Three-quarters (76%) of working Dutch people have taken one or more measures to continue living as they do now after retirement. This usually involves saving via a savings account or deposit, or building up capital via the owner-occupied home/repaying the mortgage. In addition to the measures people are already taking, half of the people intend to spend less by the time they retire.

This is evident from the 2018 Pension Monitor published today by Money Wise. The survey was conducted among 1.000 people from the Dutch working population between the ages of 21 and 66 as part of the Pensioen3daagse 2018 from 6 to 8 November.

The majority of the working population wants to stop working before the state pension age

Despite frequent attention in politics and the media, the state pension age is still higher than expected for many people. A majority therefore indicates that they would like to stop working earlier than the state pension age. Nevertheless, 57% of the people who want to retire earlier do not expect to retire until they reach state pension age. A large majority wants to work less in the years before the state pension age. To make this possible, measures are mainly taken such as saving and making additional mortgage repayments. Half of the people who want to stop earlier have not yet taken any measures to do so. One in five people want to continue working beyond the state pension age.

Employees try to stay fit in order to work longer

In order to be able to continue working until the increased state pension age, 'staying fit for as long as possible' is seen as the most important measure. People try to achieve this by (starting to) live a healthier life (84%). Work-related measures such as further training (55%) and working fewer hours (59%) are also being considered. Changing employer, position or profession is less often considered.

Pension knowledge slightly increased compared to 2016

Compared to the 2016 Pension Monitor, more people say they know how pensions are arranged in the Netherlands (30% compared to 26% in 2016) and whether their own pension will be indexed or reduced this year. They have thought more often about their income and/or expenses after retirement (65% in 2018 compared to 60% in 2016). Money Wise endorses this positive trend and sees that more and more people are actively looking for information about their pension on the website. For example, the tool 'You can do this for your pension' has already been completed more than 350.000 times. The AOW tool , with which you can calculate your personal state pension age, has already been completed more than 2 million times.

11 responses to “72% of the Dutch want to or will retire earlier than the state pension age”

  1. GeertP says up

    If we first make a distinction between real jobs and bullshit jobs, then we are already on the right track.
    I've already had 44 years of hard work, 36 of which in a 5-shift schedule.
    I have not yet seen anyone reach the finish line in good health (diabetes, heart complaints, tias), all to do with irregular work.
    The politicians who make the rules easily cross the finish line and then have enough energy left to join the corporate chatterbox.
    As long as there is no fair system, the ordinary worker will be the sponsor for the pension pot of the highly educated.

  2. Antoine says up

    I have retired (early) since 01.10.2018 in Germany where I also live of course. I am now 63 and was able to retire early because I have been paying for more than forty years, but I have to pay a certain percentage for each month, but that is not a big difference. I am also entitled to my state pension for the time that I was still living and working in the Netherlands, but I still have to wait until I have reached my retirement age (67). This is of course nonsense from the top shelf of the Dutch state. I thought that in a united Europe we were a bit further along, if you can retire in one state and at the same time not in another state, then you are still miles away from a united Europe, then we might as well get out such a covenant. Then we will probably pay the civil servants in Brussels for nothing, they will not get anything arranged.

    • John Chiang Rai says up

      Dear Antoine, I understand your disappointment for the fact that, like all other Dutch people, you still have to wait until you turn 67 for an Aow benefit.
      There is only a big difference between the system “Deutsche rentenkasse” where you have to drop 3,2% for every year that you could voluntarily stop working, and the AOW, which is nothing more than a social insurance that every inhabitant of the Netherlands , even those who have (never) worked, are entitled to.
      Someone who, just like you in Germany, wants to stop working at the age of 63 in the Netherlands, must be able to bridge the time until the actual retirement age (67) financially.
      So your fear that there is no European equality on this point is not really valid at all.
      In fact, if you look at the recent years, your pension from the Deutsche Rentenkasse is adjusted every year with more than 3% increase in wage development, while at the same time the Aow benefit has remained identical.
      Therefore, the unity you're striving for, which is in the same boat if you would think carefully, is not a lucrative improvement at all for me.

