NAIFA CEO Kevin Mayeux has signed onto a letter along with 90 other CEOs from a wide range of organizations, including insurance and financial services companies and associations urging Congress to pass the SECURE Act promoting retirement planning and saving.

Read the CEOs' letter to Congress.

The Act, which passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support in a 417-3 vote, has stalled in the Senate due to procedural matters and minor concerns raised by a very few senators. It would provide small businesses with greater flexibility and incentives to offer their employees retirement plans and give workers greater access to retirement plans.

According to calculations by the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), more than 700,000 workers nationwide would start saving for retirement if the Act is signed into law.

“The SECURE Act is that rare piece of legislation in Washington today that has widespread support among Republicans and Democrats,” said NAIFA CEO Kevin Mayeux. “The bill removes obstacles that discourage companies from offering retirement plans. Its passage would be a huge win for small business owners who want to do right by their employees and for American workers, many of whom struggle to prepare for retirement.”

Among the SECURE Act’s main provisions, it would:

• Relax rules and address liability issues that discourage small employers from offering retirement plans to workers
• Encourage the availability of annuity options within retirement plans for employees who would benefit from those products
• Require retirement plan providers to disclose the lifetime income value of retirement accounts, so that workers can better gauge their financial security in retirement
• Provide some small employers with tax credits for automatically enrolling workers into retirement plans
• Allow some part-time workers better access to employer-provided retirement plans
• Permit parents of newborn or newly adopted children to withdraw up to $5,000 from retirement accounts without suffering early-withdrawal tax penalties

NAIFA has been working with our industry partners in the effort behind the CEOs’ letter to Congress. In addition to ACLI and NAIFA, industry organizations whose CEOs are represented include: Allstate Financial Businesses, AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc., the Insured Retirement Institute, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, New York Life Insurance Company, Principal Financial Group, Prudential Financial, and Thrivent.  Non-industry CEOs include those of Raytheon, Bipartisan Policy Center Action, the Church Alliance and the National Volunteer Fire Council.

A complete list of CEOs and an electronic version of the letter are available here.