SPECIAL REPORT: America's Looming Pension Crisis | Stephanie Pomboy & Ted Siedle

It's worse than you imagine

On this morning’s bi-weekly livestream with Stephanie Pomboy, we interviewed pension expert Ted Siedle about America’s looming pension crisis.

Ted, the recipient of the largest whistleblower awards in SEC and CFTC history, has long warned that the US public pension system is woefully underfunded & mismanaged:

“We are on the precipice of the greatest retirement crisis in the history of the world. And that makes perfect sense because, first of all, we have the largest elderly population in the history of the world. Just focusing on the United States: our elderly are woefully unprepared to retire. And in the decades to come we will witness millions of elderly American's, Baby Boomers and others, slipping into poverty. 'Too frail to work, too poor to retire' will become the new normal for many elderly Americans.”

To watch the livestream replay, click here or on the video below:

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Adam’s Notes: Stephanie Pomboy & Ted Siedle (recorded 4.23.25)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

• Dire Pension Crisis Warning: Ted Siedle, a former SEC attorney and pension expert, warns of an impending retirement crisis, with U.S. public pensions facing severe underfunding and mismanagement, threatening millions of retirees with poverty. He predicts a systemic failure as elderly Americans lack adequate savings.

• Public Pension Vulnerabilities: Public pensions, holding $6.5 trillion in assets, lack federal oversight, are managed by inexperienced boards, and are heavily allocated to high-risk, high-fee alternative investments like private equity and crypto, with fees often understated by up to 400%. Transparency is undermined by Wall Street’s trade secret clauses.

• Mismanagement as Core Issue: Siedle identifies mismanagement—driven by excessive fees, opaque valuations, and conflicts of interest—as the primary threat to pension solvency, costing funds half their potential value over 30 years.