III 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 266 

Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Save for Retirement Week’’, 

including raising public awareness of the various tax-preferred retirement 

vehicles and increasing personal financial literacy. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011 

Mr. CONRAD (for himself, Mr. ENZI, and Mr. CARDIN) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Finance 

OCTOBER 4, 2011 

Committee discharged; considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Save for Retirement Week’’, including raising public awareness of the 

various tax-preferred retirement vehicles and increasing 

personal financial literacy. 

Whereas people in the United States are living longer, and 

the cost of retirement is increasing significantly; 

Whereas Social Security remains the bedrock of retirement 

income for the great majority of the people of the United 

States but was never intended by Congress to be the sole 

source of retirement income for families; 

Whereas recent data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute indicates that, in the United States, less than 2⁄3


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SRES 266 ATS 

of workers or their spouses are currently saving for retirement, and the actual amount of retirement savings of 

workers is much less than the amount needed to adequately fund their retirement years; 

Whereas the financial literacy of workers in the United 

States is an important factor to workers understanding 

the true need to save for retirement; 

Whereas saving for retirement is a key component to overall 

financial health and security during retirement years, and 

the importance of financial literacy in planning for retirement must be advocated; 

Whereas many workers may not be aware of their options in 

saving for retirement or may not have focused on the importance of, and need for, saving for retirement; 

Whereas many employees have available to them, through 

their employers, access to defined benefit and defined 

contribution plans to assist them in preparing for retirement, yet many of those employees may not be taking advantage of those plans at all or to the full extent allowed 

by Federal law; 

Whereas the need to save for retirement is important even 

during economic downturns or market declines, which 

make continued contributions all the more important; 

Whereas all workers, including public and private sector employees, employees of tax-exempt organizations, and selfemployed individuals, can benefit from increased awareness of the need to develop personal budgets and financial plans that include retirement savings strategies and 

to take advantage of the availability of tax-preferred savings vehicles to assist workers in saving for retirement; 

and 


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Whereas October 16 through October 22, 2011, has been designated as ‘‘National Save for Retirement Week’’: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) supports the goals and ideals of ‘‘National 

3 Save for Retirement Week’’, including raising public 

4 awareness of the various tax-preferred retirement ve5 hicles as important tools for personal savings and re6 tirement financial security; 

7 (2) supports the need to raise public awareness 

8 of the availability of a variety of ways to save for re9 tirement which are favored under the Internal Rev10 enue Code of 1986 and are utilized by many people 

11 in the United States, but which should be utilized by 

12 more; 

13 (3) supports the need to raise public awareness 

14 of the importance of saving adequately for retire15 ment and the continued existence of tax-preferred 

16 employer-sponsored retirement savings vehicles; and 

17 (4) calls on the States, localities, schools, uni18 versities, nonprofit organizations, businesses, other 

19 entities, and the people of the United States to ob20 serve National Save for Retirement Week with ap21 propriate programs and activities, with the goal of 


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SRES 266 ATS 

1 increasing retirement savings for all people in the 

2 United States. 

Æ 


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