    • Ed & Noy says up

      Antoine,

      Compared to the Dutch AOW, you have a great advantage from the German AOW (Altersrente), Altersrente Germany also pays monthly medical costs (Krankenversicherung) and costs for your health insurance (Pflegeversicherung) despite the fact that you live abroad, have lived and worked in Germany for 9 years , have been living in Thailand for 8 years now.

      Last year I traveled to Germany due to a broken arm and other ailments to be treated there, 5 days in hospital, all costs reimbursed by my Krankenkasse, only the costs for the tickets were for me, after visiting friends and family in DL and NL, back to Thailand in good health.

  3. janbeute says up

    I myself have worked for years in the heavy truck industry as an all-round master truck technician.
    And many of my then older colleagues were happy that they could stop working around the age of 61 with the previously existing early retirement scheme.
    The often heavy work, often under stress and in bad weather conditions, sometimes along the road and in the middle of the night, made it common for the elderly to stay home sick more often with all kinds of ailments.
    And there are really no office jobs or warehouse employee jobs at the company to take it easy until you reach the age of 67.
    That is why the utopia of this current government is certainly not reserved for this profession as well as pavers and construction workers and truck drivers to name just a few professions.
    But perhaps for members of the House of Representatives who are constantly looking at their mobile phones and hanging in their blue chairs.
    I saw the storm coming then , and having saved enough for the future , it was quick to get out of Holland .
    I have been living in Thailand for a nice time now with my Thai wife, and recently heard from a college on Facebook who was allowed to continue drinking until he was 65, and that he is happy that he is finally done with it, let alone continue until he is 67. ste .
    And he , like me and many of my colleagues at the time , did not dislike the work we did .

    Jan Beute.

    • gerrit says up

      I am also from the car mechanics club, and I also plan to stop this hard work as soon as possible, and also to live with the Thai woman under the palm tree, they are not good in The Hague, but yes, walking around with a few A4 pages can make you grow old at work, that's different for our guild..!!

  4. gonny says up

    The 1000 respondents have the intention to retire early, doesn't that mean having a wish or a plan?
    And who are the 1000 surveyed? people who do not perform physical or mental work? I also had the intention to stop at the age of 60, have been saving for years in the so-called life course,
    Could I financially bridge the first years until my retirement, the Minister of Finance thought differently, the rule changed now that the life course must be included before December 31, 2020 and falls directly into the highest tax scale.
    Agree with Geert P, working in shifts for 40 years, police officers, people in care, teachers have to work until retirement age despite hard work, an underpaid job makes it difficult to save and take care of your old age, no then the business community is pumping billions into it. So I don't believe anything about the pension monitor

    • ruud says up

      By then you must plan well the averaging of your income over 3 years.
      That can bring in a lot of money.
      Years without income mean the years with income.
      It takes a while to calculate.

    • Kees says up

      I also enthusiastically participated in the life-course savings scheme. But especially to take extra leave with it. At the end of 2010 , beginning of 2011 I took a 3 month vacation from this life course and traveled through Thailand , Philippines , Vietnam , Cambodia and Laos. The disadvantage of this arrangement was that your employer had to give permission. So at least I got something out of it. And indeed your remaining amount will be released on 31-12-20. I don't know if this automatically gets into the highest tax bracket. It seems to me that this depends on your total annual income.

  5. erik says up

    If I read it that way, the pension monitor was not composed by pavers, construction workers and other people with heavy, taxing professions. No, I think the pollsters; no doubt exhausted from polling 1.000 people, among the chair-sitters who can retire nice and early and see the state pension as a tip.

  6. Chris from the village says up

    I just stopped working at 58.
    Those few euros that I get less later
    I don't care, but 9 years less work does.
    And what I get less AOW, is maybe in the Netherlands
    and problem , but not here in Thailand ,
    where I can live much much cheaper,
    than in the Netherlands!


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