The U.S. retirement system gets a ‘C+’ grade, experts say — even though it’s worth $39 trillion. Here's why
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The U.S. retirement system may seem flush — yet it ranks poorly in relation to those in other developed nations.
Collectively, Americans had more than $39 trillion in wealth earmarked for old age at the end of 2021, according to the Investment Company Institute.
However, the U.S. places well outside the top 10 on various global retirement rankings from industry players, such as the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index and Natixis Investment Managers 2021 Global Retirement Index.
According to Mercer's index, for example, the U.S. got a «C+.» It ranked No. 17 on Natixis' list.
Here's why the U.S. falls short, according to retirement experts.
Iceland topped both lists. Among other factors, the country delivers generous and sustainable retirement benefits to a large share of the population, has a low level of old-age poverty, and has a higher relative degree of retirement income equality, according to the reports, which use different methodologies.
Other nations, including Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, also got high marks. For example, Denmark, Iceland and the Netherlands each got «A» grades, according to Mercer's index.
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Where the U.S. largely lags behind those countries, experts said, is that its retirement system isn't set up so that everyone has a chance at a financially secure retirement.
«Even though we have $40 trillion invested, it's a very uneven, fragmented, patchwork retirement design that we work with in the U.S.,» said Angela Antonelli,
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