Takeaways from Retirement Summit that convened leaders across industry

Last week BlackRock and Bipartisan Policy Center convened elected officials, corporate leaders, small business owners, union representatives, pensioners, and state and federal policymakers for a 2025 Retirement Summit to find bipartisan solutions and commitments.

The Summit, themed, “Redefining Retirement: It’s All of our Work,” worked to highlight how critical it is for both the public and private sectors to think about retirement in new ways to help people live better, longer.

One major theme that came up often was Social Security benefits; unsurprising, as it’s a critical part of retirement security, but not enough by themselves, according to several experts who spoke at the Summit.

Whether working in the public or private sector, some kind of savings or pension plan — or both — is essential for financial stability post-career. And according to Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Union (NABTU), it’s not impossible.

“There are ways to structure combination defined benefit, pension and annuity or 401(k) today, where the employer, after they make the payment every month into the fund, accrues no liability going forward, but for the employee, they get that lifetime check in that system,” McGarvey said.

Many NABTU members – and other public servants like firefighters and first responders – don’t fit the work-until-you’re-65 retirement model. “In our line of work, you’re not employable at age 60,” McGarvey said. “So having that security of the defined benefit, or hybrid defined benefit pension, along with Social Security and some sort of 401(k), that’s where people can sustain the American Dream that they worked [for] their whole life.”

Ed Kelly, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), who was on the same panel with McGarvey, agreed. “When you go over in a building, there’s a real good chance one of those firefighters is going to fall on a flight of stairs,” Kelly said. “You can’t see. Everything’s wet, and the walls and ceilings burn away from the wood that they nailed it to. So, falling on a flight of stairs is kind of normal. When you do it in your 20s, it’s funny. Your 30s, it’s not as funny. In your 40s, you’re probably going to hospital. In your 50s — some of our members work in their 50s, and some into our 60s — you’re done.”

In practical terms, it means those workers might retire before their counterparts whose work is less physically demanding. “The odds of us being disabled at the end of a career – a 30-year career – are very high and that’s why, including cancers and heart disease and lung challenges, having a defined medical pension is even more important in those sectors where the risk and hazard intersect,” Kelly said.

Ultimately, McGarvey said, workers of all kinds need and want the same thing when they retire. “At the end of the day, we want a long, happy, healthy retirement for everybody that works for a living in this country,” he said. “And we’re faced with the situation today where we don’t have that.”

“We need a system in place where everybody can count, not just on their Social Security and be topped out at that but have another income stream in their retirement that they earn through their work, right, that lets them live the American dream in their golden years.”

Kelly nudged policymakers in Washington and in state capitals to take on the crisis. “I think it’s incumbent upon a government to create and incentivize more stable, defined benefit pension plans, hybrids,” Kelly said. There were several Senators, Congressmen, and Governor Wes Moore (D-MD) in attendance at the Summit also discussing potential government solutions.

Other speakers representing first responders at the Retirement Summit reinforced the importance of a strong safety net for all workers as well.

James Slevin, a New York City firefighter and district vice president for the International Association of Fire Fighters, pointed out that many public servants serve knowing they have a pension to compensate for their sacrifices. “They know that when they put their time in, when their sacrifices of going to work, you know, spending, you know, days in the firehouse away from their family, missing holidays. They know that that’s there waiting for them at the end.”

Michelle Crowley, a former Mississippi firefighter who is now executive vice president of the Professional Firefighters Association of Mississippi, echoed that sentiment. “I do think everybody should have a pension, because it’s a benefit that you know that you have at the end of your career.”

“I want to work, and I want to contribute to society,” Crowley said. “I also want that time to enjoy.”

At a minimum, the event brought together leaders of both parties, business executives, and real-life pensioners to highlight the retirement crisis and come together to elevate the discussion to encourage policymakers to prioritize finding solutions.