November 2025
11Nov

The rise of solo aging: How people in the US are preparing to grow older alone

The Society of Actuaries (SOA) Research Institute recently published a series of guides designed to assist solo agers with key financial and retirement decisions. In addition, the SOA published survey findings on the growing phenomenon of “solo aging” in the U.S. Solo agers are individuals who, as they grow older, navigate life and retirement without the traditional support network of close family members or partners. The consumer survey includes responses from Americans aged 50 or older who identify as solo agers. It provides insights into aging,...

November 11, 2025
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10Nov

US. The Realistic Minimum Retirement Savings Needed, According to Experts

You may have heard you need at least $1 million in the bank to retire. The truth is, a comfortable retirement will look different for everyone. Some people might need much more than that, and some might only need $700,000 to retire comfortably. So what’s a more realistic minimum number you should aim for? Why the $1 Million Rule Doesn’t Work for Everyone Retirement costs can look very different depending on where you live, how healthy you are, whether you have a...

November 10, 2025
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07Nov

US. Federal Guarantees Should Continue After Pension Risk Transfers

Nationally recognized ERISA attorneys Kevin O'Brien and Spencer Walters of Ivins, Phillips & Barker (IPB) have released a new white paper, "The Forgotten Promise: Why PBGC Retirement Benefit Guarantees Should Continue After Pension Risk Transfer Transactions."  Their paper challenges the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's decades-old position that retirees lose federal protection once pensions are converted to annuities – a stance the authors argue contradicts the statute, legislative history, and the PBGC's own original interpretation. The paper traces how, in 1981, the PBGC took the...

November 7, 2025
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05Nov

U.S. pension giants exposed to risky assets: Fitch

U.S. defined benefit (DB) pension plans are increasingly exposed to private credit and other risky alternative assets that could lead to funding troubles that ultimately strain government finances too, says Fitch Ratings. In a report issued Monday, the rating agency said that in the wake of the global financial crisis, sponsors of public DB pensions took a variety of steps to improve the their plans’ solvency, such as increasing contribution rates, reducing benefits to new employees and adopting more conservative...

November 5, 2025
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04Nov

US Public Pension Market Bubble Exposure Remains High

Robust market valuations in recent years have supported funding progress for U.S. state and local defined benefit pension plans. However, public pensions remain underfunded and fundamentally exposed to market volatility. A market shock could increase the burden of state and local pension liabilities and drive contributions higher, says Fitch Ratings. Governments with weaker liability metrics and high carrying cost burdens could be most vulnerable to rating pressure. Post-global financial crisis, plan sponsors took various policy actions such as reducing benefits...

November 4, 2025
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03Nov

US. State And Local Pensions Must Confront AI’s Systemic Risks

Stock prices are soaring due to investor enthusiasm about the potential for Generative AI to transform the economy. Dismissing concerns about GenAI’s lack of profitability to date, many investors are celebrating. But pension fiduciaries, charged with protecting the financial security of workers and retirees, do not have the luxury of complacency. Their duties of prudence and loyalty require assessing and mitigating risks, and GenAI unquestionably poses portfolio-wide risks. One of those risks is the U.S. tech industry’s approach to...

November 3, 2025
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October 2025
31Oct

The Future of Retirement Security An International Comparison through the Lens of Adequacy, Sustainability, Equity and Plan Design

By Surya Kolluri, Catherine Reilly & David P. Richardson Countries around the world are considering and implementing reforms to their retirement systems for a variety of reasons, including increasing demographic and economic pressures. A key demographic driver is human longevity. For example, the average retiree can expect to spend about two decades in retirement, roughly double the time from 50 years ago. In the United States, life expectancy has risen by 17 years since the Social Security program debuted nearly 90...

October 31, 2025
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31Oct

US. Uncertainty about retirement growing increasingly

Americans are growing increasingly uncertain about their retirement plans amid persistent inflation and mounting concerns about the future of Social Security. In a trio of recent surveys from Charles Schwab, Fidelity, and Northwestern Mutual, Americans' confidence in their ability to retire, retire comfortably, and the exact age at which different generations expect to retire varied widely. And in both the Schwab and Fidelity surveys, the number of Americans who said they're confident in their retirement plans fell from the same surveys conducted last...

October 31, 2025
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30Oct

US. State Pension Funding Levels Stayed Stable Despite Volatility

The reported funding gap for state pension plans—the disparity between promised benefits and available assets—was $1.32 trillion in 2023, according to 50-state data collected by The Pew Charitable Trusts. This represents a $44.7 billion increase over 2022, driven primarily by increases to liabilities from benefit changes and differences between what plans assumed for salaries, longevity, and similar workforce and demographic trends and what actually happened. However, even amid volatile markets, state funds showed signs of resilience. The overall funded ratio—the...

October 30, 2025
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30Oct

Risks escalate for U.S. retirement plans due to unregulated private credit funds and new rules opening them up to retirement savings accounts

When the privately owned auto parts manufacturer First Brands Group earlier this month began to be unable to service its $6.1 billion debt load, the financial press began to pick up on the story—not because it was so unique or important to the U.S. economy, but rather because various financial institutions, including the Swiss banking giant UBS Group AG, were admitting that their exposure to the company was higher and more complicated than they had previously shared, through their...

October 30, 2025
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