The Vermont Treasurer’s Office announced Wednesday that a program aimed at expanding retirement account options for small employers is now open for enrollment. 

Vermont Saves is a retirement savings program that operates like an employer-sponsored individual retirement account with automatic payroll contributions similar to a 401(k).

State Treasurer Mike Pieciak said an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 Vermont workers don’t have access to a retirement account through their employer. The program, created by law in 2023, is intended to expand access to workplace-based retirement accounts, especially for small employers.

Organizations with at least five employees that do not already offer retirement options must enroll in Vermont Saves by February, according to a press release from the Treasurer’s Office. The program also allows other Vermonters, such as self-employed workers, to sign up independent of a workplace. 

“Research shows that you’re 15 times more likely to save for retirement if you have a workplace-based retirement plan,” Pieciak said in an interview. “Even though it might seem like, to some, a relatively small financial barrier or knowledge barrier to go to a bank and get a Roth IRA, it’s enough of a barrier that it keeps a tremendous amount of people out of the retirement savings systems that we have in this country.”

There are some eligibility requirements: Participants must be 18 years of age or older and have at least 500 hours of taxable wages from a Vermont employer. Participants who enroll separately from their employer must also provide bank account information, according to David Kunin, a spokesperson for the Treasurer’s Office.

Asked if those requirements might exclude certain Vermonters, such as undocumented workers, Pieciak said there may be some workers without retirement accounts who remain ineligible. But, he said, the “vast majority are people that simply work for a small nonprofit or small business that can’t afford to offer a workplace retirement program,” typically because of the administrative costs. 

Vermont has joined Colorado, Delaware and Maine in creating an interstate consortium called the Partnership for a Dignified Retirement to save on administrative costs, according to the press release. 

Here are a few things to know about the program. More details are available on the frequently asked questions section of its website.

How would this program differ from other types of retirement accounts? 

Conventional employer-based retirement programs, such as 401(k) accounts, allow employees to automatically move a percentage of their pre- or post-tax income into an investment account, which could include stocks, bonds or other investment options, according to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Employers can also choose to contribute to the account. 

By contrast, a Roth IRA allows a person to contribute post-tax income to an account separate from their employer, operated by a bank or other financial institution. Those have lower contribution limits than 401(k) accounts, according to the IRS. 

Pieciak said the Vermont Saves accounts are essentially Roth IRAs, except they allow for automatic payroll deductions on post-tax income. 

Vermonters might also choose to enroll in the Vermont Saves program because of the low fees compared to other IRA providers, or because they have more trust in a state-based system, according to Becky Wasserman, director of economic empowerment at the Treasurer’s Office. 

How does the program work through employers?

The Vermont Saves program is free for employers, according to the program’s website. They must register their organization and coordinate how to send contributions through their payroll provider. 

The program defaults to an automatic deduction of 5% of wages for first-time enrollees, rising to 8% over the course of several years, Wasserman said. However, employees can choose to deduct a higher or lower percentage of their income, up to the federally mandated IRA contribution limits. 

Pieciak said those defaults were picked to “balance” how much someone needs to save to have a sustainable income in retirement with “having money today to put food on the table.” He acknowledged that participants in Vermont Saves are likely to be lower wage earners than the Vermont average. 

“It’s an amount that will have an impact on them and their future retirement, but it’s hopefully not an amount that they can’t live without in terms of their daily life in the here and now,” he said. 

If someone leaves their employer, the Vermont Saves account remains with them like a bank-based IRA would, Pieciak said. They can also take their original contribution amounts out of the account before retirement, but any investment returns would be taxed.

What are the investment options? 

Vestwell State Savings, a nationwide savings platform, is the program’s administrator, but the investments themselves are managed by two companies: State Street and BlackRock. 

The program offers four types of investments: a capital preservation fund, a bond index, an international equity fund and a “target retirement date” fund, which automatically adjusts the mix of investments based on when someone plans to retire. 

Most IRA accounts offer more granular control over investments, but Pieciak said the state wanted to avoid making people “paralyzed” by having too many options. “It sort of becomes complex and hard for someone to make the decision about what’s most appropriate to them,” he said. 

Areas of Vermont could see a few inches of snow when a winter storm moves in Wednesday night into Thursday.

