This week is National Save for Retirement Week, and a variety of financial planning groups are promoting that fact to attract clients.

Among them are ING, Nationwide Financial and Great-West Retirement Services. At the American Institute of CPAs’ Fall Meeting of Council in Phoenix on Monday, tax lecturer Sid Kess also mentioned the week as an opportunity to encourage clients to save money, during his acceptance speech for the AICPA’s Distinguished Service Medal. The award also went to S. Scott Voyrich, managing partner of Robinson, Grimes & Company in Columbus, Ga., on Tuesday.

National Save for Retirement Week, a national effort to raise public awareness about the importance of saving for retirement, is held every year during the third week of October. It dates back to 2006, when Senators Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., introduced the first resolution establishing the week as a way to elevate public knowledge about retirement savings and encourage employees to save and participate in employer-sponsored retirement plans.

The AICPA is stepping up its Feed the Pig Campaign to encourage more people to save for retirement. Jordan Amin, chairman of the National CPA Financial Literacy Commission, and Ernie Almonte, chairman-elect of the commission, said they would add more local advertising in partnership with state CPA societies, including billboards and new public service commercials in partnership with the Ad Council.