I don't know if most people are aware of how "pensions" are funded?
The contributions are not like "savings" where your own money is paid in, a small interest is paid and your savings are what you've paid in plus the added interest.
Pensions are funded by the contibutors payments being "invested", that is, the pension fund buys and sells using your contributions. What they buy and sell is "variable". They might buy property taking rent or they might buy property to sell (or both). They might also buy and sell shares too.
Now, those pension funds have an army of people (at various levels) all wanting to be paid!!!
Now then, if those "investments" don't go too well, that army of people still want paying.... So all things considered, it's no wonder there's "black holes" in pension schemes.
The investments are really only a form of gambling and whizz-kid investors are more liable to make risky investments as when they come off, the pay-back is pretty substantial. The whizz-kids make a name for themselves but their bosses come to expect those sorts of pay-backs all the time. The pressure eventually ensures that the whizz-kid investor eventually comes severely unstuck leaving the fund with a big loss. Trying to make up that loss leads to more risky investments...... and so it goes on.....
Some of those pension schemes that look good on paper would be fine if you could guarantee a continued "profit" by the investors.
"Nice and steady" investors who show a "nice and steady" profit are out of favour, the headline catching major coups by the whizz-kids are what investment shemes seem to favour these days?
It's life Jim, but not as WE know it.
Live long and prosper.