A 2006 law designed to boost employees' retirement-savings is having the opposite effect for some people.
WSJ's Anne Tergesen reports a 2006 law allowing companies to automatically enroll people in 401(k) plans has had unintended consequences.
Under the law, companies are allowed to automatically enroll workers in their 401(k) plans, rather than require employees to sign up on their own. The measure was intended to encourage more people to bulk up their retirement nest eggs—a key goal in a country where millions of people aren't saving enough.
But an analysis done for The Wall Street Journal shows about 40% of new hires at companies with automatic enrollments are socking away less money than they would if left to enroll voluntarily, the Employee Benefit Research Institute found.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 22780.html
I have to say, I was a little surprised by this, and despite what the study says, I still can't shake the thought that someone who was auto enrolled and didn't raise their contribution rate probably wasn't going to enroll themselves on their own if they hadn't been auto enrolled.
Best,
Peter