III 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 555 

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 13, 2012 

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

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

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 3⁄5

of workers or their spouses are currently saving for reVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:42 Sep 14, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR555.IS SR555

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•SRES 555 IS 

tirement, 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 important to their understanding of the 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 developing personal budgets and financial plans that include retirement 

savings strategies and taking advantage of tax-preferred 

retirement savings vehicles; and 

Whereas October 21 through October 27, 2012, has been designated as ‘‘National Save for Retirement Week’’: Now, 

therefore, be it 


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•SRES 555 IS 

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 importance of saving adequately for 

5 retirement; 

6 (2) supports the need to raise public awareness 

7 of the availability of a variety of ways to save for re8 tirement which are favored under the Internal Rev9 enue Code of 1986 and are utilized by many people 

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

11 more; and 

12 (3) calls on the States, localities, schools, uni13 versities, nonprofit organizations, businesses, other 

14 entities, and the people of the United States to ob15 serve National Save for Retirement Week with ap16 propriate programs and activities, with the goal of 

17 increasing the retirement savings and personal fi18 nancial literacy of all people in the United States. 

Æ 


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