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*** Sources ***

https://www.statista.com/statistics/940498/assets-retirement-plans-by-type-usa/

https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/2026-03-25_IF12007_fb732191160014b30686288f00f88e4bf14f8c60.pdf

https://www.ici.org/statistical-report/ret_25_q4

https://www.zillow.com/research/housing-market-value-1-trillion-35518/

https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2023/4/17/voters-strongly-oppose-raising-the-retirement-age

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/08/democratizing-access-to-alternative-assets-for-401k-investors/

https://www.farmfolio.net/blogs/how-to-invest-in-farmland-with-a-retirement-account-2

https://www.farmprogress.com/farm-policy/farmers-speak-out-when-12-billion-in-aid-backfires

https://www.nirsonline.org/articles/typical-us-worker-has-less-than-1000-saved-for-retirement-report-finds/

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/private-credit-squeeze-billions-trapped-141100185.html

Absolute Insight: When did illiquidity become a virtue?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/business/dealbook/crypto-private-equity-401ks.html

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/the-us-retirement-industry-at-a-crossroads

https://www.jpmorgan.com/content/dam/jpm/cib/complex/content/securities-services/superannuation_2025/Future_of_Superannuation_Report_2023_FINAL.pdf

Tax Breaks on Retirement Savings: Who Benefits and How Much Do They Cost?

https://www.jct.gov/getattachment/8c830c45-1680-4f7e-a649-2a0106f6b6e3/x-45-25.pdf

https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/compare/chart/#quarter:145%3Bseries:Assets%3Bdemographic:networth%3Bpopulation:all%3Bunits:levels

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Whenever financial markets have a little whoopsie daisy and require government intervention to prevent further losses, there is one line that is repeated more than any other.
Yeah that’s right, we can’t let the consequences of our own actions go too far, because the retirement of millions of regular people are directly dependent on the performance of these financial assets.
And well… they kind of have a point…
Since the year 2000 the number of people actively contributing to investment based retirement accounts has more than doubled over the same time in which defined benefit schemes have more than halved.
At the end of last year, here in America alone we collectively had almost fifty trillion dollars worth of assets tucked away into retirement accounts, with all but 13 trillion of that being directly tied to the performance of financial markets.
That is only slightly less than the collective value of our entire residential real estate market, and voters are equally defensive of it.
People don’t want their homes to lose value, and likewise they want to make sure that at the end of their careers they will have something to retire on…
But this logical self interest has created some perverse incentives for the entire financial industry by making hopeful retirees the ultimate bag holders for when things start to go wrong.
Whether its private credit, private equity, BDCs, Mortgage Backed Securities or Residential REITS, if there is an asset that is starting to go bad, then this practically unlimited pool of cash has become a great escape mechanism to bail out flailing sectors because they know that if anything goes wrong the government will be there to bail them out in turn…
This has created a weird scenario where retirement savings must simultaneously be protected at all costs while also taking on morally hazardous amounts of risk.
It’s not great, but at the very least it has empowered people to take charge of their own financial destiny right? Well we will get to that…
But before we do, we also need to address some good news, which is that America is far from the worst offender in this whole game…

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