It has been well over a year that Social Security has been promoting its my Social Security accounts that provide online access to individual Social Security accounts. This obviously is not news, but in one of Social Security’s blogs found at www.ssa.gov there was another type of online account mentioned involving retirement accounts that many Americans have no clue about.
Offered through the Treasury Department, myRA is a government sponsored retirement plan Americans can sign-up for in addition to Social Security, not instead of Social Security. This type of retirement account is similar to a 401k account a private employer would offer, but this type of account is offered by the Treasury Department for workforce members who do not have access to a 401k because their employers don’t offer one. The Treasury Department will put participant’s money into a Roth IRA.
There are attractive aspects to the option besides allowing Americans who don’t have any other options to invest in retirement accounts. One nice option is participants can contribute as little per month as they would like. Whether it be $200, $20 or as little as $2, there is no minimum amount to save.
Another nice feature is that myRA offers online calculators showing just how much people can save. For instance, someone who contributes $50 per month can save $1,867 after three years, $3,192 after five years and $6,808 after 10 years.
I guess the old adage used that you learn something new every day is quite true. To learn more about the myRA program visit www.myra.gov.
