Bonus: Global Pension Assets Study 2024

The Global Pension Assets Study estimates global pension fund assets across 22 major pension markets (the P22). At the end of 2023 these markets had estimated pension assets of USD 55,688 bn, marking an anticipated 11% growth compared to 2022.

In our special bonus episode, we engage in conversation with Anastassia Johnson and Jessica Gao, researchers at the Thinking Ahead Institute. We discuss the study’s significant figures, prevalent themes of the year, and anticipate challenges for the forthcoming year. We cover topics such as: systemic risk, the future of pensions, government intervention, AI and technology and more.

Not only the investment industry, but globally, we are forced to contend with several issues at once. With principal areas of systemic risk being geopolitical confrontations, climate change, biodiversity loss, inequity and social division. The investment industry is scrambling to develop robust models to measure and adapt to these systemic risks.

Jessica Gao, Researcher at the Thinking Ahead Institute

We have seen markets come back to growth in recent months, but global equities experienced mixed performance and the rate of growth is slow on balance. So, I would say outlook for the longer term horizon is cautiously positive, but still with some level of uncertainty persisting in the near term.

Anastassia Johnson, Researcher at the Thinking Ahead Institute

Related pages

Article: The More Senior Your Job Title, the More You Need to Keep a Journal

Research paper: Systemic risk | deepening our understanding
Research paper: Systemic risk | adapting our practices

Podcast: Bonus: Global Pension Assets Study 2023
Global industry study: Global Pension Assets Study – 2024
Press release: Global pension assets rebound past USD 55 trillion

Research agenda 2024
Research agenda 2023

More Episodes

  • Episode 6
  • September 24, 2026
  • Is AI your next thinking partner? | IFM Investors

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly moving from a productivity tool to a strategic capability for investors. But its true potential may lie in helping investment teams make better decisions, challenge assumptions and consider a broader range of possibilities.

  • Episode 5
  • August 3, 2026
  • The human edge | Spellbound

Join us as we speak to Rio StedFord, St. James’s Place, about how the wealth industry is transforming.

  • Episode 4
  • June 25, 2026
  • The rise of climate physical risk | WTW

This episode explores climate physical risk — the floods, heat and extreme weather events already affecting assets, operations and portfolios today. Moving beyond long-term transition narratives, we look at how these risks are showing up in real investment decisions right now, and what it takes to understand and act on them.

  • Episode 3
  • May 26, 2026
  • Inside Middle East mega funds | CAIA Association

We turn our focus to the Middle East – a region rising up the ranks of global capital despite ongoing tensions. Drawing on our latest Asset Owner 100 research, we explore the Middle East as one of five global asset clusters, where leading sovereign wealth funds are moving beyond silos and thinking more holistically about capital, risk and opportunity.

  • Episode 2
  • April 24, 2026
  • Power, politics and portfolios | Jupiter

Markets like certainty. Geopolitics offers anything but. This episode explores why investors might be getting geopolitical risk wrong, how a shifting world order is changing markets, and what a more adaptive approach to risk could look like.