By Bob Susnjara, Daily Herald About 1.2 million Illinois residents will have money automatically deducted from their paychecks for a retirement savings plan through a new state program being phased in 3½ years after becoming law — a move the state...
Comment-Letter-regarding-State-Savings-Arrangements-Safe-Harbor Woodstock Institute strongly supports creating a safe harbor for employers that are mandated to participate in state-established and administered automatic enrollment payroll deduction retirement savings programs, and we encourage the DOL to expand the safe harbor to employers...
Title lending, in which a borrower’s vehicle is used as collateral, provides small-dollar loans, but often comes with high interest rates and expensive fees. Title loan borrowers are paying triple-digit annual percentage rates (APRs) in Illinois, where there is...
“We’re pleased to share Secure Choice as an important victory for Illinois workers and a model for other states,” said Dory Rand, president of Woodstock Institute. Woodstock Institute research from 2012 revealed that about 2.5 million private-sector workers in...
But now, the small-business backbone of the economy is slowly rising to the occasion, often with the assistance of state governments. Here’s one such example from the state of Washington: The Small Business Retirement Marketplace, signed into law last...
When the lobbyist completed his remarks, Biss pulled him aside and asked him for the number of the bill the lobbyist had squelched. “Now, he probably wishes he hadn’t ,” Biss said at a recent New America event...
Illinois is piloting a “mostly mandatory” Individual Retirement Account (IRA) savings program for private sector workers. Though not a DC in that it doesn’t require employer payments, it requires businesses with 25 or more employees without a retirement program...
Earlier this year, then-Governor Pat Quinn signed the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act. Starting in 2017, among employers that do not offer a qualified retirement plan, companies with more than 25 workers will need to auto enroll their...
Several interest groups promoted this legislation, and several opposed this ambitious law. Scope of Program The Secure Choice Savings Program will require affected employers to automatically enroll eligible employees who do not opt out and to facilitate payroll deductions...
But Illinois just became the first U.S. state to adopt a promising new approach to a big problem in the nation’s retirement saving system: the lack of workplace saving options for low-income workers. Starting in 2017, companies that do...