Is my pension certain?: Majority relies on the state in the event of old -age provision

Almost half of the people in Germany relate to the state in terms of retirement provision despite all the problems of pension insurance. According to a survey by the Federal Association of German Banks (BDB), the statutory pension or pension is the most important component for their livelihood in old age for 46 percent.

This is particularly true of the age group from 60 (63 percent), but four out of ten respondents (44 percent) also answered the 16- to 29-year-olds.

A total of 1,316 people aged 16 and over took part in the survey in April/May this year. Almost two thirds of the respondents (64 percent) believe that the state is primarily responsible for the financial care of the citizens in old age.

More shares for better pension

At the same time, there is great sympathy for the idea of ​​a “stock pension”, as it floated on the FDP proposal of the failed traffic light government: billions should be invested on the capital market in order to alleviate the strong increase in pension contributions in the coming years.

Almost half of the respondents (45 percent) support this proposal to broaden the financing base of the statutory pension insurance through the establishment of a capital stock – also called “generation capital”. However, almost as many (42 percent) stated that they could not assess this. This shows that “the proposal should be known to many people,” said the banking association.

Often knowledge gaps in financial issues

Overall, 44 percent of those surveyed do not feel sufficiently informed about finance and pension. The desire for more information on these topics in 16- to 29-year-olds (62 percent) is particularly pronounced. In this age group, 81 percent is also the greatest proportion of those who find the German pension system “very complicated and opaque”.