In recent weeks, I have put a lot more focus on actionable ideas, including higher-yielding stocks (see this article). However, that’s just the start. Especially for income-focused investors, I want to provide more food for thought. That’s based on various reasons, including these ones:

• Many of my readers are retired or getting close to retirement. Heck, even many of my younger followers are looking to add some income to their portfolios.
• I believe that “value” stocks are a great place to be for the years ahead. This includes high-quality dividend stocks.
• Although some older people may have their ducks in a row, so to speak, retirement investing is increasingly important because of major flaws in the system.

The last bullet point is what this article is about, as I have spent the past few days working my way through a number of papers that show just how important careful retirement investing has become. I am listing eight major risks today based on research from Apollo Global Management and JPMorgan that will be the foundation for my coverage over the next few weeks, months, and likely even years.

Today, I’ll lay the basis by bringing up these eight risks. Based on that article, I’ll carefully construct a plan, as I’m not just throwing some higher-yielding dividend stocks at you to fill income gaps. In the weeks ahead, I’m looking to build a more concise plan for income investing, based on the macro and individual portfolio risks we’re about to discuss today.

So, as we have a lot on our plate, let’s get right to it!

Four Macroeconomic and Systemic Risks

Let’s start with the most obvious risk highlighted by Apollo, which is that there’s a shortfall in savings. That’s the risk we most often discuss, as it’s the gap between what we have and what we need for retirement. And “we” here refers to most Western nations.

According to Apollo, the median 401(k) balance is less than $150,000.

Note that the median is right in the middle, meaning the number of people having less than that is equal to the number of people who have more than that. Among the people who have less, the picture is (obviously) even darker, as some have no savings at all.

Depending on the survey, those with zero retirement savings range from one in five to almost half of U.S. adults. Gallup found that 40% of adults have no investments for retirement, with the AARP finding one in five adults 50 or older and the Federal Reserve finding that 28% of non-retired adults, respectively, are in the same situation. Meanwhile, FINRA’s 2025 National Financial Capability Study indicates that 43% of non-retired Americans don’t have a retirement account at all. Northwestern Mutual’s 2025 Planning and Progress Study adds to the alarm: more than half of Gen X, many of whom are now entering their 60s, say they won’t be financially prepared for retirement. – Investopedia

This is even a major risk if you are financially well-off, as this is a development that pressures society as a whole. Retirement funding gaps have to be filled in some way. My personal view is that this will come with a lot more taxation in the future, which is an undefined risk that I will also spend a lot more time on. In fact, I am more afraid of this risk than of any potential bear market for economic reasons.

The second risk is related to that, as it’s the demographic squeeze. According to Apollo, the number of people aged 65 and over in the U.S. currently accounts for roughly 18% of the population. That number could reach 23% by 2050. By 2050, the total global demographic will double to 1.6 billion people by then.

Two things are important here, especially when adding the bigger context (chart below):

• This will mean younger people will have to carry a heavier financial burden.
• The U.S. is likely to have an advantage over other Western nations and China, as it is in a much better demographic spot (that’s somewhat bullish).

This brings me to risk three, which is also related to the first two risks, as governments are now more important than ever. According to Apollo, more retirees get money from Social Security than from a pension.

Simply put, this means that governments, many of which are increasingly pressured financially, are the pillars of retirement income, which adds new legislative and inflation risks to the mix. It also reinforces my point of long-term taxation risks.

I am not making the case that the U.S. government will go bankrupt or that your Social Security will be cut or that we’re all going to be poor. My point here is that the increasing importance of the government in security funding and the fact that deficits in nations like the U.S. have exploded is not a favorable mix of safety and the long-term taxation outlook, especially not if governments decide to inflate their way out of the debt problem (but that’s a topic for a future article – I just wanted to bring it up).

That’s where risk four comes in. 401(k)s, in general, have elevated equity exposure. The majority of their assets are in stocks. That’s good because equities tend to rise faster over time than bonds, but bad because it creates concentration risks, according to Apollo.

As I have brought up a number of times in the past, the biggest ten holdings of the S&P 500 account for nearly 40% of its weighting. In recent years, it was a blessing. In the next ten years, it may be a headwind if we get economic growth broadening.

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