The retirement system in the United States helps millions of Americans save for a secure retirement and maintain their standards of living as retirees. Retirement policy, however, needs to continually adapt to help increase the ranks of retirement savers and the amount they put away as the realities of retirement today evolve.

This week, Congress passed the biggest legislative change to America’s retirement system in a dozen years. The bipartisan bill, Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement – better known as the SECURE Act takes important steps toward enhancing the private retirement system, including commonsense provisions that will encourage small businesses to offer retirement savings plans and encourage individuals to utilize the options that are available to enjoy retirement security. These changes expand the availability of employer-sponsored savings plans, offer encouragement for employees to participate in a plan, and expand the use of critical tax incentives.

On the day the legislation passed Congress, I sat down with SIFMA’s Lisa Bleier who explained what the SECURE Act means for retirement savers.

Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. is president and CEO of SIFMA, the voice of the nation’s securities industry. He is also CEO of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA), of which SIFMA is the U.S. regional member. Ms. Bleier is Managing Director and Associate General Counsel, Federal Government Relations at SIFMA. She supervises and coordinates SIFMA’s outreach to members of Congress and government regulators on retirement and senior investor matters.

Related Resources

• SIFMA Statement on House Passage of SECURE Act