Rep. Himes Floats Portable Retirement, Investment Accounts Bill

At retirement, Americans would "have just one vehicle to manage, invested the way they have chosen," according to the vision statement for the new retirement savings vehicle.

Although the bill's introduction comes late in the legislative calendar year, Himes' office made clear in a release that this newly proposed system is only a "first step," designed to  "encourage discussion" to help bring forward the best possible plan.

The legislation itself is the result of several months of talks among financial services providers, senior advisors and retirement planning representatives, the release noted.

Himes' statement cited various statistics to explain the need for such a vehicle, including data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing "more than half the country is not saving any money in a retirement account."

Stakeholders in the retirement savings community are adopting a wait-and-see attitude.

"We will need to examine Rep. Himes' bill with our members, but we certainly appreciate his effort to help address retirement security issues," Dan Zielinski, spokesman for the Insured Retirement Institute, told ThinkAdvisor.

"In the meantime, we remain confident that the Senate will soon consider bipartisan retirement security legislation and then move quickly to resolve differences with the recent House-passed measure" — the Family Savings Act, H.R. 6757, which was part of Republicans' recently passed Tax Reform 2.0 package — and "send a final bill to the White House this year."

— Related on ThinkAdvisor:

• Parents Are Putting Their Retirements at Risk
• House Passes Full 'Tax Reform 2.0′ Package
• House Passes Bill With 401(k) Plan Annuitization Safe Harbor