myRA is Here

[whell]

Bypassing Congress, the Treasury has rolled out a new type of IRA that only invests in US Gov't Debt. This plan was announced earlier this year but finally rolled out this month.

https://myra.treasury.gov/

The most accurate - IHMO - description of this plan comes from CNBC:

So here's the irony: The myRA will actually have the working poor financing the government's deficit spending. By creating accounts that invest in a government pool, it's yet another way for the Treasury to raise funds without having to sell bonds in the public markets.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101396252#.

For savvier investors, such a plan might make some sense as a modest part of a diversified portfolio. Bur that's not how the gov't is marketing this plan. From the myRA web site:

The United States Treasury has designed a new retirement savings option that makes it easy for you to participate, with no minimums, fees or risky investments.

So the gov't is suggesting to individual investors that they should avoid "risky investments" and participate in a myRA. Of course, that's exactly the opposite of what any decent investment adviser would suggest. Some risk in any investment portfoliio is necessary, if for no other reason that investment returns should at least outperform the rate of inflation. With Treasury notes yielding around 2% or less, investors in the myRA will be hard pressed to gain sufficient returns to fund their retirement.