Many Swiss believe quality of life will suffer on retirement

Pension: many Swiss won't make it to maintain living tenor Keystone-SDA

More than a quarter (27%) of Swiss believe they will not be able to maintain their standard of living after retirement.

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The share rises to 46% in French-speaking Switzerland, while dropping to 21% in German-speaking Switzerland, according to a survey commissioned by insurer Axa, which did not take into account Ticino.

The demographic survey – 1,009 people were questioned – shows that the age group most concerned is the over-60s, where the share of those who think they will have to cut back on their budget stands at 37%. Also important is the gap between women (36%) and men (22%).

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Two-thirds of people aged 50-65 (64%) have already taken care of retirement funding, with the frequency increasing with age. But one in five (19%) workers nearing retirement (i.e., over 60) have not yet thought about how they will finance the new phase they are about to experience: the main reason cited for not addressing the issue is lack of money.

When it comes to deciding whether to receive second-pillar retirement assets in the form of a lump sum or an annuity, only 65% of respondents aged 50-65 know the different tax implications. Overall, less than half (36%) of people are able to estimate whether and how much they will inherit: of these, only slightly more than a quarter consider inheritance an essential part of retirement planning.

Only slightly less than a quarter (23%) of the sample is of the opinion that one can finance retirement exclusively from the first and second pillars. The remainder of the Swiss (77%) are aware that a private pension alternative should be used.

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Three-quarters of respondents between the ages of 18 and 65 (75%) have opted for a solution in the third pillar: in this area, securities formulas have become increasingly popular in recent years.

“We note with pleasure that large segments of the population have realised that retirement planning is also a private matter,” says Herbert Goll, an AXA executive, quoted in a statement.

Translated from Italian by DeepL/ts

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