does a nice job of summarizing EBRI/Greenwald’s 2021 Retirement Confidence Survey. Highlights: “50% of workers and 72% of retirees say the COVID-19 pandemic has not changed their confidence in achieving a secure retirement. Still, 33% of workers and 25% of retirees say it’s made them somewhat or significantly less confident they will have enough to live comfortably throughout retirement. Among workers who feel less confident, 3 in 10 say the pandemic has negatively impacted their ability to save for retirement, due to reduced hours, income, or job changes.” This work was done early in 2021 – stay tuned for the 2022 update to see how workers and retirees have fared through Pandemic: Season 2.

We reference NIRS’ new issue brief Americans’ Views of State Facilitated Retirement Programs above, but it also deserves its own airtime. Top line results: folks want to save, and they want to do it at work where their paycheck is happening. This survey found that:

  • A very large chunk of Americans (72%) agree that state-facilitated retirement programs are a good idea. There is high support across party and generational lines, with support highest among Millennials (78%). Editor’s note: RSM thinks Millennials are smart about retirement, and more focused on it, earlier, than their parents were.
  • Three-quarters of Americans (75%) say they would participate in state-facilitated retirement programs, consistent across party and generational lines. Editor says: we like things that are appealing across the conservative-to-progressive spectrum.
  • Americans view many key features of state-facilitated retirement programs as highly favorable, especially portability (84%), higher returns (82%), and lower fees (82%).

We noted with some dismay that while many good elements were retained in the Build Back Better Act, key features that could change the landscape in America were not. These include changes to the Savers’ Credit to make it refundable into retirement accounts, and – we knew this one would be tough – a requirement for employers above a certain size to offer or facilitate retirement savings for their employees. Some of you have important thoughts about the future of these two ideas and we’ll be featuring a conversation here soon. Want to be included in the chat? Drop us a note and we’ll add you.

OK, let’s perk it up a bit here! We have recently become addicted to the work of Paula Gooder, Canon Chancellor of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. We ran across her work on YouTube, of course. If you’ve been bad this year and you want to feel a little better about how that may go, consider Gooder’s Rough Guide to Hell. For a balanced perspective you might also like her Rough Guide to Heaven. Thought provoking!

If that wasn’t perky enough, cute videos of dogs always does the trick. Our favorites: Olive and Mabel.
… We want PIX!
We get to start with a few pix of our favorite all-around-savings CEO, Mary Morris. Here’s a shot of Mary with her terrific 529 team. Retirement savings team – your day is coming!
When you run programs in the (education) savings space, you get to do fun things, like hang around with Tuition Monsters … sometimes even at NASCAR.
… but most delightfully of all, you get to help families save. And that’s what we’re all here for.
❤❤❤

Did you eat too much at Thanksgiving? We did. So this is what’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner this week:
You know no good gathering would be complete without some Twofers. (What is a “twofer” you ask? Some of you have been on the receiving end and you know exactly what a twofer is). Without further ado, here’s a little Happy Holidays from our family to yours:
That’s it for this edition! ❤ Hug your people and change the world.
If you like this piece, please stick with us. We’ll be back in about two weeks. If you don’t like it, please unsubscribe below. Comments for us? Please let us know. Want your own subscription? Request one here. All information shared is from public sources or used with express permission.
Massena Associates provides process, policy, and implementation consulting on retirement savings programs and products.

Our clientele includes states, governments, policy organizations, and private sector providers. Our specialty – efficient, targeted results. We are an active speaker on retirement security topics, including state-facilitated programs, MEPs and more.

If you’d like to explore working together, we welcome the conversation. Connect with us here, and at 339-236-0684.
RESOURCES you can use:
Looking for a great retirement savings innovation resource? Led by Dr. Alicia Munnell, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College develops and hosts terrific content and proprietary research related to states, financial security, social security, and more.

The Georgetown Center for Retirement Initiatives, Exec Angela Antonelli, provides excellent information on state-based and other retirement security innovation and policy.

Pew’s Retirement Savings Project studies the challenges and opportunities for increasing retirement savings and is another great resource - check out the work of John Scott and his terrific team.

If you want a great source of broad-based, consumer-focused retirement news, Jeffrey H. Snyder’s The Morning Pulse is your ticket. You can subscribe here.