Posted on 08/02/2017 4:00:00 PM PDT by texas booster
July 28 - The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced that it will begin to wind down the myRA program after a thorough review by Treasury that found it not to be cost effective. This review was undertaken as part of the Administration’s effort to assess existing programs and promote a more effective government.
Demand for and investment in the myRA program has been extremely low. American taxpayers have paid nearly $70 million to manage the program since 2014.
“The myRA program was created to help low to middle income earners start saving for retirement. Unfortunately, there has been very little demand for the program, and the cost to taxpayers cannot be justified by the assets in the program. Fortunately, ample private sector solutions exist, which resulted in less appeal for myRA. We will be phasing out the myRA program over the coming months. We will be communicating frequently with participants to help facilitate a smooth transition to other investment opportunities,” said Jovita Carranza, U.S. Treasurer.
Retirement savers have options in the private sector that offer no account maintenance fees, no minimum balance, and safe investment opportunities.
Participants in the myRA program are being notified of the upcoming changes, including information on moving their myRA savings to another Roth IRA. Participants are encouraged to visit www.myRA.gov for additional information or to call myRA customer support with any questions.
“We are committed to promoting retirement savings, and, as Treasurer, I plan to devote a substantial amount of my time to ensuring more Americans have the tools and knowhow to save for retirement,” said Carranza.
About 20,000 people opened MyRA accounts, which are another Roth type investment account that purchased US Treasury bonds.
That the government spent $70,000,000 in three years to manage these accounts - talk about high account fees, if they were actually charged to investors!
IMO, these were an average investment at best - but they only invested in government securities? Violates a basic rule of investing, that of spreading out risk.
Another failed obama legacy goes splat...
The fact is that since the Obama Era began, you can no longer afford to retire.
Not sure yet of their connection except that phone numbers and company names exist on various MyRA websites.
However, apart from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management—which handles human resources for the federal government—the department has yet to name any employers, including private-sector companies, participating in the pilot program it started in December. Employers have to set up direct-deposit capabilities for employees to open an account. ...
The myRA idea is that people can begin to accumulate assets, and when they reach the $15,000 threshold, they'll have a broad range of investment options in a traditional Roth IRA structure. While the G fund return is currently minimal, given low interest rates, it's better than a savings account.
“It's hard to argue you can find a better guaranteed fixed-income portfolio with the security and return of the G fund,” said Tim Maurer, a certified financial planner and director of personal finance for Buckingham and the BAM Alliance. “The people that will find this attractive may want more safety than return.”
Maurer is all for any vehicle that helps people save more, but he thinks the program should be more ambitious. “You can't really call this a retirement account, given it has a real return of close to 0 [percent] and it caps out at $15,000,” Maurer said. “That would provide a couple of months of income in retirement.”
Maurer said he thinks the money spent on the myRA program might have been better used to enable people to invest in a full government-backed IRA program in which they could choose from the range of investment portfolio options run through the Thrift Savings Plan.
These were a financial scam. Getting rid of them is a good move.
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