What does a good retirement system look like? We often approach this question through familiar lenses: value, adequacy, affordability, sustainability.

But discussions at the first Global Retirement Futures Exchange conference reminded me that the question is broader: what would it take to deliver a dignified retirement for all?

We heard about South Africa’s two-pot system, the Netherlands’ transition towards a new pensions model, and Australia’s superannuation system. There were discussions on US innovations, extending retirement provision to informal and self-employed workers, and the relationship between short-term resilience and long-term saving.

Familiar questions emerged. How do we bring people into pension systems when traditional models no longer reflect how many people work? How much flexibility should there be? How do we turn a pension pot into a secure income?

These questions feel more important as work and retirement change. The old model of a linear career followed by clearly defined retirement is less common; people may move between employment, self-employment, caring and periods outside the labour market. Retirement can span decades, bringing uncertainty around health, longevity and income.

“Retirement policy will struggle to sit neatly within pensions provision’s boundaries”

Retirement policy will struggle to sit neatly within pensions provision’s boundaries. Housing, work, health, financial resilience and community all affect later-life financial security.

There is a tendency to think that better engagement and more sophisticated technology will solve individual pension challenges – but many see tension here with systems that require less from individuals in the first place. The answer may well be systems where good outcomes are built into the architecture but people retain agency and flexibility. Technology and AI will be important, but human support matters at significant moments.

We should remain curious about experiments elsewhere, understand why they have emerged, and ask what they might teach us. There is much to explore in building systems that reflect how people live, work and age, and giving more people the chance to reach later life with dignity, security and choice.

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