BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said America could dodge a ‘retirement crisis’ by encouraging people to work for longer — but 1 labor economist says he’s dead wrong

The billionaire, who chairs the world's largest asset management firm, kicked off his 2024 annual letter to shareholders by telling his readers it is “time to rethink retirement.”

He raised the point that more Americans are retiring and their retirements are increasing by length. This, he claims, is having a “massive impact on the country’s retirement system” — specifically the nation’s Social Security coffers, which are quickly running out of money.

“What’s the solution here?” Fink pondered in his letter. “No one should have to work longer than they want to. But I do think it’s a bit crazy that our anchor idea for the right retirement age — 65 years old — originates from the time of the Ottoman Empire.”

It’s not fair — but some don’t have a choice

Labor economist Teresa Ghilarducci, a renowned thought leader on U.S. retirement issues, slapped down Fink’s suggestion in a recent interview with Bloomberg's Sonali Basak.

Ghilarducci thinks people need to dive deeper into the data around American life expectancy and how that relates to working longevity.

“Not everyone is living longer,” she stressed. “There is a slice of the population that have had good healthcare [and] have had the kinds of jobs that enhance their health and their wellbeing and their skills. They’re living longer.

“But there are some parts of our economy, of our America, where actually the longevity is going down. Deaths of despair, the suicides, the opioid addiction [and] even the kinds of jobs that people have are shortening their lives.”

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Valid reasons for retirement

One part of America’s so-called “retirement crisis” that Ghilarducci thinks experts — “including Larry Fink” — overlook is the fact that “most people cannot decide when they retire.”

According to a 2018 Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis report, 52% of older workers claimed they were forced into involuntary retirement.

Ghilarducci cited this stat, saying that older Americans are often “forced to retire” because of health issues — like bad knees, metabolic disorders and stress — or to take care of their aging spouse.

“This idea that workers can just decide to work longer is a myth because most people cannot decide whether or not to work or not,” she stressed.

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