During the session, Treasury Department retirement policy chief Mark Iwry said a nationwide rollout of the myRA individual retirement account—accounts designed for new savers—will be coming soon. It is currently operating as a pilot program.
The department is adding a feature to myRA that will allow participants to contribute to their plans with money from their bank accounts in addition to automatic payroll deductions, he said..
Iwry said he is heartened many insurers are planning to sell annuities that would start payouts to beneficiaries in their 80s to prevent them from running out of money as they go deep into old age.
In his first week on the job, Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. Director Tom Reeder told the gathering he is devoting a lot of time to the new law permitting multiemployer union pension plans to reduce benefits when they are in danger of becoming insolvent.
“Multiemployer plans come to the point where we have to do what we can where there is not enough money to pay all the promised benefits. We have to do everything we can in our power to ensure the promises are kept,” he said.