By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
REGION – With so much uncertainty in the air, millions of workers across the country are worried about their Social Security benefits when the time comes to retire. This includes Gen Xers, who have or will soon turn 60. Fortunately, there have been discussions centered around enhancing state-sponsored retirement savings programs for those without employer-sponsored options.
Increasing anxiety
Recent surveys show individuals from Baby Boomers to Gen X becoming increasingly anxious over the threats of unavailability to Social Security benefits. In a 2024 survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, 77 percent of Gen X respondents agreed with the statement, “I am concerned that when I am ready to retire, Social Security will not be there for me.”
According to Joel Eskovitz, senior director of Social Security and savings at the AARP Public Policy Institute, the decline of pensions and the rise of “defined contribution” workplace plans such as 401(k) plans that make most Americans responsible for funding their own retirement has “heightened the role of Social Security” for Gen X. Roughly 1,220,000 private sector employees in the state have jobs that do not offer a traditional pension or a retirement savings plan. Only an estimated five percent of the population will open their own IRA and nearly seven in 10 have less than a year’s worth of income saved for retirement.
Other programs
Work and Save accounts help workers save for retirement. The state does have the CORE plan which allows small non-profit organizations to take part in state-facilitated plans and Massachusetts Secure Choice is a state-facilitated program designed to provide small businesses and employers with free retirement savings options to offer to their employees. It is an at-no-cost-to-employers plan that automatically enrolls workers who do not have access to employer-based retirement benefits such as pension plans and 401(k) plans.
AARP backs the Secure Choice Plan which both the Massachusetts House and Senate passed as part of the 2026 budget. However, Governor Healey sent that aspect of the budget for further study. Jen Benson, AARP Massachusetts State Director wrote a letter to legislators urging them to override the veto and implement the plan. The letter reads, in part, “You voted to include Secure Choice, a state retirement plan option for those whose employers do not offer a retirement savings option, in the Fiscal Year 2026 budget and your commitment to a secure retirement for all Massachusetts workers is greatly appreciated.”
Benefits of Massachusetts Secure Choice include:
Employers with 25 or more employees that do not offer a retirement plan, including – but not limited to – a 401(k), simplified employee pension (SEP) plan, or a Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) plan – would participate.
Covered employers would be required to automatically enroll their employees and establish a payroll deposit retirement savings arrangement by which employees would contribute at least six percent of their pay to their accounts.
Employees would have the ability to select a contribution level into the fund; the default contribution rate for those who do not would be six percent of pay, with annual escalation of one percent up to a maximum of ten percent of wages.
Employees also would have the ability to select an investment option from the permitted investment options available under the program, and they could change their investment option at any time. Those who do not select an investment option would be placed in a qualified default investment alternative specified by the program. Furthermore, employees would be able to opt out of participation in the program.
The no-cost IRA program gives over 1.2 million workers without employer-sponsored plans some financial peace of mind. All in all, saving for a rainy day never rang truer.
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