Billionaire BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Says Retirement Isn't a Problem for Fortune 500 Workers—But 'We Refuse' to Talk About Everyone Else

BlackRock BLK CEO Larry Fink didn't dance around it. In a sit-down recently with Kayla Tausche of CNN, he said out loud what a lot of Americans have probably suspected for a while: if you work for a Fortune 500 company, retirement isn't that scary. But if you don't? Well, good luck.

"One of the fundamental problems in America is retirement is not that bad of a problem for the top Fortune 500 companies," Fink said. "We are providing enough support to our employees where they're getting the adequacy of retirement. It's beyond that."

And that "beyond" is where things get dicey.

"We refuse to talk about how do we get more broadening of our economy with more Americans participating in that," he added. "And so that's why we have to have a conversation here in Washington. This has to be considered a national priority and a national promise to all Americans."

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Translation: The system works—if you're lucky enough to be inside it.

Fink was in D.C. meeting with policymakers, pushing for retirement to be treated as a national priority. And this isn't some sudden concern. In his 2024 annual letter to shareholders, he laid it all out: the system is leaving millions behind—57 million Americans, to be exact. That includes gig workers, restaurant staff, farmers, and anyone without access to a traditional employer-sponsored retirement plan.

BlackRock tried to chip away at the problem by expanding access to target date ETFs, which are like training wheels for retirement investing. But even Fink admitted there are limits. "Better investment products can help, but there are limits to what something like a target date fund can do," he wrote. The biggest hurdle? Just getting started.

Meanwhile, Australia's been busy showing everyone how it's done.

Under the Superannuation Guarantee, Australian employers have been contributing to workers' retirement since 1992—no matter if they're full-time, part-time, or gig workers. The result? Australia now has the fourth-largest retirement system in the world, despite being ranked 54th in population.

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Fink doesn't suggest copy-pasting Australia's system onto the U.S., but he thinks it's worth studying. "More should consider it," he said, pointing to 20 U.S. states, including Colorado and Virginia, that are testing state-run retirement programs to fill the gap.

Even employees who do have access to retirement plans are missing out.

According to Fink, about 17% of workers eligible for employer plans don't enroll. It's not because they've run the numbers and decided to skip it—it's usually because life gets in the way.

"It sounds trivial," he wrote, "but even the hour or so it takes someone to look through their work email inbox for the correct link to their company's retirement system… can be the unclearable hurdle."

Enter auto-enrollment. It's a tiny nudge with a massive impact. Studies show it boosts participation by nearly 50%. A new federal law will soon require companies that launch new 401(k) plans to auto-enroll workers, but Fink says there's still room to level up—like defaulting to higher contributions or matching funds.

And then there's the other half of the equation: spending the money.

Turns out, saving for retirement is only half the battle. The other half? Knowing how to spend it. BlackRock's 2018 study of 1,150 retirees found that even after 20 years of retirement, the average person had 80% of their pre-retirement savings still sitting there.

They weren't broke—they were worried. Only 32% said they felt comfortable spending their savings. Fink calls it the "retirement paradox": people who've saved enough are still afraid to touch it.

This anxiety traces back to America's retirement makeover. In the old days, pensions were the norm. Retire after a few decades, get a monthly check. Simple. But now? It's all defined contribution plans—401(k)s that follow workers from job to job. Or at least, they're supposed to.

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In reality, transferring a 401(k) is such a hassle that about 40% of people cash out their accounts when switching jobs. So instead of a steady paycheck in retirement, they're stuck solving a math problem: how much to withdraw, and how long it needs to last. Spoiler: most people aren't retirement actuaries.

To tackle the spending side of retirement, BlackRock rolled out LifePath Paycheck, a strategy now live and available through select retirement plans. It's designed to deliver pension-like income from a 401(k)—a predictable monthly paycheck, minus the guesswork. 

This hybrid approach—offering both flexibility and security—can turn retirement from a math puzzle into something that actually feels manageable.

Fink thinks it could revolutionize how retirement works in America—and maybe even beyond. "Because while retirement is mainly a saving challenge," he wrote, "the data is clear: it's a spending one too."

Bottom line? The current system works great for those at the top. For everyone else, Fink's saying it out loud: the U.S. has a retirement problem, and ignoring it won't make it go away.

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