Most of Vermont is under a winter weather advisory as a widespread storm is expected to move into Vermont tonight. National Weather Service Meteorologist Robert Haynes noted that the exceptions were for St. Lawrence and the Champlain Valley.

The snow is expected to start this afternoon, and could impact the evening commute today and both the morning and evening commute on Thursday.

“The snow will persist through early Friday, with a few to several inches of snow accumulation expected. Winds will become gusty as well, likely producing areas of blowing and drifting snow. Unseasonably cold weather will follow for the first half of the weekend before moderating early next week,” the National Weather Service’s forecaster discussion said.

Here’s what to know about the looming winter storm.

How much snow if Vermont expected to get?

After “multiple rounds of snow” from Wednesday into Thursday, most of Vermont will see between 2-6 inches of snow, Haynes said.

“The higher elevations could see between 4-7 inches,” Haynes said, adding the summits on Vermont’s mountains could see 8-12 inches.

“The skiers will be happy,” Haynes said.

Burlington is expected to recieve about 2.7 inches of snow.

How cold will it be over the next couple of days?

During tomorrow’s storms, temperatures in the Green Mountain State will be in the 20s and 30s, but frigid temperatures will move in to the state on Friday.

“Apparent temperatures are anticipated to fall as low as 0-10 degrees (F) during the coldest part of (Thursday) night, potentially as low as -15 to -20 degrees on summits,” according to the National Weather Service.

The passage added that wind gusts on Friday could be “15-30 knots and high temperatures (will struggle) to hit the upper teens to mid 20s. At their warmest, apparent temperatures will be in the single digits to mid-teens.”

“The coldest night will be Friday into Saturday,” Haynes said.

Vermont basketball can point to key injuries as an easy reason for its lackluster performances in the nonconference season.

Longtime coach John Becker didn’t go that route after the Catamounts’ underwhelming, 60-53 defeat to Brown on Tuesday night in front of 2,111 at Patrick Gym.

The loss was Vermont’s first at home in 15 games, and just the third on Tom Brennan Court over the last four seasons (48-3).

“It’s another game we struggled to score the ball, struggled to rebound, struggled to take care of the ball. Credit to Brown, they played really hard, pressed us the whole game, got on the glass late when they needed to and had the best player on the court,” the 14th-year Catamount bench boss said. “Our injuries really aren’t an excuse because (Brown is) injured just as much as we are.

“We have to be better and that’s on me. Right now, it’s really difficult for us.”

Kino Lilly, Jr., whom Becker referenced as Tuesday night’s best player, drained four 3s and totaled a game-high 23 points, while Landon Lewis racked up a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds to power the Brown Bears (5-3).

Freshman guard Sean Blake scored a career-high 13 points and Shamir Bogues added 11 points and three steals for the Catamounts (5-5), who were without injured starters Nick Fiorillo and TJ Long for a third straight game. Transfer forward Shy Odom (concussion) also missed his second straight contest.

Fiorillo and Long are week to week with their injuries, according to a UVM athletic spokesperson.

The Catamounts made only 5 of 21 3-point attempts and shot 37.9% overall from the floor for the game. Their percentage worsened in the second half at just a 33.3% clip. And the Catamounts’ starting guards went 7 of 30 from field.

“The numbers are atrocious for us offensively. We are struggling to find consistency,” Becker said.

Ahead 31-28 at the break, Brown built a 12-point lead at 47-35 at the 15-minute mark of the second half. The Catamounts closed to within 53-50 on Ileri Ayo-Fale’s 3-pointer with 4:31 to play. Then Lilly responded with a driving layup, a step-back 3-point splash and a pair of foul shots to seal Brown’s road victory.

Redshirt freshman forward Noah Barnett (eight points on 4 of 5 shooting, six rebounds, two assists) was a bright spot, but scored all of his points in game’s first 5:08. The explosive Blake had flashes with strong takes to the rim, finishing 6 of 12 on his field-goal attempts.

Vermont’s inability to play out of the post, the graduation losses of Aaron Deloney and Matt Veretto and, yes, even the injuries have the America East Conference favorites searching to play cohesively on the offensive end.

“We’ve had these stretches early in the year when it looks discombobulated and we figure something out. But I think it’s really difficult when you can’t throw it into the post and play out of the post consistently,” Becker said.

“We have to continue to try and figure it out … but I don’t know what the answer is right now.”

Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.