“Spouses tend to work more to compensate for loss of household income” At the start of this century, the Netherlands had one of the world’s highest shares of workers receiving disability benefits in the insured population. Successive governments sought to reduce disability benefit claims. The last step in this process was the introduction of the Work and Income According to Labour Capacity Act (WIA)…

“Can income adjustments for all participants remain equal under the new Dutch pension scheme, even with smoothing of income adjustments over time and without any redistribution?” In the proposed new Dutch pension system, period-by-period fluctuations in income adjustments can be large. In the current defined benefit system, such fluctuations are contained by smoothing income adjustments over time and the adjustments made are equal for…

For her thesis, Melissa van Wingerden (23) has been awarded the Johan de Witt Thesis Award 2021 by the Royal Dutch Actuarial Association (Koninklijk Actuarieel Genootschap). Melissa was a Master’s student at Tilburg University and previously associated with Netspar, so we are proud of her achievement. We spoke to Melissa, who had just returned from Lapland and was still enjoying the interest sparked by…

“Increasing the state pension age hits lower educated the hardest, especially women” Between 2012 and 2024, the Dutch state pension age is gradually increasing from 65 to 67 years. After 2024, any further increase will be based on the population’s average life expectancy at age 65. However, this new policy fails to consider differences between educational groups and how easily they reach the higher…

“Current pension products not flexible enough for many of the selfemployed” About 40% of the self-employed in the Netherlands save too little for their retirement. Currently, they are more likely to invest in a house or put money aside in flexible savings than invest in a pension product. 48% of the self-employed don’t know how to calculate their annual contribution limit, which can deter…

On December 1, 2021, Netspar welcomes Stichting Shell Pensioenfonds (SSPF) and Shell Nederland Pensioenfonds Stichting (SNPS) as partners to the Netspar network. Through the collaboration, SSPF and SNPS are fulfilling their ambition to further improve the implementation of the pension schemes on the basis of the latest scientific insights, while making use of the knowledge and experience of leading experts. These are the network’s…

Fieke van der Lecq is resigning as the chair of the Editorial Board effective January 1, 2022. Andries de Grip has been appointed as the new chair as of that date.               Fieke van der Lecq                                           Andries de…

“Numbers lack meaning out of context” Pension participants face complex decisions. Presenting participants with correct facts and figures is sometimes not enough for participants to choose the optimal alternative. If they succeed in determining the gist of the decision, people tend to make choices that are more in line with their values and preferences. This study identifies how participants make pension decisions and what…

“Clear interest in options other than default constant payout pattern” In the debate about the new Dutch pension system, much attention has been paid to increasing participants’ choices. The default pension payout is a lifelong flat monthly rate (constant payout pattern). However, other options are (becoming) available such as a high/low annuity based profile or a partial lump sum at retirement with a lower…

“Tighter borrowing restrictions in the mortgage market do not crowd out additional pension saving for self-employed” Tightened borrowing restrictions, such as lower macroprudential limits on the loan-tovalue ratio or the debt-service-to-income ratio, make it relatively harder for many Dutch households to obtain a mortgage in recent years. We find no contradiction to the current policy aim of increasing pension saving of self-employed individuals. Whereas…