Uber drivers to get retirement help
Company providing investment advice, IRAs through Betterment
Drivers in Seattle, Boston, Chicago and New Jersey are eligible. The company hopes to roll out the plan nationally.
Ride-hailing service Uber is now offering drivers in select cities assistance in planning for retirement.
Uber said Wednesday it was partnering with Betterment, an online investment and wealth management company, to provide a year of automated investment management advice for drivers in Seattle, Boston, Chicago and New Jersey. The company hopes to roll out the plan nationally.
The post notes that drivers can use their Uber app to “open a Betterment IRA (individual retirement account) or Roth IRA for free. People who drive with Uber can get started with no minimum account balance.”
After the free year expires, us- ers with a balance of less than $100,000 pay an annual fee of 0.25% of the average annual account balance for the year, or $25 on $10,000.
It’s one of a handful of modest perks the highly valued start-up has rolled out to drivers as it contends with suits that claim the company should treat its drivers as employees, with the rights and benefits conferred on that status. Uber says its drivers are independent contractors who must provide their own benefits and do not technically work for the company.
One of the biggest suits, concerning California and Massachusetts drivers, is still in legal limbo.
Uber’s Momentum Partner Rewards program provides eligible drivers access to deals on health care, auto repair and reduced prices on cellular con- tracts. Uber this year has made other changes it says drivers sought, such as clarity on when a driver is deactivated from using the app.
Uber’s vision of its future, if it comes to pass, could entail a far different role for some drivers.
Last week, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick unveiled a partnership with Volvo to accelerate the company’s research into selfdriving cars that would have neither steering wheel nor driver.
In an interview with USA TODAY, Kalanick said he could see the number of Uber cars on its system increasing from about 30,000 to 1 million in a decade or two.
Some human drivers will still be needed to help navigate the tricky routes. Other cars will be self-driving.
“And way out, if everything ’s autonomous, you’ll need tens of thousands of people to maintain a fleet of a million cars,” he said.