The market volatility triggered by President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs have a lot of people keeping a close eye on their retirement accounts. But a large section of workers don’t have access to those types of savings. A bill moving through the Legislature would change that, by making the state-administered RetireReady NJ program eligible to more private-sector workers.
RetireReady NJ “is for private-sector workers if your employer does not already provide you with some sort of a retirement savings option,” explained NJ Spotlight News budget and finance writer John Reitmeyer. The law that established the program passed several years ago, making it available to the employees of companies with 25 or more workers; the long-awaited retirement savings option for private-sector workers was launched last year.
“That threshold [of 25 employees] was originally set because business lobbyists argued it would be an undue burden on small businesses,” said Reitmeyer. “Many of them operate with very few employees and they don’t have advanced HR systems or payroll processes.”
The debut of RetireReady NJ came after data from the Federal Reserve indicated nearly 50% of all families in the U.S. lack retirement savings and access to retirement accounts.
“There are studies that show that when you can make a payroll deduction, when you save the money before you even get it in your paycheck into your wallet… the rates of savings are higher; and, of course, New Jersey is known as one of the highest-cost states in the nation. And so a lot of these individuals are getting to retirement age and if they’re relying on just their Social Security benefits they may not stretch as far in a state like New Jersey,” noted Reitmeyer.
Now some lawmakers want to extend RetireReady NJ. Legislation cleared unanimously by a key Assembly committee last week calls for expanding the program by reducing the “threshold for required participation … from businesses that have 25 or more employees to businesses that have one or more employees.”
This story is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
