Debating the Role of Private Assets in Pension Funds

Teresa Ghilarducci knows retirement. A labor economist and professor at the New School for Social Research in New York, she’s long studied the shortcomings of how the US handles preparing for citizens’ old age.
Much of the financial industry is devoted to running retirement funds—$25 trillion in traditional pensions, 401(k)-style plans and annuities and $13 trillion in individual retirement accounts. But Ghilarducci says tens of millions of workers aren’t getting the help they need to save. It’s a problem worrying some on Wall Street, too: Larry Fink, chief executive officer of BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, devoted his latest annual chairman’s letter to the need to shore up retirement savings.

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