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In 2023, State of New York employees were still feeling pressure from the previous years' economic conditions. High inflation in 2022 placed increased strain on their finances and ability to save for retirement. As a result, many plan participants decreased or stopped contributions. In observance of NRSM, the New York State Deferred Compensation Plan's (NYSDCP) sought to help participants rebuild confidence in their finances and get back on track to meet their retirement goals. To do so, we created education and action-oriented resources for participants, messaging for key participant audiences, and tools that participating state employers could leverage for their employees.

On October 1, 2023, DCP staff and its Third-Party Administrator (TPA), Voya, launched their annual campaign for National Retirement Security Month (NRSM). The campaign's key goals were to drive participation in the DCP, encourage higher participant contribution rates, support asset retention within its retired participant population, promote greater awareness of the personalized services and features offered by the DCP, and amplify the importance of broader financial wellbeing. In keeping with the tradition of offering a unique NRSM experience, the City selected the campaign theme of the "DCP City Fair," inviting City employees to "step right up" to a virtual fairground full of fun, games, and retirement education.

DST has supported NAGDCA’s efforts to encourage members to save for retirement since 2006, when NAGDCA launched National Retirement Security Week. Our support continued when NAGDCA expanded its efforts by designating the entire month of October as National Retirement Security Month (NRSM) in 2020. Fast-forward to 2022, we took the opportunity to drive public servants throughout the state to take their next best steps — according to our plan data and our knowledge of common retirement planning hurdles. With that in mind, we encouraged our public servants to: Enroll Increase contributions Complete an undesignated beneficiary election(s)

National Retirement Security Month is a great time for State of Missouri employees to check their savings progress and verify they’re still on the right track to meet their retirement savings goal. It’s important for savers to know that what they do now will affect their retirement income in the future. By making smart financial decisions daily, and saving and investing throughout their career, state employees will be better equipped to meet their financial goals. With all of this in mind, the State of Missouri Deferred Compensation Plan created the Measure Twice. Retire Once. campaign to encourage plan participants to make smart financial decisions throughout their career and to check their savings progress over time. The educational campaign provided various tools, resources, and information to aid and inform plan participants when evaluating their savings situation.

The Gwinnett County Retirement staff and their partners at Voya worked together to develop a “Picture your future by putting your retirement first” theme to promote NRSM. The theme was brought to life by interactive selfie stations set up around the County, with the thought that visualization would help people develop better saving habits and lead to better outcomes in retirement. The campaign was supported by interactive activities, events, and seminars.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to building retirement readiness. Participants at different stages of the journey face different challenges—and the actions they should take to improve retirement security evolve over time. With this campaign, the County of Los Angeles used National Retirement Security Month 2022 to educate participants on how the process of saving and investing for retirement evolves as personal circumstances change. By using a “road trip to remember” theme, the County drove attendance to a series of webinars that raised participants’ awareness of how the retirement planning journey will continue to unfold—and how it requires ongoing engagement, education, and action. Campaign results show thousands of participants were engaged and took action toward improving their retirement security.

In conjunction with the United States Senate’s annual resolution for National Retirement Security Month (NRSM), the DCP hosts a month-long campaign to drive awareness for the importance of saving for retirement. NRSM is a critical component of the DCP’s overall communications plan each year as the campaign is one of the main drivers of participant engagement that appeals to all three of the City’s distinct audiences (active participants, retired participants, and non-participating eligible employees) to achieve greater participation, increased savings, sound distribution behaviors in retirement, and broader awareness of DCP services and features.