“Employers view working after retirement as exception to the rule” Older workers are increasingly encouraged to work beyond normal retirement age (NRA) to tackle potential labour shortages and keep social security systems sustainable. While the majority of employers have employed workers beyond NRA, they are rarely proactive in doing so. We propose that government policy should encourage employers to adopt a more positive and…

“To reliably measure risk preferences a mix of methods is recommended” Based on research we recommend to pension providers that they use a mix of methods to measure risk preferences. It is important to be aware that any risk preference measurement may be prone to behavioral biases and systematic measurement errors. In the new Dutch pension agreement, pension providers must invest in line with…

“Latest pension reforms complete the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution pensions” The past 20 years have witnessed a clear shift in Dutch occupational pensions: from strongly collective defined benefit to more individual defined contribution schemes. First, we show how the way is paved for a collective defined contribution contract that features some individual elements. Then, warn that the reform may fail to…

Johan Bonekamp recently obtained his PhD at Tilburg University. He wrote five essays, all dealing with personal finance before and after retirement. An interview. Name: Dr. Johan Bonekamp   PhD defense: 23 Juni 2021 at the Tilburg School of Economics and Management, Tilburg University Doctoral thesis: Studies on labour supply, spending and saving before and after retirement What was the starting point for your…

“Robustly optimising an individual’s pension even when many factors are unknown” In the new Dutch pension agreement, pension funds will switch from collective to individual pensions. Participants will have a personal pension capital that will be invested according to their age and risk aversion to reach a target pension. Information needed to determine the optimal investment policy in such a scenario is often missing…

Recent financial media articles and research suggest that the stocks of firms with a stronger environmental, social and governance (ESG) rating might perform better during crises. An extensive analysis of 6,000 stocks in 45 countries during the COVID-19 crisis and a longer-term analysis over 2003-2020 cast doubts on this view. There is little evidence that strong ESG stocks perform better or worse than other…

Judith Bom recently obtained her PhD at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She showed that informal caregivers can be stressed by the care and that people who are entering a nursing home do not appear to be worse off than they were at home. An interview. Name: Dr. Judith Bom   PhD defense: 17 June 2021 at the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Erasmus…

Tilburg University has appointed Marike Knoef as endowed professor of Capital-Funded Pensions at the Tilburg School of Economics and Management, effective July 1, 2021. Marike Knoef is director of Netspar, professor at Leiden University and Crown-appointed member of the SER. The remit of the chair is the study of capital-funded pensions from an integrated perspective to contribute to the formation of ideas about the…

The new pension system will not be introduced until around 2026, but a team of experts from the independent knowledge network Netspar has already considered scenarios for 2036 and beyond. These scenarios can be advantageous for the government, pension providers, people building up their pensions and other players when considering an uncertain future. The most important conclusion: whatever the transition will bring, no one…

In the coming years, all those involved in the Dutch pension reform will have to communicate a crystal-clear and honest story about the transition to a new pension contract. That is one of the lessons pension experts from the independent knowledge network Netspar have learned after analysing nine other countries that have previously undergone major pension reforms. Onno Steenbeek (EUR and APG) and Benne…