July 2026

2026 Read on Retirement: A new era of retirement

By Black Rock When we look at confidence, we see savers who feel better about retirement than they have in years. But beneath that optimism, retirement income expectations and savings behavior tell a different story. And that gap is not experienced equally. Retirement challenges increasingly vary by generation and gender— revealing a retirement system that is becoming more individualized. Workplace savers increasingly know what they need to do, but competing financial priorities are making it harder to act. The challenge is less...

Pensions at a Glance Asia/Pacific 2024

By OECD This study presents a range of indicators to enable comparisons between the pension systems of economies in the Asia/Pacific region. It also includes data for the larger countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD). The report was drafted by Andrew Reilly of the Social Policy Division of the OECD Secretariat. Lucy Hulett prepared the manuscript for publication. For this sixth report we are again indebted to the national experts who contributed to...

Transductive infrastructure: The role of ICTs in the UK and EU’s policy initiatives on financial literacy

By Jing Wang & Jiuheng He Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become central to public-facing policy programs, yet they remain undertheorized, only treated as either instruments or objects of such policies. This paper argues that ICTs in such programs operate as transductive infrastructures, a delivery chain not only transmitting policy information but also defining the intentions and consequences of the stakeholders. Through a comparative analysis of three recent financial literacy initiatives: the UK's Money and Pensions Service, the European...

When States Break Promises: Informal Insurance Responses to Pension Reform

By Alina Malkova When governments expand pension systems, families reduce intergenerational transfers. This paper tests the reverse: do families substitute back toward informal insurance when governments renege on pension promises? I study Russia’s 2014 funded pension freeze, which eliminated future contributions for workers born after 1967, using RLMS panel data (2010–2023) and a cohort difference-in-differences design. Affected households increased financial transfers to adult children by 3.5 percentage points under a conservative age×year fixed effects specification and by 6.5 percentage points...

Retirement at Risk: The Political Economy of Public Pension Governance

By Allen Mendenhall & Dan Sutter State public pension systems manage over $6 trillion in assets while facing approximately $1.3 trillion in unfunded liabilities, raising fundamental questions about governance effectiveness and fiduciary accountability. This Article examines these challenges through the analytical framework of governance, applying insights from public choice, principal-agent models, and corporate governance to argue that details in implementation significantly impact outcomes. We offer Ohio's State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) as a case study. Recent governance reforms in Ohio-including...

Realizan en San Lázaro foro de análisis de la seguridad social en México

La Comisión de Seguridad Social, que preside el diputado Arturo Olivares Cerda (Morena), junto con el diputado Alfonso Ramírez Cuéllar, llevó a cabo en el Palacio Legislativo de San Lázaro el foro “Análisis de la Seguridad Social en México: Situación actual y retos de la cobertura de los institutos de seguridad social locales”. El objetivo fue conocer el panorama actual nacional, así como contar con testimonios y aportaciones que ayuden a construir una propuesta para mejorar y resolver problemas en...

La revolución de la IA y el envejecimiento replantearán los sistemas de pensiones, advierten expertos

La discusión sobre el futuro de las pensiones dejó de centrarse únicamente en la sostenibilidad financiera. Ahora, el verdadero desafío es cómo adaptar los sistemas previsionales a una economía transformada por la inteligencia artificial, una población que vive cada vez más años y un mercado laboral donde el empleo tradicional pierde terreno frente al trabajo independiente y las nuevas plataformas digitales. Ese fue el principal mensaje que dejó el Seminario Internacional FIAP–World Pension Alliance (WPA) 2026, celebrado en San José,...

U.S. Public Pensions Reach Best Funded Status Since 2009 – But Remain $1.13 Trillion Short

 America's state and local pension systems are in their strongest funded position since 2009, according to State of Pensions 2026, Equable Institute's seventh annual analysis of 253 statewide and municipal retirement systems across all 50 states and D.C. The national funded ratio is projected to reach 85.0% in FY2026, up 3.9 points from 81.2% in 2025 — the fourth consecutive year of improvement and the best level since 2009. Total unfunded liabilities fell to an estimated $1.13 trillion, down from...

UK. Torsten Bell reappointment welcomed as pension reforms gather pace

Torsten Bell’s reappointment to his dual role at the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Treasury has been broadly welcomed by the pensions industry. However, experts have reiterated the need for stability and a sharper focus on delivering reforms. Bell will remain pensions minister following the government reshuffle confirmed on 22 July, avoiding what former pensions minister Steve Webb described as “a third new pensions minister in barely two years”. Webb, now a partner at consultancy LCP, said frequent ministerial changes...

US. DOL Brief Sides With Bristol-Myers in PRT Appeal

The U.S. Department of Labor has expanded its campaign to defend employers’ utilization of pension risk transfer transactions by filing an amicus brief in a Bristol-Myers Squibb appeal, joining a coalition of business groups, insurers and state attorneys general urging the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a district court decision that allowed retirees’ ERISA claims to proceed against a Bristol-Myers Squibb pension risk transfer. The filings collectively argue that the plaintiffs—company pension fund beneficiaries—lack Article III standing...