House Passes Secure 2.0 Act in $1.7T Spending Bill

FSI “continually engaged our contacts on Capitol Hill about the importance of this legislation, and during meetings with lawmakers this year, our financial advisor members repeatedly pushed for its passage,” Brown said.

Fidelity Investments said it “applauds Congress for passing bipartisan legislation that will enhance America’s retirement system,” according to Kevin Barry, president of Workplace Investing, and Joanna Rotenberg, president of Personal Investing at the firm.

Secure 2.0 “will integrate several important benefits that are critical to financial security and expand access to underrepresented communities,” Barry and Rotenberg said. “As one of the country’s leading workplace benefits providers and America’s No. 1 IRA provider, Fidelity is committed to supporting Americans as they save for and live in retirement and will be prepared to help customers take advantage of the opportunities that result from this new law.”

Of particular importance, Fidelity added, is that the bill “allows employers to make matching retirement contributions based on the amount an employee is paying toward their student loans, which will help many workers begin saving for retirement,” and also includes “needed reforms that gradually raise the RMD age to 75, expands pooled employer plans (PEPs), supports the adoption of emergency savings accounts, and promotes auto-portability.”

With the passage of Secure 2.0, “millions more Americans now have a better chance at retirement success,” according to John James, head of Vanguard’s Institutional Investor Group. “This landmark legislation makes it easier for participants to save for their future by broadening Americans’ access to the retirement savings system through expanded automatic enrollment and escalation, novel portability efforts that Vanguard helped pioneer, and greater transparency around target-date fund performance.”

According to Eric Pan, president and CEO of the Investment Company Institute, the key provisions of Secure 2.0 include “the promotion of automatic enrollment, which will lead to increased participation rates in 401(k) and 403(b) retirement savings plans. The bill will support people as they look to start saving earlier by allowing employees to receive matching contributions to their retirement accounts based on student loan payments.”