Instead, the approach here is to compare severalquality metrics among selected countries, understanding thatsubjective, or “quality of life” metrics, while also important, aremore difficult to compare.

The five countries selected here are the United States, Canada,Japan, the United Kingdom, and Denmark.

Retirement age: According to Aperion Care,average retirement ages are generally in the 62-66 range for thesefive countries, ranging from age 62 in Japan to age 66 inDenmark.

However, the “official” retirement ages are higher for four ofthe countries (65 and above) with Japan expected to raise itsnormal retirement age to 65 by 2025.

Income replacement rates: How well does thecombination of public and private retirement programs replace aworker's pre-retirement income? Recent estimates from theOrganisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show awide range of replacement rates.

For the five subject countries, Denmark had the highest grossreplacement rate (86.4%) while the UK had the lowest (52.2%). TheUnited States had a gross replacement rate of 71.3%, with nearlyhalf coming from voluntary retirement plans such as 401(k)s.

Ratio of workers to retirees (support ratio): Akey predictor of the potential cost and coverage of retirementsystems is the number of people of working age who are supportingretirees. The lower the ratio of potential workers to retirees, thegreater the support required by public and private retirement plansper worker.

In 2015, according the United Nations, of the five selectedcountries, Japan had the lowest support ratio (2.2) while theUnited States had the highest (4.1). However, all of thesecountries are expected to face lower support ratios in the future.By 2055, the United States support ratio is expected to decline to2.5 workers per retiree, while Japan's is expected to decline to1.5.

Global Retirement Index Study: A frequentlycited measure of the quality of global retirement systems is theNatixis Global Retirement Index. The index, calculated annually, iscomprised of four main components: Health; Material Well Being;Quality of Life and Finances in Retirement.

Health incorporates factors such as life expectancy and healthspending; Finances in Retirement includes inflation, interest ratesand taxes; Material Well Being incorporates Income equality andemployment; and Quality of Life includes air quality and otherenvironmental factors.

For the five selected countries, Denmark ranked highest in the2018 Natixis study (8th overall globally) and Japan ranked lowest(22nd overall). The United States was in the middle, ranking 16thoverall.

For the United States, the greatest relative detractors wereincome inequality, happiness and biodiversity. The main positivesfor the US compared to other countries were finances and healthcare expenditures.

Although countries have different retirement systems and mixesof public and private programs, one common challenge is the agingof their populations.

While rankings can be informative, a more important objective isidentifying current and expected challenges to providing secureretirement outcomes.

NOTE: Information presented herein is for discussion andillustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation or an offeror solicitation to buy or sell any securities. Past performance isnot a guarantee of future investment results.

Frederic Slade has over 25 years of experiencein the investment management and retirement services industries. Heis Senior Director, Investments for Pentegra RetirementServices, a leading provider of retirement services tofinancial institutions and organizations nationwide, founded by theFederal Home Loan Bank System in 1943. Mr. Slade manages over $1billion in internal bond portfolios and provides analytics andstrategy for Pentegra's Defined Benefit and Defined ContributionPlans. Mr. Slade holds a Ph.D. in Economics from University ofPennsylvania and a CFA, and has presented at a number of seminarsand conferences.