Pension customers at Danica with the highest risk profiles lost up to 2.6 percent of their savings in the global stock-market fall on November 5, equal to 26,000 kroner for every million saved.
The figures come from calculations by the pension company Danica, reported by DR on November 6. A 40-year-old customer with a high risk profile and a pension balance of one million kroner woke up on November 5 as a pension millionaire. By the following morning, 974,000 kroner was left in the account.
Andreas Stang, investment chief at Danica, told DR that young customers clearly lost the most money. He added that the same group has earned a great deal on shares during 2026, with a return of around eight percent so far this year.
Why younger savers took the biggest hit
Stang explained that younger customers typically hold a larger share of equities in their pension accounts than older ones. Shares usually deliver higher returns than the other assets pension companies invest in. Savers with a long horizon therefore have most of their pension placed in stocks.
In Danica’s system, people counted as young for pension purposes are those up to their mid-50s. After that, the company gradually replaces shares with property, bonds and other assets that fluctuate less in value. A 50-year-old with high risk and four million kroner saved lost 104,000 kroner, while a 63-year-old with medium risk and the same balance lost 56,000 kroner.
Danica said it has an investment strategy that it reviews during large swings, but that it does not make major changes because of day-to-day movements. Per Stang, customers should not be worried, and global equities have still returned 7.5 percent in 2026 including the fall. Most customers have had an advisory conversation about the risk level that suits them, he noted.
What happened on Wall Street on November 5
According to Reuters, the Nasdaq fell 5.5 percent on November 5, while the S&P 500 dropped 4.4 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 3.4 percent. Reuters reported that chip and artificial-intelligence shares led the sell-off. Investors were reassessing the effect of the Democrats’ sweeping US midterm-election victory on AI data-centre development.
Stang said he was surprised by the size of the swings, but not by the situation after the midterm election. US stocks opened 1 to 2 percent higher on November 6, and he expects attention to return to company earnings. At AL-Sydbank, department director Jeppe Juul Borre wrote that it is not everyday fare for US shares to be sent several months back in a single day, and that he does not see this as a time to sell, even if swings continue.
What the pension drop means for foreign residents in Denmark
Most people employed in Denmark pay into a labour-market pension through their employer, often set by a collective agreement. The money is invested, and the risk profile usually depends on age, with more equities for those far from retirement. Contributions are normally deducted before income tax is calculated, which is why many residents hold large pension balances they cannot access for decades.
For internationals, the practical point from Danica’s figures is that the losses are percentage-based, so the kroner amount scales with the size of the account. The company’s own numbers cover its customers only, and other providers such as PFA, Velliv or AP Pension have not published comparable calculations for November 5. Because Danish pension money is heavily invested in US shares, moves on Wall Street show up directly in statements here, as DR’s reporting on this fall illustrates.
