As of early April, auto-enrollment retirement program OregonSaves will officially allow cannabis businesses, as well as individuals employed by those businesses, to sign up for membership.
“We’re really excited about making it possible for everybody in Oregon to save for their retirement and remove all the barriers we possibly can in that regard,” Oregon Treasurer Tobias Reade told Cannabis Now. “We think it’s important for people, no matter what industry they work in, to have a chance to be in control of their financial future, and we’re excited that is now the case.”
The program, which automatically diverts a portion of a participating employee’s gross income into a private retirement fund, kicked off in July 2017. Most recently, it expanded to include gig workers and contract employees, alongside cannabusinesses. OregonSaves was the first auto-enrollment program of its kind to get off the ground, though states like California, Illinois and New Jersey have since followed suit and enacted similar legislation.
When the New York Times spoke to workers a few months after the program’s launch in November 2018, most of those interviewed worked at small businesses and seemed happy to be given an easy route for retirement savings. A little more than a year later, OregonSaves was praised in a Forbes op-ed as a positive contributor to financial security for families.
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