Skip to main content

Pension knowledge and older people

Pension knowledge has been defined as the degree to which people know their pension income at the retirement age, at death (for their partner) and at disability to work; know the (in)sufficiency of this income for their own situation; and know (if needed) of the possibilities to increase their pension income and make a trade-off between saving for their pension or spending now.

Understanding of pensions is complicated as it involves several key building blocks of knowledge:
Pension products available, whether through the workplace or privately.
Types of funds that pensions should be invested in.
Income required to save each year to reach an income goal in retirement.
Transfer of pensions if moving jobs.
Tax relief for saving into pensions.
Purchasing of an annuity on reaching retirement.