Earlier this month, Treasurer Read participated in a retirement conference fireside chat to discuss the development, launch, and progress of OregonSaves, Oregon’s auto-enroll retirement program.

The chat was part of the Pensions and Investments 2021 Retirement Income Virtual Series. Greg Fox of Aon Investments moderated the conversation with the Treasurer and participants in the audience.

The Treasurer was quick to point out that for many people, saving for retirement can seem overwhelming. Or, in many cases, retirement seems so far off that people procrastinate on saving for it. Enter OregonSaves, Oregon’s state-based auto IRA for Oregonians who didn’t have the option to save for their retirement at work.

Treasurer Read noted how the convenience of OregonSaves gets people in the habit of saving easily and early. Supporting the program’s usability, Treasurer Read talked about “the Goldilocks” approach to program design: “We are trying to fit that ‘just right’ mix for participants,” the Treasurer said. “We didn’t want it to be just one solution – the element of choice is important to people who want to calibrate to their choices and needs. But the last thing we want to do is drown people in pages and pages of choices and have them give up and not do anything.”

The roughly 30-minute conversation highlighted how saving for retirement is helping people take control over their financial future and giving them a sense of financial well-being. Treasurer Read also discussed the work Oregon State Treasury has done to help other states launch or design similar programs and the interest that the U.S Senate Committee on Finance has shown in OregonSaves.

You can watch the full conversation here: https://piondemand.onlineevent.com

To learn more about OregonSaves: https://www.oregonsaves.com