Avoid Zohran Mamdani’s Retirement Strategy: Allison Schrager

Every time I hear someone say it is fine to skimp on funding your retirement account because the market is up, I die a little inside. So it was a painful day for me when New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced last week that the city would balance its budget in part by contributing $2.3 billion less to its pension funds.

The justification of the move is that stock market returns are higher than the funds anticipated. And it is not just big-city politicians looking for an excuse to skimp. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently speculatedthat one reason saving ...