In his 2014 State of the Union address President Obama announced that that he will direct the Department of Treasury to create a new retirement savings plan for workers who do not have 401(k)s. Called My Retirement Account or MyRA, it will allow them to purchase savings bonds with guaranteed rates of interest through automatic payroll deductions. He introduced the program by enjoining, “let’s do more to help Americans save for retirement.â€
Creation of the MyRAs is recognition of the growing retirement crisis facing Americans. But rather than delivering substantive relief, it is at best a token response and in doing so perpetuates the very myths and fallacies that caused the crisis.