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V O L . X X X N O. I I JA N UA R Y 2 2 , 2 0 2 4 18 W E A LT H M A N A G E M E N T / R E T I R E M E N T L ast fall, Devin McNeill jumped at the chance to enroll his company in a state-run pilot program offering Maine employers an automatic retirement savings program for their employees. As the program promised, enroll- ment was easy and free, says McNeill, CEO and cofounder of Flowfold, a Gorham maker of wallets, bags and other outdoor gear from sustainable materials such as recycled sailcloth. "It was a white-glove process," he says. McNeill and cofounder Charles Friedman had wanted to offer a retirement plan for employees from the company's start in 2010. "It was always something that we wanted to do, but we just didn't have the right solution," McNeill says. Last year, he read that the state would be rolling out the Maine Retirement Investment Trust, or MERIT, in a first-of-its-kind partnership with a similar program in Colorado, to pro- vide a low-cost, portable retirement savings program to workers without access to a savings program. "e way MERIT was struc- tured was very appealing to us," says McNeill. "It has very straightforward investments." 200,000 employees MERIT was established when the Maine legislature and Gov. Janet Mills signed a law in 2021 and a subsequent amendment that set the expectation that employers with five or more work- ers not offering a qualified retirement savings plan must begin using MERIT starting in 2024. Elizabeth Bordowitz, former CEO of the Finance Authority of Maine, was appointed executive director last October and was tasked with conduct- ing a national review of established state retirement savings programs to identify best practices and potential private and public partners. "States like Oregon, Illinois and California have paved the way over the past five years as they developed efficient systems and built enrollment in their retirement saving programs," Bordowitz says. Colorado had recently established a similar program called SecureSavings. A partnership agreement with Colorado, signed last August, helps Maine to offer a cost-friendly, state-run retirement program for workers who don't have access to a retirement savings program. e goal is to increase the number of Mainers saving for retirement. e part- nership also helps to decrease fees for Coloradan savers. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY RETIREMENT GAP Elizabeth Bordowitz, executive director of the Maine Retirement Investment Trust, says Maine's program for private- sector retirement savings builds on similar programs in other states. Flowfold's Devin McNeill jumped at the chance to enroll his company in the pilot program last fall. F O C U S There's a lot of interest from employers who want to provide this for their employees. — Elizabeth Bordowitz Maine Retirement Investment Trust B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r Maine launches automatic retirement savings for private sector employees Filling a LEGAL: The Maine Retirement Savings Program was created in 2021 by LD 1622, An Act To Promote Individual Retirement Savings through a Public- Private Partnership.

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