Low interest rates make saving up for retirement more expensive. This is because pension funds cannot earn as much as they used to on their investments. Although they have been able to capitalise on surging stock prices over the past few years, they have seen their funding ratios go down as their liabilities increased at an even faster rate. In the end, this leaves them unable to ensure that pension benefits keep up with the higher cost of living by means of indexation. They might even have to curtail pension benefits.