The $400T Pension Time Bomb

According to an analysis by the World Economic Forum (WEF), there was a combined savings gap in excess of $70 trillion in 2015, spread between 8 major economies, with the deficit growing by $28 billion every 24 hours. This will eventually hit $400 trillion by 2050, which is 5 times the size of the global economy today.

Since social security programs were introduced, demographics worldwide have changed immensely. Life expectancy has been rising by three years each decade, and the population of retirees globally is expected to grow from 1.5 billion to 2.1 billion people between 2017-2050. In the U.S. alone, it is expected that the Social Security Administration will run out of funds by 2034. At that point, only 77% of promised benefits will be able to be fulfilled.

While some countries have already tried to sandbag the issue by raising the retirement age, increasing taxes or cutting benefits, this is not a sustainable solution.