Today, Colorado State Treasurer Dave Young celebrates the start of National Retirement Security Month by talking about the Colorado Department of Treasury retirement program, the Colorado SecureSavings Program…
— From a press release, October 3, 2023.
If I were the State Treasurer, I would also want to applaud a state-facilitated auto-IRA program for employers who have five or more employees and are not currently offering those employees a retirement plan. And I would want to celebrate National Retirement Security Month, and talk about the Colorado SecureSaving Program.
Generally speaking, State Treasurers get excited about seeing money socked away for the future. It’s something that any Treasurer would find satisfying.
And they don’t have to think very hard about forcing employers to provide retirement plans for their employees, except not employers who have four or fewer employees, for some unknown reason.
The Colorado SecureSavings Program began as a pilot program a year ago, and started full implementation last January.
“What an achievement, to be able to provide more Coloradans with a retirement program that can help them plan ahead,” Dave Young stated in a press release. “It has truly been a remarkable experience seeing the progress of the program.”
According to Dave Young’s office, over 100,000 employees are now enrolled in the program, and have stashed away almost $17 million so far.
When I run those numbers, it appears that the average employee has already saved $170, which is some kind of an achievement, if you compared it to the activity in my own personal bank account.
Unfortunately, due to inflation, that $170 is today worth only $155.
If the employee had instead bought shares of stock in Carvana Co. last January, their $170 investment would now be worth $1,335.
I’m not the kind of guy who plans ahead. I find that planning ahead generally leads to disappointment, because the actual result never comes close to what I had planned. I’ve gradually come to adopt the same attitude as my cat, Roscoe. Is the sun shining? Stretch out on the front porch. Is it raining? Curl up on the couch and take a nap. Am I hungry? Tell Louis to open a can of food.
So, naturally, with that kind of attitude, I didn’t buy shares of Carvana stock last January.
My parents had a great retirement plan when I was a kid, but when it actually came time to retire, they ran the numbers and realized they could no longer afford a three-bedroom house. They now live in a tiny apartment, eating tuna casserole.
I already live in a tiny apartment, so how could it get any worse? (I also love tuna casserole.)
I’m sure my editor is happy that he doesn’t have five employees, and won’t have to jump through the Colorado SecureSavings Program hoops… at least, until they change the program to include the employers with four or fewer employees.
It’s pretty much guaranteed they will change the program. That’s a thing governments do. Change programs.
But I guess the best part, as far as I’m concerned, is that it’s an “auto-IRA” program. I don’t know what that means, but it sounds like I won’t have to think about it, once it gets rolling. That $170 will automatically appear in my retirement account.
How could life get any better?
So long as you love tuna casserole.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.