31 March

One of the great reality checks coming for all societies is the delusional idea that retirement should be the time when you’re richest. In an ageing world, that’s a recipe for total disaster. Here’s the numbers for 8 countries, for the gap between the retirements they have planned, and the actual savings they have put aside to fund them. In 2015 that gap was already $70 TRILLION dollars. By 2050 it will be $400 TRILLION. $9 trillion for Australia, that’s over 5 times greater than our entire annual GDP. The ever-shrinking number of younger workers are already overwhelmed, it’s going to get a LOT worse for them yet. Societies simply can’t afford this, they won’t survive.