Last year at tax time, Sarah Osman, 28, was still in school, working part time and unsure about her career future.
Visiting a St. Paul, Minn., nonprofit organization that helps lower-income taxpayers prepare their returns, however, Osman heard about the federal myRA program.
Using her tax refund, the single Minneapolis mom directed $500 into a Treasury Department myRA, which is a retirement savings account administered by Treasury that restricts investments to low-risk Treasury securities, much like the Government Securities Fund for federal employees. That fund returned an average 2.94 percent annually for the 10 years leading up to December 2015, according to the Treasury.