Student loan borrowers who are lucky enough to have access to a 401(k)-type plan, but are too stretched to save in it, may soon be helped by a new workplace benefit: Paying off their student loans can generate retirement savings contributions from their employer, the New York Times reported. Starting this year, workers with student loans can receive employer matching contributions in workplace plans, even if they’re not able to save anything on their own. The loan payments count instead. The new feature was made possible by legislation known as Secure 2.0, which included a package of retirement-related provisions intended to boost savings. It’s hard to know exactly how many companies are planning to offer the benefit — they aren’t required to — but several large companies, including Dow Inc., News Corp., Masco Corp., Unilever and others, recently introduced it to employees, according to Fidelity Investments, one of the nation’s largest plan administrators for retirement and student loan benefits.
