BlackRock BLK CEO Larry Fink is sounding the alarm on what he sees as a looming retirement crisis in the U.S., and he says younger generations have every right to feel uneasy about the future.
A System That Works for the Few
In a recent interview with CNN, Fink said plainly: “Retirement is not that bad of a problem for the top Fortune 500 companies.” Employees at large corporations, he explained, are often well-supported with retirement planning and benefits. But that level of support rarely extends to everyone else. “We refuse to talk about how do we get more broadening of our economy with more Americans participating in that,” he said. “This has to be considered a national priority and a national promise to all Americans.”
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Fink, whose firm oversees $11.6 trillion in assets, has long warned about the lack of retirement preparedness. That concern comes from both professional and personal experience. In his annual letter to BlackRock shareholders, Fink shared a story about reviewing his parents’ finances after they passed away:
“My mom taught English at the local state college, and my dad owned a shoe store. They were never in the top tax bracket.” When Fink and his brother finished going over their parents' estate after they died, they learned why they had more than expected: investments.
“My dad had always been an enthusiastic investor… because he knew that whatever money he put in the bond or stock markets would likely grow faster than in the bank. And he was right.”
Fink said this experience reminded him why he co-founded BlackRock: to help people retire with dignity through better access to capital markets. “We believed participating in [capital] markets was going to be crucial for people who wanted to retire comfortably and financially secure.”
Younger Generations Are Worried—For Good Reason
In the letter, Fink called out a growing generational divide. “It's no wonder younger generations, Millennials and Gen Z, are so economically anxious,” he wrote. “They believe my generation—the baby boomers—have focused on their own financial well-being to the detriment of who comes next. And in the case of retirement, they're right.”
He even questioned whether the standard retirement age of 65 still makes sense and suggested older generations might need to work longer to help restore financial trust with younger Americans.
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Missing Out on the System Entirely
Millions of workers—including gig workers, restaurant staff and farmers—lack access to employer-sponsored retirement plans. At a BlackRock retirement summit in Washington in February, Fink said, “We have a plan called Social Security that doesn’t grow with the economy. If we create a plan that every American can grow with our economy, they’re going to feel more attached to our economy.”
He stopped short of endorsing full privatization of Social Security but said allowing people to invest more directly in the market could help. Referencing a past proposal by President George W. Bush to partially privatize Social Security, Fink said that if it had been implemented, Americans could have seen their retirement savings grow fourfold.
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Australia’s Model and the Spending Puzzle
Fink pointed to Australia’s retirement system, where employers have been contributing to worker retirement accounts since 1992—regardless of job type. Australia now has the fourth-largest retirement system in the world, despite being 54th in population. Fink said the U.S. should study this approach.
He also stressed that saving is only half the problem. Spending in retirement is another major issue. A BlackRock study found that even after 20 years in retirement, the average retiree still had 80% of their pre-retirement savings. Fink calls it the “retirement paradox”: people are afraid to spend what they've saved.
To address this, BlackRock created LifePath Paycheck, a tool that turns 401(k) savings into a predictable monthly income, similar to a pension.
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