Connecticut’s Comptroller on MyCTSavings: Access, Equity, and Early Results

Natalie A. Braswell, Connecticut State Comptroller (left) and Jessica Muirhead, Executive Director, MyCTSavings, (right)

Persistence pays off. It’s not always easy getting a new retirement savings program off the ground. It is, however, very rewarding to see the results once you’ve done it. This week we have the pleasure of chatting with Connecticut’s Comptroller, Natalie Braswell, and Executive Director of the MyCTSavings Program, Jessica Muirhead, on progress and priorities in the Nutmeg State. Note, as of October 19 and until November 16, 2022, the Comptroller’s office has an RFP for Investment Consulting Services active for this program.

Natalie, MyCTSavings is live! Tell us how things are going.

Natalie: We think things are going pretty well. The program launched in April of this year. We’re about to close our second employer deadline on October 31st. The third wave of our smallest employers have until March 2023 to sign up for the program.

Following the last legislative session, the program has moved into the Office of the State Comptroller, and we’ve officially moved Jessica into the role of Executive Director.

We’re also currently looking for someone to do community outreach to increase awareness of the program to the over half a million individuals in Connecticut that don't already have a retirement savings plan.

Jessica, you're in the trenches! How's it going from your perspective?

Jessica: Great! Every day brings its own challenges, but I think we have a lot to be proud of in Connecticut for what we've been able to accomplish in a fairly short amount of time.

We're in full swing here so we are dedicating most of our efforts to outreach. And we're grateful to our partners - AARP in particular - and to our contracted partners as well for their efforts on that front. We're working to raise more awareness about the program as we move forward so that employers and employees know about the program and what their obligations are, as well as understanding what the benefits are.

We have just crested over a half million dollars in assets so we're very excited to see that benchmark achieved.

We expect to see assets continue to grow as we move forward and get more businesses and more employees into the program.

Connecticut was very persistent in bringing this program to life. Why does it matter to you and the folks around you?

Jessica: One top reason -- it's important for the small business market, in particular. It's difficult already for small employers to keep up when they don't have the ability to provide benefits to their employees even when they want to. And I think that's especially true now.

Post-pandemic, small businesses were hit much harder. They didn't have the resources to keep themselves afloat and now the labor market is very competitive.

We've heard from some of our pilot employers that they feel they can keep up better and have more to offer in the labor market to attract good talent to their own businesses when they can say, “Hey, we can give you access to retirement” in a way they weren't able to do before.

I think that's important, to meet the needs of our businesses in Connecticut, as well the needs of their employees.

Natalie, you’ve also been deeply involved for some time.

Natalie: Yes. This program was the brainchild of former Comptroller Kevin Lembo, with whom I worked as [correct title]. He worked very hard, starting from a feasibility study to see if a retirement savings program would even work in Connecticut, all the way to establishing the Retirement Security Authority and getting it off the ground.

I underscore all of the things that that Jess mentioned, emphasizing the fact that it's really important that the citizens in Connecticut - especially those that do not have a means by which they can save for their retirement - have the ability to do so.

Saving for retirement is important not only for societal reasons, but also financial reasons. When we look at the research, we see the amount of money a state will save in social services provided to the elderly when senior citizens and other individuals have retirement savings. We talk about dignity and about small businesses, but it's really important to give people an avenue to be able to save for their retirement.

No program startup is without its challenges. What earned advice might you share with other states who are considering Auto IRA programs?

Natalie: I think staffing is really important. I can't emphasize enough that the administrative portion is a heavy lift. The inside-an-agency leadership approach makes sense to us. I think it is hard to have stand-alone boards that don't have the infrastructure and the organization to administer a program. This includes an executive director to spearhead the program, a communications team, and legal counsel. Having a dedicated staff is essential to the success of the program.

The other issue I would flag is access to the data that's key to the program functioning. I think people assume that it would be easy to get necessary data from the state entities that hold the information. As we found out, it's not as easy as you would think to get data from the Department of Labor.

