U.S. Savings Bonds are not nearly as popular with the American workers as they used to be, according to SavingsBonds.com. The U.S. Treasury Department is a major culprit in the demise of the Payroll Savings Plan program in which millions of American workers participated.
From the 1940’s through the 1990’s, the U.S. Government promoted the idea of purchasing U.S. Savings Bonds through a Payroll Savings Plan via one’s employer. For millions, they have never purchased a bond any other way.
The objective of the Payroll Savings Plan can be viewed as two-fold: a way to tap into the patriotic heartstrings of Americans by purchasing savings bonds to help finance the country’s war efforts, as well as create an affordable, “save-before-you-spend,” investment vehicle for workers. Many American workers felt patriotic ties to the U.S. investment that supported their country and was associated with their job.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department website, “With the coming of World War II, the Payroll Savings Plan with its, everybody every payday theme, became a universal way of life in business, industry, government, and the military services – with massive drives enrolling millions of workers and supplying the major source of war bond sales.”
Thousands of companies continued to sign up, support and promote the Payroll Savings Plans to their employees, even in the post war years. The Plan thrived. The government sent savings bond marketing representatives across the country to help companies train employers and promote the Plan to employees with informational brochures and seminars.
In the 1980’s, with a bevy of new investment options such as 401K’s and stock options now being offered by employers, a decline in the Payroll Savings Plans began. In 2003, the government ended the marketing of savings bonds and training programs. On January 1, 2011, the offering of paper savings bonds, via Payroll Savings Plans, also ended.
