The new federal steps, which do not require congressional action:
• Making it easier for small companies to set up 401(k) retirement savings plans in which all workers are automatically enrolled unless they ask to be omitted. Workers can raise or lower the contribution levels, and they choose how to invest the money. They will pay taxes on the money only when they withdraw it as retirees. A similar process would apply to “Simple IRAs.”
• Allowing such plans to automatically increase the amount that workers save over time unless the workers object.
• Allowing people to check a box on their federal tax returns asking that any refund be sent as a savings bond.
• Allowing workers, when leaving a job, to direct unused vacation pay to a retirement savings account rather than taking it in cash.
