In 2012 and 2016 the state passed laws creating a state run retirement plan initially called Secure Choice, now called CalSavers. It seems likely to move forward though there is a lawsuit lurking out there.The idea is that not every employee has a retirement plan (such as a 401k) offered by their employer. So the state is requiring that every company in CA with more than 5 employees must either offer a retirement plan, or enroll their employees in the state-run CalSavers program.The requirement is phased-in based on company size as shown below. As with any retirement plan, the employee does not have to participate though they may be automatically enrolled if they fail to be engaged and make a decision. Interestingly, the default choice made for them is their money going into an after-tax Roth account not a pre-tax account. Assumptions are the state is protecting itself and insuring tax revenue.An important shortcoming is that CalSavers does not allow employers to match employees contributions or provide profit-sharing.State officials have been building the plan infrastructure over the last two years.Employer Compliance Schedule:100+ Employees by 1/1/202050+ Employees by 1/1/20215+ Employees by 1/1/2022Most employers are not excited about being responsible for enabling the placement of their employees money into a state designed and run program.It's challenging to start-up a new retirement plan that does not "crush" your employees' accounts with unusually high fees. It can be done with reasonable fees with our help. We know the the plan types and platforms with the least administration, lowest cost and most simplicity.Contact us for help! We'll get you in a plan that is low or no cost for the employer and reasonable fee load on the employees accounts so they grow properly over time.For those that have plans in place, and want more service to save them time overseeing the plan. Then we recommend a MEAP - Multiple Employer Aggregation Program.We are excited to be rolling out two Multiple Employer Aggregation Programs (MEAP) - both 401k and a 403b versions. 403b retirement plans serve educational institutions. These are good options for companies with plans in place that dislike the liability, time, hassle and cost that come with a traditional standalone 401(k) plan.The MEAP comes with an ERISA 3(16) Administrative Fiduciary who takes on 99% of the administrative tasks and saving staff much time and reduces liability. Despite the increased administrative service, costs are reasonable as there is economy of scale.Unlike CalSavers, the MEAP retains almost all of the flexibility of a standalone plan. We'll get into more depth on the MEAP services as we continue rolling them out!