How the end of the student loan pause could affect retirement saving

investmentnews.com:

Saving for retirement isn’t going to be a priority for many workers when federal student loan payments resume this fall after a 3½-year hiatus.

But an increasing number of employers are extending new perks to workers that recent legislation made possible, including loan repayment assistance and contributions to 401(k)s for those who are paying down loans but not saving on their own.

One company that provides such services — including through 401(k) record keepers like Vanguard, Empower, PNC, Lincoln Financial Group and UBS — is Candidly, whose CEO and founder reports increasing business by a factor of 10 over the past year. The firm works with about 800 employers and will soon be available to as many as one in five people in the U.S. through its relationships with 401(k) providers.

“We saw massive demand across employers and the workspace more broadly,” CEO Laurel Taylor said. “There were both headwinds and tailwinds — the demand would have been even more explosive had there not been the backdrop of the student loan payment moratorium.”

In March 2020, the Trump administration put a freeze on federal student loans, allowing borrowers to pause their payment schedules without incurring penalties. That freeze was extended several times by the Biden administration, but loan payments are set to resume in October. Although President Joe Biden issued an executive order that would have canceled as much as $20,000 in student loan debt for many borrowers, the Supreme Court ruled against that order in June.

In response, the administration has rolled out a new forgiveness program that affects some long-term borrowers, but is far less comprehensive. It also includes provisions for income-based repayment options.

Now many borrowers,