The golden years: 49% of Greek households still rely on pensions as primary income source

Italy and France are fast catching up. Full article. (Bloomberg)

Will the Fed tightening cycle produce a long period of negative returns?

An interesting article in the WSJ this morning ("Pension Funds Pile on Risk" http://www.wsj.com/articles/pension-funds-pile-on-the-risk-just-to-get-a-reasonable-return-1464713013 ) pointed out the extent to which ZIRP has forced pension funds, which typlically have a 7.5% actuarial assumption, to adopt abnormal investment policies. The question one should ask oneself is whether "normalization" will force declines in all types of long duration securities.

Given the allocations in the chart in the article, I would assume that cash, both directly and in the form of deleveraging, could suddenly become the preferred asset class. That would constitute a rude surprise for many people.