IAGB Community Blog

This Valentine's day we are showing our love for Automatic Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).

As the wealth gap in Illinois grows so does the need for an Auto IRAs program. This innovative proposal could bridge the retirement savings gap, and especially assist low to moderate income workers save for their retirement.

According to 2012 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard, asset poverty is on the rise in Illinois. The Scorecard, released today by our national asset building partners at the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED), reports that 1 in 4 Illinois residents has almost no savings or other assets to help them stay afloat in a financial crisis. This is a 5% increase from just one year ago.

Yesterday, Governor Quinn signed into law  a bill that will doubles the state's Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) over a two year period and boosts the personal exemption by $50 to $2,050. The bill also ties the credit to the inflation rate. Currently, the Illinois EITC is at 5% of the federal EITC. This new legisation will increase the credit to 7.5% next year and 10% the year after.

Yesterday, President Obama made a recess appoinment placing Richard Cordray as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).