President Obama Launches New "myRA" Retirement Savings Plan
By Ileana Diaz
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- President Obama traveled to Pittsburgh to launch a new retirement savings program he unveiled in his State of the Union address.
The President toured the U.S. Steel Corp plant. He later signed a Presidential Executive Order creating the myRA individual retirement account program.
The goal of the myRA account is to let people begin saving now.
As CBS 3's Ileana Diaz reports, some people can't afford the large initial investment often needed for a private, commercial retirement account.
"Every time you think your income is going up, your expenses go up more than that," retiree Betty Moss said.
Making it hard to save.
"Not now, but I am going to retire," Bucks County President Greg Moss said.
One college graduate says it's nearly impossible when you have big loans to pay off.
"I got to focus on that first before I think about retirement, or anything really," Mayya Saab said.
And even those who worked hard for years to save for retirement are coming up short and have to keep working.
"You're finding out that instead of feeling secure you're more scared than you did earlier," Moss said.
But President Obama's new myRA pilot program aims to get more people to save at an earlier stage in life. Financial advisor Joel Naroff says it's a good starting point.
"There's a massive under-saving in this country and social security is just not going to be enough," Naroff said.
myRA would allow anyone who makes less than $191,000 a year to sign up with just $25 dollars. The money is tax free and would be locked in until you reach $15,000 -- then it'd be rolled into another retirement account.
"Somebody 35 or 25, it's going to help, because over time, they get into the idea of saving," Naroff said.
Naroff says more people need to be saving money -- and saving more of it.
"Half to 60 percent of the people who are saving will probably run out of money," Naroff said.
myRA won't fix the immediate problem, but if enough people sign up early on, it could make a difference in years to come.