The Treasury Department has been working on the Retirement or R-Bonds program since 2009.

The program, which will roll out in January, is to encourage Americans who are not enrolled in a company-sponsored pension or retirement plan, to save for their retirement.

According to a recent report in Finacial Advisor Magazine, Deputy assistant secretary for retirement and health policy at the Treasury Department, Mark Iwry, said the R-Bonds “would have the tax characteristics of an IRA and be eligible to be rolled over into an IRA once the savings reach a now-unspecified threshold.”

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