Pols To Push Automating 401(k)s

Former vice presidential candidates Jack Kemp and John Edwards are going to visit all of the Fortune 500 companies that have not yet switched to automatic 401(k)s to try and persuade them to do so. Currently, 30% of companies with more than 5,000 employees offer auto 401(k)s. Edwards and Kemp will try to double that percentage, which they calculate would create one million new savers. To launch their "Savers Society" campaign, they began with a trip to Costco Wholesale, singled out as a best practices firm in structuring its 401(k).

Edwards is currently director of the Center On Poverty, Work And Opportunity at the University of North Carolina. Kemp heads Kemp Partners, a Washington, D.C., consulting firm. Automating 401(k)s is an important step to ensure that seniors don't fall into poverty once they retire, Edwards said.

The two former political leaders are getting support services and research for their drive from Retirement Security Project. RSP publishes policy briefs and legislative analyses and is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute and the Brookings Institution. Insiders at RSP said Edwards and Kemp would fit their meetings with corporate pension officials over a period of time as their busy schedules permitted.