Jessica: That’s very true. Data access, it’s a key issue. So far we've seen the best structure for these programs are employer-required Auto IRA programs. For something to be mandatory, you need to be able to reach the affected businesses and the affected employees directly.

That requires access to specific data that you need certain permissions to access. I would tell that up and coming states who are considering legislation to make sure that it’s written into the authority for whatever entity takes on the administrative responsibility for the program.

I would also add that generally having statute flexibility is going to be beneficial for new and upcoming programs.

When the early programs designed their statutes they were based on theoretical frameworks that hadn't actually been tested. To the extent that is politically feasible, having statute flexibility to allow us to pivot to better practices as they develop would have been helpful for setting up a program so that you're not crystalizing yourself into a particular position.

We’ve seen the early programs like Illinois, Oregon, and California having to do additional legislation to adopt new best practices as they are identified. More flexibility might allow a state to handle this through rulemaking instead.

Let's talk a little bit about your program priorities for 2023. What’s coming up?

Jessica: Right now what we're really focusing on as we move into 2023 is increasing awareness and outreach so that the program becomes a staple of owning a business in Connecticut.

We have to make sure that employers check off the various boxes when they register with the state. One of those is going to be facilitation of our program (or being exempt from our program).

We're working on integrating MyCTSavings as a standard part of the business community in Connecticut. And that includes employees knowing what their rights are under the law.

In a practical sense, we'll be closing out our third wave at the end of March 2023. And then we'll be focusing on establishing and then standing up our compliance measures.

Expect to see us following up with non-compliant companies to make sure that there wasn't a hiccup if they haven’t signed up or are not submitting their payroll data (and worker contributions). And then we'll be moving into other forms of compliance after we've given ample opportunity for employers to sign up.

We'd also like to focus on employee financial education to emphasize and explain why the program is important and how it may be helpful to them for the future, so that employees feel like they are taking control of their finances for their future.

Natalie – you get the final word. What haven’t we asked?

Natalie: The Office of the State Comptroller manages healthcare for all state employees and their dependents - as well as a variety of different programs - in addition to the retirement security program.

Equity is a huge emphasis for us across the board through all of the programs. We’re serving populations that are often overlooked and many of whom have never saved for retirement before.

Specifically, we’re looking at education in those communities and making sure that people understand the importance of retirement and what that looks like in real life practical terms.

This program is an important part of creating better equity for our workforce in Connecticut, so we are pleased to be able to offer it.

Want more? You can connect directly by email: Natalie Braswell, and Jessica Muirhead. You can learn more about MyCTSavings here. You can also connect on Twitter: @MyCTSavings

Natalie Braswell was appointed by Governor Ned Lamont as Connecticut’s State Comptroller, completing the term of her friend and former colleague Kevin Lembo. Braswell served for 10 years as General Counsel and Assistant State Comptroller. As the agency's chief legal officer, she negotiated and drafted a number of technology, healthcare, pharmacy and consulting contracts with statewide impact, and served as a chief negotiator for transformative agreements to modernize service delivery and save taxpayer dollars. Braswell played a critical role in the development of fiscal policy, retirement security programs, health care initiatives and other key agency operations. Meet Natalie. 

Jessica Muirhead is the Executive Director of MyCTSavings, a state-facilitated retirement savings program for employees who lack access to a retirement benefit through their workplace. The program was created by state legislation in 2016 to help employees easily and automatically save for a dignified retirement. Jessica joined the effort in 2020 through the Office of the State Comptroller and oversaw the execution of the program from establishing its operational structure and business contracts, outreach and marketing, a pilot phase in 2021, through to full launch state-wide in March 2022. A Connecticut and Hartford County native, Jessica has found fulfillment in a career of public and non-profit service at the Brown University, the University of Connecticut, the Capitol Region Council of Governments, and now at the Connecticut Office of the State Comptroller. Jessica is also a UConn alumna twice; earning a Master of Public Administration (‘20), and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (’09) from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

This piece was featured in the November 3, 2022, edition of Retirement Security Matters. For more fresh thinking on retirement savings innovation, check out the newsletter here.