President Donald Trump signed an executive order to make one on thursday A new way to save for retirement For workers who don’t currently have access to a 401(k) or another workplace plan.
Approximately 56 million Americans do not have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan at work, 2025 according to research From the Pew Charitable Trusts, an independent public policy nonprofit.
The order calls for the launch next year of a new website, TrumpIRA.gov, where employees can research, compare and enroll in private-sector individual retirement accounts, through which, if eligible, they can make a deposit. matching contribution From the federal government.
“You’ll then be able to access the same types of retirement accounts that federal employees enjoy through the Thrift Savings Plan, which are inexhaustible as part of the federal. saver’s match Program,” Trump said at a White House press conference. “Low-income Americans will be eligible to receive up to $1,000 per year in matching funds deposited directly into their accounts.”
The accounts will be integrated with the Saver’s Match, a provision of the 2022 law known as SECURE 2.0, which offers matching contributions of up to $1,000 to low-income Americans to save for retirement.
Now, the Trump administration hopes to work with Congress to pass legislation that would expand access to the program and make the match larger.
Two pieces of legislation proposed in 2025 could help provide a framework for Congress to do just that — and aspects of each could be extremely beneficial to American retirement savers, according to a study by investment research firm Morningstar. Published on Thursday.
After running some of the proposed provisions, such as expanding access to matching contributions, auto-enrollment and boosting the value of the match through their model for retirement outcomes, the researchers found that cumulative U.S. retirement wealth could increase by 77%, adding up to $1.35 trillion in estimated retirement wealth over 10 years.
How can legislation extend an executive order?
Trump’s executive order targets Americans who do not currently have access to a workplace retirement account or matching contributions from an employer.
About 40.6 million full-time American workers do not participate in a retirement plan, and about 48.8 million do not benefit from the employer match, According to White House data.
Integrating new accounts with Saver Match will provide access to some of them.
Starting in tax year 2027, single taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income up to $20,500 or joint filers earning up to $41,000 qualify for a government match of 50% of a $2,000 contribution to a qualified retirement account, for a maximum of $1,000 per year. Single filers with annual income between $20,500 and $35,500 qualify for reduced matching contributions. Joint filers earning up to $71,000 may qualify for the reduced match.
At Trump’s press conference, Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, called for legislation that would extend benefits to more Americans. “We are working with Congress to significantly expand this program and look forward to legislation this year,” he said.
Hassett has previously supported Americans for Retirement Savings ActA piece of bicameral legislation was reintroduced in Congress this week. The bill was first introduced in 2022. Congress could also consider the Automatic IRA Act, which was introduced again in December, but for the first time by Representative Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.). almost two decades ago.
It remains to be seen whether Congress will rally around a single piece of legislation or pull aspects from multiple sources and pass the reform through the reconciliation process, as Treasury Secretary Scott Besant suggested when Trump first floated the idea during his tenure. state of the union address in February.
Here are some of the key provisions of each.
Americans for Retirement Savings Act
- Full- and part-time employees who do not have access to an employer-sponsored plan will be eligible for an account and automatically have 3% of their income enrolled.
- Low- and moderate-income workers will be eligible for 1% automatic contributions and up to a 4% contribution from the federal government, with a phased-in reduction in average earnings.
Automatic IRA Act
- Employers with more than 10 employees who do not sponsor a retirement plan are required to automatically enroll employees in IRAs.
- The default contribution rate for employees will be 6%, increasing by 1 percentage point per year to 10%.
How proposed legislation could boost retirement outcomes
Morningstar researchers took aspects of both plans into account when measuring the potential effectiveness of an enhanced version of Trump’s order, says Spencer Look, associate director of retirement studies at Morningstar Retirement and one of the study’s co-authors.
They arrived at a “base case” for their simulation, which involved automatic enrollment in retirement plans at a 3% savings rate. Under that scenario, Morningstar estimates that 32.3 million new savers would enter the system and retirement wealth would increase by 28% overall.
Look says one thing that makes a big difference in all of Morningstar’s simulations is automatic enrollment.
“If it’s a voluntary enrollment type structure, we wouldn’t expect a lot of participation,” he says, adding that getting people out of retirement plans rather than getting them in would be the key way to “move the needle.”
The researchers also tinkered with other levers. He increased the Saver’s Match from 50% to 100% and raised the income limit for single filers from $35,500 to $60,000. They tested the program with 3% automatic contributions and one contribution increased from 3% to 6%. They ran scenarios where rules prevented savers from accessing their matching funds until age 62.
According to Morningstar, each of these provisions would help boost Americans’ savings, and together they would increase American retirement wealth by 77%, with an especially strong impact on low-income people.
Look says that no matter what laws are ultimately passed, the key for retirement savers is to steadily grow their portfolios over time. Morningstar found that workers with 10 or more years of continuous participation in retirement plans could get 67% to 125% larger retirement assets under auto-enrollment scenarios.
“The conclusion that underlies all of this is that consistent savings behavior — consistent saving over time — is the biggest determinant of growing your nest egg,” says Look.
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