Legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would add retirement planning and saving information to the required financial counseling programs federal student aid recipients receive.
Supported by the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), the bill would require the Secretary of Education to create a centralized personal finance education portal that would provide financial aid recipients with information on core personal financial concepts like budgeting, saving, and investing, and specifically calls for retirement planning and saving to be included in the content.
“By creating a federal student aid counseling portal that includes critical information about the intersection of saving for retirement and repaying student loans, this legislation will help provide federal student aid recipients with the opportunity to build economic equity, strengthen their financial security, and lay the groundwork for protecting their income during their retirement years,” IRI Chief Government and Political Affairs Officer Paul Richman said. “Adding a requirement to include counseling information about planning and saving for retirement will provide a helpful new tool to those who have received federal student aid. It will empower them as they enter the workforce with valuable information about the different types of retirement savings accounts and help them make well-informed financial decisions about their retirement years during their working years.”
In 2021, IRI called for an expansion of the mandated financial literacy counseling for federal student loan borrowers as part of its Federal Retirement Security Blueprint. The organization called for information about workplace retirement savings choices students may face after graduating from college and entering the workforce to be included as part of that.
The bill is sponsored by U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernandez (R-NM) and Victoria Spartz (R-IN).