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V O L . X X X I N O. I I JA N UA R Y 2 7 , 2 0 2 5 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 en Libby Candies in Scarborough dates back nearly a century, but its workforce faces a modern chal- lenge. Most are part-time workers, with flexible hours — and that's typically a group that may not have a lot of options for retirement savings. "We have a ton of homemakers for the flexible, part-time jobs. Lots of students," says John DeGrinney, who owns and operates Len Libby Candies with his wife Gisele. With 33 employees, anything that helps employees plan for the future is something they'll take a look at. at was the case last year, when the small business took note of a new state program that provides retirement savings plans to workers who otherwise don't have that access. Len Libby Candies is one of more than 2,500 employers that have enrolled in the Maine Retirement Investment Trust, or MERIT, over the past year. "It started a conversation about how, as a small family business, we can secure a stable retirement for our team," says DeGrinney. "It's a piece of that puzzle." So far about six employees have enrolled in MERIT. "Planning for retirement is such a difficult thing to do," says DeGrinney. "When people indicate to me that they're interested in it, I'm happy to administer it from my end." Retirement puzzle Some 15% of private industry workers in the U.S. have access to defined benefit plans and 67% have access to defined contribution plans, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Defined benefit plans provide employees with guaranteed retirement benefits based on plan formulas, but the model is less likely to be offered today. Defined contribution plans deter- mine individual account values based on amount of money contributed and rate of return. is would include 401(k) plans. A number of states are attempting to boost retirement saving by adopt- ing statewide automatic retirement programs, or "auto-IRA" policies, that require employers not currently offering an employer-sponsored retirement plan to either establish such a plan or enroll employees in state-facilitated individual retirement accounts, according to the Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives Beginning in 2017, California, Illinois and Oregon were three of the first states to implement statewide automatic enrollment programs, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. In 2021, Maine joined the movement when the legislature enacted "An Act to Promote Individual Retirement Savings through a Public-Private Partnership" to bring a workplace retirement savings opportunity to the 40% of Maine work- ers with no workplace retirement plan. e act created the Maine Retirement Savings Board, which established the Maine Retirement Investment Trust, or MERIT, as an automatic, low-cost retirement savings program. Automatic enrollment e program, envisioned as an easy way for employers to offer retirement savings for their employees, requires employers with five or more workers not offering a qualified retirement savings plan to register for MERIT and begin using it in 2024. Employees will be automatically enrolled in a Roth IRA Account. Once enrolled, the account will be funded from an employee's wages unless the employee opts out. A pilot, launched in late 2023, enrolled 16 employers and 169 employ- ees. e full rollout began in January F I L E P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY The merits of MERIT A state-run program provides retirement savings to workers who otherwise wouldn't have a plan B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r F O C U S John and Gisele DeGrinney, co-owners of Len Libby Candies in Scarborough, encouraged employees to sign up for the MERIT retirement plan. MERIT info In 2023, MERIT established a partnership with the Colorado SecureSavings Program to begin Maine's state-run retirement savings program. Delaware and Vermont joined as partners in 2024. Combined, the partnership has approximately 90,000 accounts. Maine investors benefit from lower fees obtained by being a member of the partnership. Vestwell, a New York City 401(k) recordkeeping platform, in partnership with the Bank of New York Mellon Corp., serves as MERIT's administrator. Employees can choose paycheck deduction amounts and investments. Employees taking no action have accounts opened for them and 5% of paycheck deposited. Employees can opt out. Employees can make changes any time.

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