MyRA

Workers nationwide who don’t have a retirement plan on the job will have a new alternative — the myRA.

In his penultimate State of the Union address, President Barack Obama on Tuesday night announced wide-ranging proposals he said would improve the economic prospects of the middle class, including helping families pay for college and child care, while giving more workers access to retirement plans.

Illinois will become the first state with a broad-based effort to automatically enroll private-sector employees without retirement plans into a new savings program.

A new starter savings account proposed nearly a year ago by President Barack Obama is now open for deposits.

Americans are way short in their retirement savings, and President Obama's MyRA plan, which he unveiled last week, isn't the only new proposal that aims to help with that problem.

A day after President Barack Obama gave the go-ahead for the Treasury Department to create a "starter" savings account, experts are weighing whether it will be worthwhile or just another ignored investment tool.

President Barack Obama is moving quickly to make good on his pledge to create a new "starter" savings program for workers  without a retirement plan on the job.

The president's speech tonight addressed issues AARP has been working on since long before President Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty began over 50 years ago. Social Security and Medicare have helped make a difference by protecting the middle class and keeping millions out of poverty, but many families and Americans of all ages continue to struggle.