Political Quotes

“Mr. President, in February the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions held a hearing on the success of the automatic enrollment provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 which helped millions of workers and their families access to a 401(k) retirement savings accounts. Because of the Pension Protection Act, we greatly expanded retirement savings and individuals ability to put money away for their golden years. Just last week, Fidelity Investments released a report that employer- sponsored retirement plans with an automatic enrollment feature have an overall participation rate of 82 percent compared with only 56 percent without automatic enrollment. The Fidelity report also indicated that average account balances for 401(k) and similar retirement accounts have reached an all-time high. This is some good news to show that workers and their families retirement accounts are coming back from the economic distress of just a few years ago. While our Nation's 401(k) retirement system is providing greater opportunities for individuals to save, there is still room for improvement. Recent studies have shown that money saved in 401(k) accounts sometimes ``leaks'' out of the system and is never put back. AonHewitt released a report this week showing that unpaid loans, withdrawals and cashouts of 401(k) monies, otherwise known as ``leakage,'' can have a substantial effect on how much money ultimately will be there for retirement.…”