According to the study, the most common pension savers are the self-employed, people with above-average incomes and Finns close to retirement age.

Savings rates among people under 30 have increased compared to previous similar surveys. In 2024, 45 per cent of the under-30-year-olds said they were saving for retirement, compared with only 25 per cent of this age group in 2014.

“Young people’s knowledge about saving and investing has increased in recent years, partly due to the content available on social media. According to our study, young people consider private savings for retirement to be more important for their future financial security than older respondents,” says economist Kati Ahonen from the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

The most common reason for not saving was the personal financial situation

The survey also asked why people were not saving for retirement. The most common reason given by respondents was that they did not have the financial means to save. Around two-thirds of the respondents cited this as their reason.

Other commonly cited reasons were spending money on current expenses and not having thought about saving for retirement, with around a fifth of the respondents giving these answers.

Many young respondents plan to start saving for retirement later in life.

Confidence in pension system slightly lower

Nearly two-thirds of working-age people said they had confidence in the pension system as a whole. This proportion is seven percentage points lower than in a similar survey conducted in 2019. Younger age groups, women and those with lower levels of education tend to have less confidence in the pension system than other groups.

”There was no similar change in more detailed opinions on the functioning of the pension system. More respondents than before considered the level of pensions paid to current pensioners to be adequate. But just as many were critical of the adequacy of future pensions and the fairness and clarity of the pension system”, notes economist Sanna Tenhunen of the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

The researchers believe that general global political and economic uncertainty, as well as discussions about pension reform, may have influenced opinions about the pension system.

“As there was no information on the content of the pension reform negotiations until the end of 2024, when the survey was conducted, opinions on pensions have remained relatively stable,” Tenhunen said.

Some 1,600 working-age Finns took part in the survey.

Research publication:
Knowledge about pensions, trust in the pension system and financial preparedness – Views on Pensions 2024 -survey (Julkari)