“We need to make it easier for Americans to think about and plan for retirement,” Polis said in a statement. “Nowadays, most Americans prefer their inbox to their mailbox. The RETIRE Act makes planning one click away by giving employees online access to their retirement information. Not only does it make retirement information more accessible, but it helps the environment and reduces costs by cutting back on wasted paper.”
Allowing electronic delivery and the significant cost savings it could provide could encourage more employers to offer plans, Barnash said. “Twenty percent of our clients own small businesses. Anything lawmakers can do to reduce administrative costs in retirement plans is a major plus for them,” he added.
“Electronic communication is no longer the exception, it is the norm,” said Alane Dent, ACLI acting senior vice president for federal relations. “Electronic disclosure offers efficiencies and cost savings in plan administration. Employee benefit plans should be permitted to use electronic, web-based solutions as a default means of delivering required disclosures.”
Email delivery will give workers more timely access to their financial information, making it easier for Americans to plan and save for retirement, Dent said.
The ACLI is supporting the provision in the bill giving employees the option to receive paper disclosures, she added.
The Insured Retirement Institute “enthusiastically supports these two bills that will remove some of the obstacles Americans face in planning for retirement,” Lee Covington, IRI senior vice president and general counsel, said in a statement.