Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - Hillary Clinton's American Retirement Accounts Plan: A 401(k) Plan For All Americans

More than half of Nevada families to benefit from Clinton's American Retirement Accounts Plan

Today, Hillary Clinton announced a bold new Universal 401(k) retirement savings plan which will help hundreds of thousands of middle class Nevada families save and build wealth for their future. Along with her commitment to protecting Social Security, Hillary's plan will tackle the current retirement savings crisis by helping ensure that all Americans can afford a dignified retirement.

Clinton campaign volunteers gathered today to dial for change from the Las Vegas headquarters, sharing Senator Clinton's American Retirement Accounts Plan with Nevadans across the state. Over 40 volunteers reached out to many of the hardworking Silver State residents who would benefit from Clinton's retirement plan. The plan will help ensure the road to the middle class – and the American Dream – is within reach for all Americans for generations to come.

The retirement savings plan is a cornerstone of Senator Clinton's plan to strengthen America's middle class. It is a plan that will create new, quality jobs essential to broad-based prosperity; restore fairness to our economy; renew the basic bargain that if you work hard, you can get ahead; and put our fiscal house in order again.

"My plan will help tens of millions of middle class families go from just getting by to getting ahead – putting them on a path to a secure retirement," Clinton said. "I believe it's time for a new bargain with the American people – a bargain that reflects the changing global economy and the new realities of aging. I believe that if you work hard and contribute to our country, you should have the opportunity to save and invest. And through the discipline of good planning and the miracle of compound interest, you should be able to build wealth for yourself, a better future for your family, and a secure retirement."

The following details how Senator Clinton's American Retirement Accounts Plan will benefit thousands of hardworking Nevadans.

Today, Tuesday October 9th, Hillary Clinton announced a bold new American Retirement Accounts Plan with generous matching tax cuts that—alongside her efforts to strengthen defined benefit pension plans—will help hundreds of thousands of middle class Nevada families build wealth for their future. Building on her commitment to protect the guaranteed benefit of Social Security, Hillary's American Retirement Accounts Plan will tackle the current retirement savings crisis by helping ensure that all Americans can afford a dignified retirement.

Fully Portable and Matching Retirement Savings Accounts for Nevada Workers and Families

The American Retirement Accounts Plan will give all Americans an opportunity to save and build wealth for retirement that is as easy, secure and generous as is offered by good employer-sponsored 401(k)s. Hillary's American Retirement Accounts Plan will give that chance to the tens of millions of Americans who are currently falling through the cracks while reducing wealth inequality, increasing national savings, and encouraging economic growth. Under the plan, working and middle class families who currently have the hardest time saving will receive generous matching tax cuts as an incentive to help them save. And all middle-class Americans will get to open new American Retirement Accounts that will be designed to provide no-hassle, portable savings throughout their careers.

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• New matching tax cuts will benefit Nevada families. This new proposal will provide a matching tax credit – dollar-for-dollar – of the first $1,000 of savings done by every married couple making up to $60,000. The plan will provide a 50% match on the first $1,000 of savings for every family making between $60,000 and $100,000, which will be phased out after that. This matching tax credit will be available to all Americans in existing 401(k) type accounts as well as the new American Retirement Accounts. That means that in Nevada, where the median family income is $47,231, more than half of all Nevada families will get matching tax cuts of up to $1,000 to help them build a nest egg for retirement. [1]

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• If you are one of the 616,000 Nevada workers that have no access to employer-sponsored retirement accounts, Senator Clinton's plan will finally ensure that you can get a fully portable and matching retirement account with strong incentives to save. Senator Clinton will let all middle-class Americans open a new American Retirement Account. These accounts will allow individuals to contribute up to $5,000 per year on a tax-deferred basis. The first $1,000 contributed into the accounts would be eligible for the new 1-to-1 and 50% government matches. [Retirement Security Project, 2006].

  Individuals would have the choice to set up their account with any private provider that offered diversified investment options that included an age appropriate investment life-cycle fund as a default option. Individuals would also have a fall-back option of setting up accounts through a similar system to the ones that Members of Congress currently get to use.

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• If you are one of the 1.25 million Nevada workers who currently has access to an employer-sponsored retirement savings account, Senator Clinton's plan provides you with flexibility and increased incentives to save—if you are happy with your current plan you can keep it and you may be eligible for the generous new matching tax credits.

Expanded Access to Retirement Savings for Nevada Parents, Self-Employed Workers, and Middle and Working Class Families – and Aid for Small Firms

Nearly half of Nevada workers are employed by firms that do not offer a pension or retirement plan, and many workers in firms that do offer plans, are not taking advantage of the chance to save. The level of retirement savings is particularly low for workers in small businesses and farms, parents and others who take time out from the work force, and lower-income families.

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• By offering access to a fully portable retirement account to Nevada Parents, Senator Clinton's plan will help families to save for a secure future. A parent who takes five years off over a 20 year period to care for a child—and stops saving in their traditional 401(k) because they lose the matching incentive—could lose 35% of their account compared to continuing saving with Senator Clinton's proposed American Retirement Account matching incentives.

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• Hillary's plan will offer expanded tax credits to help many of Nevada's 204,000 small businesses offset start-up administrative costs of providing the direct deposit options to their employees. [2]

No Asset Tests That Force Moderate-Income Nevada Families to Choose Between Saving for Retirement and Receiving Benefits Like Food Stamps

In addition to providing generous new incentives for working families to save, Hillary's American Retirement Accounts Plan will reduce disincentives to save that exist in our retirement system. Unfortunately, current policy actually penalizes lower-income families who want to save for retirement in 401(k)s and IRAs, by disqualifying them for means-tested benefit programs like food stamps, SSI, and Medicaid. The asset tests in these programs are not indexed for inflation and have not been raised in over a decade. The food stamp asset limit for most households is $2,000; the SSI limits are $2,000 for singles and $3,000 for couples.

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• If your household is one of the 55,000 Nevada households participating in food stamp programs – 48 percent of which are households with children – Senator Clinton's plan will finally ensure that you are not forced to choose between saving for retirement and receiving benefits. [3]

[1] U.S. Census Bureau (2004).
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/32000.html

[2] Small Business Administration (2006).
http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/profiles/06nv.pdf

[3] Retirement Security Project (2006).
http://www.retirementsecurityproject.org/pubs/File/RSP-FoodStamp _4.pdf