Maine and Colorado have forged a new partnership to make it easier, faster and more cost-effective for workers in Maine to save for retirement, a first-in-the-nation kind of pact that experts hope other small states will follow.
Under the program, the Maine Retirement Investment Trust, or MERIT, partnered with the Colorado SecureSavings Program to create a state-run retirement savings program in Maine.
The move will give 200,000 workers in Maine, who lack retirement saving plans through their employers, a chance to save for retirement on their own. About 40% of Maine’s private-sector workers lack access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan. This retirement savings plan is tied to the employee instead of the employer, allowing the account to move with the worker from job to job.
“The partnership with Colorado will help other states that are small like Maine offer these services without facing all the challenges alone,” said Angela Antonelli, executive director for the Center for Retirement Initiatives at Georgetown University. “It will make it economical and faster for Maine to offer this.”
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