Insights
Retirement
Retirement systems, contributions and drawing down savings.
Retirement Systems Are Policies, Not Assets
CPF, EPF, China's pensions, Taiwan's Labor Insurance and US Social Security are not accounts you own. They are promises that legislatures keep renegotiating. How to put a haircut on the state column of your retirement balance sheet.
Before an Alternative Asset Enters Your 401(k)
An August 2025 executive order directed US regulators to open retirement plans to alternative assets such as private equity and credit. Illiquidity, fees and opaque valuation are the questions to settle before the first dollar goes in.
The 4% Rule Is a Claim About One Country's History
FIRE depends on a withdrawal rate drawn from US data. Same average return, different order, and one portfolio lasts while the other runs out in year 15. What the rule actually says, why sequence risk is the real enemy, and what changes outside the US.
When the Retirement Date Moves
From 1 January 2025 China began raising its retirement age, and a nationwide private pension followed in December 2024. A retirement plan that assumes a fixed date is a plan with a hidden assumption.