Illinois State Treasurer’s Office Talks About Retirement Savings

Michael Frerichs is the Illinois State Treasurer. Photo provided by the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office.
Michael Frerichs is the Illinois State Treasurer. Photo provided by the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office.

Illinois State Treasurer’s Office Talks About Retirement Savings

By Tia Carol Jones

October is recognized as National Retirement Security Month and October 19th-25th is National Retirement Security Week, both highlight the importance of helping people across the United States to prepare for retirement. Locally, the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office is offering Illinois Secure Choice as a way for eligible residents to save for their retirement.

Illinois Secure Choice was launched in 2018 as a state-facilitated retirement program. According to the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office, Illinois Secure Choice does not charge fees and does not require employer contributions. Employers have a limited role — they add employee information, maintain their roster, and submit contributions from participating employees.

For employees, Illinois Secure Choice makes retirement savings automatic and user-friendly. Participants save through payroll deduction into a Roth IRA, with the flexibility to change contribution levels, opt out, or take the account with them if they change jobs. self-employed individuals and others also.

Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs said that retirement security is a critical issue now because a lot of workers are uneasy about their financial readiness, especially as the cost of living increases and less jobs are offering traditional pensions. He said that in Illinois millions of private sector workers still do not have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans.

“We think it’s important because research shows that workers are 15 times more likely to save for retirement when they can do so at work, that’s where Illinois Secure Choice comes in,” he said.

Frerichs said some of the biggest challenges facing Illinois workers when it comes to saving for retirement is ease. He said if people have to go out and find a financial advisor, pick from several plans, make a decision about how to invest and write a check to someone, a lot of people might give up, make excuses and put it off for the future.

He said the problem with putting off saving for retirement is that continuing to put it off until it is too late can lead to hitting retirement without having saved for it. He said by making it easier for people to save for retirement and remove excuses for why people’s aren’t saving for retirement, people will feel better about it and can have a retirement with dignity.

Illinois Secure Choice is a statewide retirement savings program that provides Illinoisans a simple, straightforward way to save for retirement through payroll deductions into a Roth IRA. Frerichs said that it was important that the process be simple and easy. It is available to employees whose employers are required to participate, employers with five or more Illinois employees. It is also available to people who are self-employed or anyone eligible to open an IRA and wish to save independently.

Frerichs said it was important to include self-employed people to those eligible for Illinois Secure Choice, because they don’t have access to a pension plan or 401K, but they have a right to save for their retirement. According to the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office, as of June 30, 2025, Illinois Secure Choice has over 157,000 participants who have saved more than $250 million for retirement and more than 24,000 employers, representing all 102 Illinois counties, are registered for the program.

For more information about Illinois Secure Choice, visit www.ilsecurechoice.com. For more information about the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office, visit www.illinoistreasurer.gov.

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

Quandra-Urban Market Exchange