Your retirement might depend on loans you've never heard of, valued by methods you couldn't understand. In this episode, we investigate the $3 trillion private credit market—lending that happens outside traditional banking—and uncover why lenders don't trust their own borrowers, why pension funds are locked into opaque investments, and what happens when nearly half of all new deals require protective clauses against borrower default.

Featuring conversations with credit analysts, pension fund managers, and fund operators, host explores the hidden stress signals in private credit: PIK arrangements masking deteriorating loan health, discretionary valuations that smooth over problems, and the capital call dynamics that could force pension funds to sell assets at the worst possible times.

If you're a teacher, firefighter, state employee, or police officer with a public pension, nearly half a trillion dollars of your retirement security sits in private credit. The question isn't whether private credit is risky—all lending is. The question is whether you have enough information to know if worry is warranted. Spoiler: you probably don't.

Keywords: private credit, pension funds, financial risk, investment opacity, debt markets, financial system, retirement security