To the Editor:

For over half of New Jersey’s workers, the future looks bleak. Their jobs do not offer retirement plans. They are struggling to save on their own. The average working family has $3,000 for retirement, and without Social Security, which pays the typical New Jerseyan only $1,377 a month, they would hit rock bottom. And 43 percent of seniors would be in poverty. Qualifying for food stamps is not retirement.

AARP supports the Secure Choice Savings Program Act, a bill by Assembly Speaker Prieto and Senate President Sweeny that helps New Jerseyans save enough to live independently. Under Secure Choice, people without workplace savings plans can automatically put some of their paycheck in an Individual Retirement Account. A vetted investment firm manages these accounts, so people’s savings grow as they work, even when they switch jobs. Secure Choice gives people greater financial security and independence.

Secure Choice is about choice. Anyone can opt out whenever they want. People choose how much they save. Businesses just set up payroll deductions, like they already do for medical and dental coverage. Taxpayers do not fund the program. Workers get options, not mandates.

Hard-working New Jerseyans deserve a future. We should not settle for less.

Ryan Protter

Riverside Drive