APG’s Lars Aussems in Financial Investigator on how youngster-proof the new pension system is
How do young professionals perceive the new pension system? And what will be changing for younger pension fund participants, taking the current state of affairs as a starting point? Financial Investigator provided an answer to these questions in an online article. The article portrayed, among others, Lars Aussems, Project Manager within APG’s program Pension of the Future. “In the preparations for the new system, young people are less able to make their voices heard. And that gives me cause for some concern.”
Pension continues to be something of the future for young people. They don't follow the discussions regarding the new pension system, but are focusing on other matters such as study, income, obtaining a house and making it through the pandemic.
Financial Investigator asked eight young professionals in the reasonably aging pension industry about their visions on the changes to the pension system. What are the changes young people need to consider? And is the new pension system youngster-proof?
Sharing risks
Lars Aussems sees many good sides to the new pension system for young people. “The positive aspects of the current collective system remain intact. That's something to point out to young people. We have something great; it is there when you need it and the principle of collectivity remains unchanged. Together you share the risks you won't be able to bear on your own.”
An important improvement, in particular also for young people, is that the new pension system assumes a personal pension capital, Aussems continues. “That provides a solution for the current concerns among young people that there won't be any pension left for them to benefit from in the future. It shows there will be capital available to them. The abolition of the average system also is a positive change. It ensures a fairer redistribution among younger and older people and will result in the new situation in a better alignment with the flexibilization of the labor market.”
Cause for concern
The Project Manager Pension of the Future also indicates that, from the perspective of young people, there is also cause for concern. “The constituencies of the trade unions have a weightier voice than young people when it comes to the balance of interests. Older people are overrepresented in these groups. Young people generally show little to no interest in pension and also not a lot of motivation to deepen their knowledge. That is mainly reflected in the considerable under-presentation of young people in the management boards of pension funds and accountability bodies. In all of those preparations for the new system, young people are therefore less able to make their voices heard. And that gives me cause for some concern being a pension professional, but also as a younger person.”
The conclusions drawn by Financial Investigator after talking to Lars Aussems and the seven other professionals, can be read in the article Young professionals over jongeren en het nieuwe pensioenstelsel (Young professionals on young people and the new pension system).