Netspar represented at Pensioen3daagse

The Pensioen3daagse is over again. This initiative by Wijzer in geldzaken encourages people to take action for their pensions. The opening took place during the BlikOpener symposium at the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. Netspar was also represented.

Researchers Max Groneck and Raun van Ooijen offered a try-out of their pension comparison tool during the symposium. They are developing this tool together with the Netspar network and within their Netspar Theme Grant. At their stand in the hall of the Eye Film Museum, visitors were able to try it out in advance.

Looking over the shoulder

What exactly does the tool do? Max: “The pension comparison tool allows you to look over your neighbour’s shoulder, so to speak. This is because you can compare your pension situation with reference groups, i.e. with people who are very similar to you. You can also take a look into the future and discover what happens during all kinds of events in your life. The special thing is that this can be done based on a unique dataset from the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek.”

Aha effect among visitors

Max and Raun are satisfied with the try-out. Max: “On the one hand, we let visitors try out the tool themselves based on their personal situation. That already created an aha effect. On the other hand, most visitors were professionals from the field. From their background, they came up with valuable tips. For instance, we received the suggestion to include your subjective expectation about your pension in the comparison.”

Another possible improvement was about including a larger spectrum of financial risks in the tool, such as the value development of your investments or home. Raun: “The new pension system requires participants to be aware of these risks. This involves more assumption of personal responsibility. In addition to the risks we already consider, we could include more in the tool, such as occupational disability.”

Full notebook

At least at the end of the day, Max and Raun went home with a notebook full of tips and improvements. Raun: “We are now summarising everything and include it in a final report. In doing so, we will look for feedback from partners and ways to take the pension comparison tool to the next stage.”

Want to know more? Check out the pages on Max Groneck and Raun van Ooijen’s theme projects.