Encouraging people to save for retirement—an event often decades into the future—in any country is a tall order. The right policies, however, can make a difference in people’s lives, and while each nation and state has specific circumstances, we can learn a lot from each other.

As needs change, we want to make sure we’re adapting and keeping up so that we can fulfill our mission to help millions of people enjoy a better retirement.

Over the next couple of years, every small employer in the country will have to auto-enroll their workers. This is likely to get interesting—it’s one thing for large employers, which are already likely to have a pension plan for new savers or have the resources to set one up, but quite another thing for smaller businesses that are new to this world.

KiwiSaver is in its 9th year. It has achieved remarkable acceptance, low administration costs, and wide transparency; however, low levels of contribution, its use for housing, too many in default schemes, low default contribution rates, and lack of longevity protection, remain as concerns.

Given that we are only a year into the reform, it remains too early to understand the long-term implications of choices made by UK retirees, but looking internationally can also guide us

The concern is that, as pension funds move into riskier investments, they may be seriously compromising their solvency situation (for DB plans) and their capacity to deliver adequate retirement income (for DC plans) in the event of a negative shock in financial markets

The Australian system was recently ranked third, with a B+, in a global pension survey. However, we must move quickly to create more ways for retirees to spend their retirement savings safely and sustainably if we are to stay world-class.

Today, over 7 million workers in California have zero access to workplace retirement savings plans, and nearly 50 percent of middle-income workers are at risk of sliding into poverty when they can no longer work.

Illinois, like the entire United States, is hurtling toward a retirement crisis. Around half of private-sector workers have access to employer-sponsored plans; however, most workers who do not have such plans are, essentially, saving nothing to supplement Social Security, putting themselves on a path to poverty.

Although much of the state is experiencing an economic boom, it is estimated that 52 percent of Washington State workers lack access to a workplace-based retirement savings option, across all business size categories.