September 18, 2024
The United States is not the only nation facing the challenge of how to help workers save for retirement in an aging society. The United Kingdom launched an auto-enrollment mandate, and the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) program to provide a means for low and moderate income workers to prepare for their future retirement. The UK system shares many of the same features as the state-facilitated retirement savings programs that use the auto-IRA model in the U.S. and serves many of the same workers. The UK system was forward-thinking in incorporating features such as auto-escalation into the mandate.
As part of its launch, NEST established NEST Insight, a public-benefit research and innovation center, to study the data and understand the behaviors of NEST members in order to serve them better. NEST Insight’s mission is to find ways to support people to be financially secure, both today and into retirement. Will Sandbrook, managing director of NEST Insight, shared recent research from NEST Insight and how that research can inform policy discussions in the U.S.