Can the Australian model rescue the US retirement system? Trump seems to think so.

President Trump recently ordered Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to explore Australia's retirement model as a way to reform the US retirement savings system. It's not the first time Trump has tossed out the country's system as one that interests him. He has been dancing around it for months now. "They have a plan in Australia, which people really like," Trump said on July 6, when he met with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who has been touting Australia's program for a few years. "It's really worked out very well," Trump added. "We're going to be talking about that with Congress and see if we can implement it." Australia's system includes superannuation funds that require employers to supplement workers' wages with contributions to privately managed pensions at a rate of 12% of employees' salaries. There are also voluntary contributions from employers, employees, or the self-employed, paid into the private-sector plans, similar to a 401(k). The arrangement also has a means-tested age pension, paid from general government revenue — a form of national pension — that provides extra income to retirees who don't have enough income and assets to live. The balances are available in full at age 65 or as early as age 60 if the worker has stopped working, though there are also rules that make it difficult to tap into these accounts before retirement. "The Superannuation Guarantee was introduced in 1992 when the country seemed like it was on the path to a retirement crisis," Fink wrote in his 2024 Annual Chairman's Letter to Investors. "Thirty-two years later, Australians likely have more retirement savings per capita than any other country." Although it is too early to say what will come of President Trump's talk of making some changes along these lines, there's no denying that the US retirement system is a mess for many workers. Today, the typical US worker has less than $1,000 saved for retirement, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security. For many Americans, saving for retirement starts with having an employer-provided plan, especially one that automatically enrolls workers with payroll deductions. The problem: Nearly half of US private-sector workers — roughly 56 million people — don't have access to such an account. The US retirement system received a C+ rating from the most recent Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index. It ranked 29 out of 48 global pension systems assessed, mainly because Social Security is not adequately financed and many workers have no workplace retirement program. Australia's system gets a B+. "Everybody who works in America should have a supplemental retirement system that sits on top of Social Security, so that everyone can save for their own retirement in a simple, safe, and portable way," Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist at the New School in New York City and author of "Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy," told Yahoo Finance. "Only part of the Australian system is good for the United States, that all workers have a pre-funded account that will be there for their retirement," she said. Retirement has been on the agenda this year. In May, Trump signed an executive order establishing accounts giving private-sector workers without employer-sponsored retirement plans access to new tax-advantaged accounts and directing the Treasury Department to create an online marketplace where people can choose a plan. Workers making $35,500 a year and married couples earning $71,000 will be able to claim up to $1,000 in matching funds from the government. The website has not launched yet. This type of plan was first authorized in 2022 with the passage of the SECURE Act and is based on the Savers Match program that is due to start in 2027, in which the US Treasury provides a 50% match on retirement contributions — up to $1,000 per year for individuals or $2,000 for married couples. Critics contend the Trump administration should instead focus on fixing Social Security's financial issues. Social Security's reserves could run out at the end of 2032 — one quarter earlier than projected last year, according to the 2026 Social Security and Medicare Trustees' annual report. At that point, if no adjustments are made, the entitlement program's Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund will be able to pay out roughly 80% of benefits to seniors. "To improve our grade, we must fix Social Security and increase the percentage of workers who are enrolled in workplace retirement plans," according to Alicia Munnell, a senior adviser at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. "Good as it is, Australia can't help us." The goal should not be to replace the existing Social Security system. "Trump's Australia idea will be dangerous if it becomes a substitute for Social Security," Ghilarducci said. "It could be useful if it becomes what America actually needs: a universal, portable, funded account layer on top of Social Security." To put this new discussion from President Trump in perspective, it's not a sudden or brand-new radical idea, she added, "The idea has been around for a long time." "The downside is that it's not fixing the other part of the retirement system — that Social Security needs more revenue," Ghilarducci said.