Why is it normal to have whether you starve to death in your old age or not hinge on any sort of corporate stocks again?

What assets are not risky ? All assets are more or less risky. I think you are asking two different questions. What level of risk should take pension fund ? And who should bear the risk ? In France, they tried to solve this issue by investing as little as possible and giving cotisations of the workers to retired people. The risk is minimal but they did not profit from the rise of shares’ values. An interesing way to get answers to your question is to look who is currentely bearing the risk for pension funds and how retirement systems work in different countries

no they shouldn’t for your pension you want a reliable stream of income