Time to Bring Back the Lowly U.S. Savings Bond

In his 2014 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama announced a new retirement savings program managed by the Treasury Department: the ineptly named “myRA,” which stood for “my Retirement Account.” Obama flubbed the pronunciation as Treasury Secretary Jack Lew looked on. It was an inauspicious start.

The myRA, which was recently killed off by the Donald Trump administration, was a lot like other dreamy Obama-era programs aimed at problems the public sector probably could have solved with just a little brainpower and taxpayer dollars. The “problem,” as it were, was the legions of lower-middle-class workers whose employers did not offer tax-advantaged retirement accounts, such as 401(k)s. These were people who were left out of the investment arms race, unable to achieve most account minimums with mutual fund companies. With myRA, all you needed was $25 to open an account, with a $5 minimum for subsequent investments.