By: Russ Kamp, CEO, Ryan ALM, Inc.

In the original post from September 24, 2026, I lamented the fact that the U.S. retirement industry ranked only 24th of 44 countries in the Natixis Investment Managers’ 2026 Global Retirement Index. Well, unfortunately the news isn’t getting any better, as the U.S. ranks 33rd in the 18th annual Marsh CFA Institute Global Pension Index, that compared the quality of 55 retirement systems around the world. Those 55 retirement systems are responsible for 66% of the world’s population.

We were given a rating of C+, and fell in the same category as Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. Yikes! Our score of 61.1 could be enhanced if we did some or all of the following: Raising the minimum pension for low-income pensioners, increasing the coverage of employees in occupational pension schemes, set a minimum level for mandatory contributions, require that part of the retirement benefit be taken as an income stream, and enhance the governance requirements for the private pension system.

Instead of spending significant time debating the merits of including private investments in DC plans, let’s focus our attention on improving wages, investment knowledge, and strategies to stretch meager account balances through one’s retirement. As I’ve mentioned many times, asking the American worker with little disposable income, no investment acumen, and no crystal ball to build a retirement account through a DC-like structure is just silly.

I continue to be embarrassed by these results. Come on folks, we can do much better!