Trump to sign executive order expanding retirement account access
US President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 5, 2025.
Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order as soon as Thursday to create a new type of retirement account for workers who don’t currently have access to a 401(k) or other workplace plan.
Trump first floated the idea of creating futures accounts with federal matching contributions of up to $1,000 during his State of the Union address in February.
Approximately 56 million Americans do not have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan at work. According to 2025 research from the Pew Charitable Trusts, an independent public policy nonprofit.
Trump’s order, first reported by Semaphore, will be integrated with Saver’s Match, a provision of 2022 legislation known as Secure 2.0 that will go into effect starting with the 2027 tax year.
Under these rules, single taxpayers with adjusted gross income of $20,000 (or joint filers up to $40,000) are eligible for a government match of 50% of contributions of up to $2,000 into a qualified retirement account for a maximum of $1,000 per year. Single applicants with annual income between $20,000 and $35,000 are eligible for reduced contributions.
In 2025, Morningstar retirement outcomes model He predicted that Americans who qualify for the match will experience a 12% increase in wealth in retirement.
Approximately 26 million full- and part-time workers who qualify for the full or partial version of Saver’s Match do not have access to a plan where they can receive these benefits. According to the Economic Innovation GroupIt is a bipartisan public policy organization.
“There has always been a need, and it is time, to establish a universal retirement system alongside Social Security,” said Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor at The New School who co-authored the 2021 paper. research We spoke with National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett about providing low-income workers with retirement savings similar to the Thrift Savings Plan.
Ghilarducci said the executive order would instruct the White House to work with Congress on proposed legislation that would expand both coverage and the savings credit.
“This will make this effort even more difficult because this will be an action not just by a president, but by congress,” Ghilarducci said.
This is an evolving story. Please check back for updates.
