President Obama

Americans need help in saving money. The president realizes this so he announced some new ideas on how to make it easier for workers to save more. Several changes has been done in the treasury department because the president saw some really alarming statistics which concerns the peoples’ finances. It’s nice to know that some leader has finally see this.

Obama said in his weekly radio and internet address that before this recession hit, the savings rate was essentially zero,while borrowing had risen and credit card debt increased. I’m sure many of us agree to this fact. He said tens of millions of families have been, for a variety of reasons, unable to put away enough money for a secure retirement and that we cannot continue on this course. Hopefully this changes in some rules will change some lives.

The following are the changes and most of them will take effect immediately because of the rule changes made by the Treasury Department.

Auto Enrollment in Retirement Plans: The administration will clear up some hurly-burlies in the paper work hurdles so that it will be easier for the smaller and medium-sized employers to automatically enroll workers for retirement plans. Employees could still choose to opt out of the retirement plan, though I suggest they should for this could be very useful for future use.

Saving tax refunds: The IRS will allow tax filers in 2010 to recoup their refund by issuing U.S. saving bonds. This will make it easier for those owed tax refunds to save.

Sick days and vacation time become 401(k) money: The White House will make it easier to convert unused vacation and sick leave pay into 401(k) contributions.

Based on government statistics, Americans have not been good savers in recent decades. Hopefully the administration’s changes will work for us. However, some say this will be modest because the changes are voluntary for employers and employees.

I hope Americans will take advantage of this new ways because it’s for our own good, but still this is a free country.