CalSavers, the state-run retirement plan that covers private-sector employees whose employers don’t offer a plan, is growing—but so far this year, the expansion in assets is outstripping that of registrations.
Registrations
Month-to-month growth in employer registrations was still relatively robust as 2022 ground to a close and 2023 began:
|
Month |
Employers Registered |
Change from Previous Month |
|
November 2022 |
112,452 |
+1,620 (+1.5%) |
|
December 2022 |
115,705 |
+3,253 (+2.9%) |
|
January 2023 |
117,102 |
+1,397 (+1.2%) |
But since then, more than six months after the last employer deadline, that month-to-month growth is much slower:
|
Month |
Employers Registered |
Change from Previous Month |
|
February 2023 |
117,745 |
+643 (+0.5%) |
|
March 2023 |
117,842 |
+97 (+0.1%) |
|
April 2023 |
117,910 |
+68 (+0.1%) |
Assets
Month-to-month growth in CalSavers’ total assets was strong as the old year ended and the new one began:
|
Month |
Total Assets |
Change from Previous Month |
|
November 2022 |
$359,143,381 |
+$48,831,950 (+15.7%) |
|
December 2022 |
$372,979,988 |
+$13,836,607 (+3.9%) |
|
January 2023 |
$423,386,300 |
+$50,406,312 (+13.5%) |
Since then, month-to-month growth is somewhat slower, but nonetheless grew at a far greater pace than that of employer registrations during the same period:
|
Month |
Total Assets |
Change from Previous Month |
|
February 2023 |
$435,932,787 |
+$12,546,487 (+3.0%) |
|
March 2023 |
$473,667,871 |
+$37,735,084 (+8.7%) |
|
April 2023 |
$501,206,338 |
+$27,538,467 (+5.8%) |
Why?
This could simply reflect the fact that the deadlines for registration have long since passed. The initial rushes to register with the program may simply have waned.
CalSavers was launched on July 1, 2019. Registration had been rolled out gradually, based on the size of an employer’s workforce. The first deadline by which employers were to register with CalSavers or offer a plan of their own was Sept. 30, 2020, and applied to employers with 100 or more employees; the most recent one, the deadline by which employers in California with five or more employees had to offer a plan or else—was June 30, 2022.
At the same time, the revenue from the increasing pool of employers grew, as did the effect of compounding.
Finding Out More
More information is available about CalSavers registrations and assets here: https://www.treasurer.ca.gov/calsavers/reports/2023/index.asp
