September 2026
04Sep

Global pension asset allocations and debt markets

By Ding Ding, Xiang Fang, Bryan Hardy & Karen K. Lewis The pension sector is an important investor group in global financial markets and a key holder of government and corporate debt. This article examines the evolution of pension fund asset allocations around the globe and documents two important structural changes. First, pension investors have shifted portfolio share allocations away from fixed income securities. This trend is robust across Defined Contribution (DC) and Defined Benefit (DB) programs as well as...

September 4, 2026
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04Sep

Redistribution through Taxes or Pensions? Optimal Income Tax and Pension Progressivity

By Burkhard Heer & Mark M. Trede We develop a medium-scale overlapping-generations model with endogenous labor supply and skill premium to study optimal income redistribution using progressive labor income taxes and pensions. The model is calibrated to the four countries USA, Great Britain, Italy and Germany which differ substantially in their tax and pension systems, demographics, and skill shares among workers. Optimal pension benefits are proportional to lifetime contributions in all four countries, while the optimal degree of income tax...

September 4, 2026
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04Sep

Pensions from Capital: How Pension Funds in the United States, Japan and Europe Invest -and What Private Investors Can Learn from Them

By Roland Rupprechter This paper examines the pension funds of the large industrial countries — with more than USD 68 trillion between them, the heaviest group of investors in the world. It compares how funded retirement provision is organised in the United States, in Japan and in Europe: how state, occupational and private provision differ, who grants which tax advantages to whom and at what level, and why equity quotas diverge so widely across regions — from 25 per cent...

September 4, 2026
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04Sep

US. DC plan sponsors struggle to define retirement readiness: WTW

A recent survey of more than 550 US employers by WTW has exposed an uncomfortable truth at the centre of defined contribution plan governance: a large majority of plan sponsors have no formal definition of what retirement readiness means for their workforce. “You can't prove that your plan works if you haven't defined what working actually means,” said Chris West, senior managing director and DC strategy leader at WTW. “Employers are facing a retirement readiness gap and that pressure is...

September 4, 2026
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02Sep

Análisis Comparativo de los Sistemas de Pensiones en Colombia y Estados Unidos

Por Daniela Lara Henao, Juan Pablo Cardona Castaño, María Ruby Restrepo Betancourt & Sindy Viviana Giraldo Arcila  Los sistemas pensionales son un pilar fundamental en la seguridad social y económica de las personas en su vejez. Colombia y Estados Unidos han implementado dos sistemas distintos con características y desafíos propios, sin embargo, aunque ambos países cuentan con sistemas de pen-siones con enfoques y estructuras diferentes, también enfrentan desafíos similares en términos de cobertura, nivel de beneficios y sostenibilidad financiera. Teniendo...

September 2, 2026
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02Sep

Overseas Stocks Drive Double-Digit Returns for State Plans Like Louisiana and New York

For many state pensions that sought growth outside the U.S., the bet is paying off. Strong gains in non-U.S. and emerging market equities have helped propel several public plans like the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System and New York State Common Retirement Fund to double-digit returns for their 2026 fiscal years (18.4 percent and 11.9 percent, respectively). Louisiana State chief investment officer Bobby Beale attributed much of the $18.7 billion plan’s strong return to “broad strength in equities.” While domestic equities...

September 2, 2026
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01Sep

Milliman analysis: Competitive pension risk transfer cost increased from 99.6% to 99.7% during July

Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today announced the latest results of its Milliman Pension Buyout Index (MPBI). During July, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process inched up by 10 basis points, from 99.6% to 99.7% of a plan's accounting liabilities (accumulated benefit obligation, or ABO). That means the estimated retiree PRT cost is now 99.7% of a plan's ABO. During the same time period, the average...

September 1, 2026
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August 2026
28Aug

Retirement Insecurity 2026: Americans’ Views of Retirement

By Barb Butrica, Dan Doonan & Kelly Kenneally As affordability pressures squeeze household budgets, Americans increasingly fear they will not be financially secure in retirement, while also expressing caution about artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency in retirement planning, according to a new national public opinion report, Retirement Insecurity 2026: Americans’ Views of Retirement. The research finds that 80% of Americans say the nation faces a retirement crisis, up sharply from 67 percent in 2020. Additionally, more than six in ten Americans (61...

August 28, 2026
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28Aug

Measuring the Fiscal Sustainability of Public Pensions

By National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems When budgets tighten and the economy falters, some states and localities have reacted to worries about pension funding ratios and unfunded liabilities by increasing employee contributions and cutting benefits. Some have even closed pension plans to new hires. Yet public pensions have a strong record of delivering retirement security efficiently: NCPERS’ 2025 update of its landmark economic impact study finds that public pensions generated $2.9 trillion in economic output and $661.9 billion in...

August 28, 2026
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27Aug

80% of Americans Say U.S. Faces Retirement Crisis Amid Affordability Pressures and Debt; Americans Wary of AI Financial Advice and Crypto in Retirement Plans

As affordability pressures squeeze household budgets, Americans increasingly fear they will not be financially secure in retirement, while also expressing caution about artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency in retirement planning, according to new research from the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS). The new report, Retirement Insecurity 2026: Americans' Views of Retirement, finds that 80 percent of Americans say the nation faces a retirement crisis, up sharply from 67 percent in 2020. Additionally, more than six in ten Americans (61 percent)...

August 27, 2026
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