CalSavers Retirement Savings Program, California's retirement savings program, has reached $1 billion in assets, making it the largest private-employee state-run plan in the nation, announced Fiona Ma, state treasurer and chair of the CalSavers Retirement Savings Board.
One year ago, CalSavers had $569 million in assets. The plan’s assets are derived solely from employee contributions and investment earnings. There is no employer matching contribution.
“CalSavers has filled a critical gap in retirement security for working Californians and this achievement, and the continued growth of the program, is proof,” Ma said in a news release.
California passed legislation in 2012 establishing the plan for private-sector workers without access to a workplace retirement plan, becoming the first state in the nation to do so. It is now the largest plan. By comparison, OregonSaves, the first plan launched in the country, has $301 million and Illinois Secure Choice has $200 million.
Between the program’s pilot in 2019 through July, 89.5% of the state’s employers, amounting to 50,000 facilitating employers, have registered for the savings program.
