As with many things, Singapore seems to have a sensible plan that is neither 100% government managed nor 100% private: - Saving is compulsory and amounts to ar

As with many things, Singapore seems to have a sensible plan that is neither 100% government managed nor 100% private: - Saving is compulsory and amounts to around 15% of wages for the worker, and another 15% to the employer - Principal growth depends on how the investment performs, but government guarantees at least 2.5%, which is around what you can get from just buying a 30-year Singapore gov't bond - Account holders can choose a restricted number of asset classes to invest in (e.g. ETFs, bonds, gold), but you can't just put it all in a penny stock - You can use the saved funds for health care, housing, education, and a limited number of other needs until retirement -- no taking all the money out and betting it on black Long-term financial planning is inherently risky. Governments aren't necessarily good at managing that risk, but then shoving all that responsibility onto individuals doesn't work that well either, because the truth is that if someone screws up and becomes totally indigent, society still needs to bail them out, if only through paying huge emergency room bills. This seems like a sane compromise: the worker and the government split the risk, but the government also sets sane defaults for employees. [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Provident_Fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Provident_Fund [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_paternalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_paternalism