Dive Brief:
- House lawmakers introduced a bill that would allow the electronic transfer of retirement plan documents. Reps. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) proposed the Receiving Electronic Statements to Improve Retiree Earnings (RETIRE) Act, or H.R. 4610, and it has 26 co-sponsors.
- If the bill becomes law, plan sponsors may automatically enroll account holders in an electronic delivery service to cut costs, but plan members may opt out.
- The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has not yet submitted a cost analysis to Congress on how much the move might save employers but the SPARK Institute puts that number between $200 million and $500 million annually, according to Pensions & Investments.
Dive Insight:
Employers have generally been in favor of such proposals, as electronic delivery promises to bring substantial cost savings. And with a good number of co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle, it seems likely that businesses could see this become law soon. The current Congress, however, remains largely tied up with tax reform.
Some say that electronic delivery would be good for workers, too. Financial well-being is down, and some experts suggest that making info available online so that employees can access it at any time can help with that problem.
Employers are not only turning to financial education, but also interactive programs that can change how workers handle money, an Aon Hewitt study shows. This includes some of the same interactive sessions that physical fitness-focused wellness programs use to engage workers, such as gaming and motivational exercises.