Facts about MyCTSavings

Overview

Connecticut has established an auto-IRA program that requires employers without a retirement plan to auto­matically enroll their workers, who are allowed to opt out.  Connecticut was one of the first states to enact legislation for an auto-IRA program, and its program went live in April 2022.

To date, Connecticut has 2,728 employers submitting payroll deductions and 24,346 workers with funded accounts (see Table 1).

Employers 

As of January 2024, 2,728 employers in Connecticut were submitting payroll deductions to MyCTSavings in the past 90 days (see Table 2).  Employers with five employees or more are required to participate in the program.  Employers are exempt if they do not have five or more employees who were paid $5,000 or more in taxable wages in the previous calendar year. Employers subject to the mandate will be monitored for compliance.  If they fall out of compliance or fail to register, they could be subject to an investigation and penalties.

Employees  

As of January 31, the number of employees with assets in the MyCTSavings program is 24,346.  Given the much shorter period that the program has been in existence, account balances are currently lower than in California, Illinois, and Oregon.  Participants who do not make any investment selections will have their contributions invested in a money market fund; after 60 days, their assets will be moved into an age-appropriate target date fund.  As of the most recent month, roughly 19 percent of eligible workers have chosen to opt out of participating (see Table 3). 

Assets

The program, which is intended to eventually become financially self-sufficient, had assets under manage­ment of $17.1 million by the end of January 2024 (see Table 4).  To pay for its operating costs, MyCTSavings and the Program Administrator collectively charge a fixed annual fee of $26 and an asset-based fee of approximately 0.22 percent.