New federal IRA match program out of reach for many Long Islanders

The Trump administration is pushing to help low-income Americans access federal matching dollars for their retirement accounts, but the program will likely be out of reach for many low-income Long Islanders. 

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to create a website where Americans can compare retirement accounts, in a push to help millions who lack access to employer-sponsored plans. The website aims to give "these often-left-out American workers access to the same type of retirement-savings opportunities" of federal workers, according to the order.

The order comes as affordability remains a top issue for Americans and Long Islanders squeezed by rising gas prices and higher inflation. But it may not offer much help to low-income Long Islanders, because those who qualify often don’t have enough money to save, experts say. 

The new website, TrumpIRA.gov, will be established Jan. 1 and promote the Federal Saver’s Match program, which matches up to $1,000 annually in Individual Retirement Account (IRA) contributions for low-income Americans under legislation passed in 2022.

Single people making less than $35,500 and married couples making less than $71,000 qualify for the program, according to a Senate Finance Committee report.

But to get the $1,000 match, Long Islanders at those income levels would have to put at least $2,000 into an IRA — money they probably don’t have, said John Rizzo, a professor and economist at Stony Brook University.

“The reality is, a single person on Long Island earning $35,000 a year is not going to contribute meaningfully to any retirement program,” Rizzo said. This is “a modest step towards retirement security, but I think the actual impact, especially on Long Island, might fall short of the hype.”

In Nassau County, an estimated 11.5% of residents over 16 years old earned less than $35,000 annually in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In Suffolk County, the share of residents earning less than $35,000 per year stood at 12.2%.

Mark Badami, a certified financial planner at Center for Wealth Preservation, said if Long Islanders can afford to put $2,000 aside, they should do so.

But Badami, Rizzo and Ross Natoli, senior adviser at the financial planning firm Joel Isaacson & Co., all said this program is probably out of reach of many low-income Long Islanders.

“This type of program is, in its very nature, positive,” Natoli said. “I’m not sure it will help as many people because they just may not be in a position to have excess cash to actually put away for retirement.”

Natoli advised Long Islanders to focus on the “foundations” of their “financial wellness” first: paying off any debts, then establishing an emergency fund that could cover three to six months of expenses,  and then saving for retirement.

“While it’s very important to be saving for retirement, there are other savings that have to come before you’re able to do that, and the biggest one is to ensure you have an emergency fund of cash put away,” Natoli said.

New Yorkers working at companies with 10 or more employees are also entitled to a state-sponsored Roth IRA starting this year, if their employer doesn’t offer its own retirement plan, under state legislation passed in 2025.

That program, which will be rolled out through mid-July, automatically enrolls New Yorkers at a 3% contribution rate of their total pay, which they can change at any time, according to New York State. The Roth IRA account remains with you, even if you change jobs.