Fidelity Investments reported in February 2014 that: The average 401(k) balance reached a record $89,300 in the fourth quarter of 2013, a 15.5% increase over 2012 and almost double the low of $46,200 set in 2009 (which was affected by the Great Recession). The average balance for persons 55 and older was $165,200. Approximately one-third (35%) of all 401(k) participants cashed out their accounts when they left their jobs in 2013 (rather than rolling them to an Individual Retirement Account), which can cost investors substantially in terms of penalties and taxes. UK state pension and private pension Due to the low savings ratio, rapidly increasing longevity, new taxation of pension funds (for instance the removal of the right to reclaim withholding tax on equity dividends), and above all falling investment returns, many pension funds are in difficulties in the early 21st century. Most of these funds have moved from defined benefit (final salary) to contribution-based benefits. Thousands of private funds have been wound up. In October 2017 the UK Government implemented a mandatory automatic enrolment system where full-time employees and employers have to make contributions to a workplace pension scheme. The UK Government commissioned an independent review of the State pension age by John Cridland and in 2017, amongst other measures, it proposed increasing the state pension age to 68 and removing the triple lock on state pensions. Risk-Sharing Pensions In 2018, the UK's Department for Work and Pensions began a public consultation on the potential launch of risk-sharing pensions. The consultation focused on the potential benefits of Collective Defined Contribution pension schemes, or "CDCs", which function like a Tontine by enabling savers to pool their money into a single fund to share investment risk and longevity risk. These schemes became popular in the Netherlands in the early 2000s. Legislation which would enable the UK's pension industry to reform its Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution schemes to CDC's is currently in the process of being passed by the UK's House of Commons. Proposed reforms In his book titled The Pension Fund Revolution (1996), Peter Drucker point out the theoretical difficulty of a solution, and proposed a second best policy that may be enable to enforce. Reform ideas are in three primary categories: Addressing the worker-retiree ratio, by raising the retirement age, employment policy, and immigration policy Reducing obligations by shifting from defined benefit to defined contribution pension types and reducing