The “Geldzaken in de praktijk” (Money Matters in Practice) study by NIBUD shows that about 23 percent of Dutch 55-65 year-olds do not know whether they can financially survive after retirement.
I understand this in part.
Lifetime employment is over. Many older employees have been made redundant with negative consequences for income and pension accrual.
In addition, employers now use more and more permanent contracts. As a result, the number of self-employed persons with often varying incomes is increasing.
All in all, saving for later almost automatically has decreased a lot because of these developments, making the financial future of many more uncertain.
What do you do about it?
That is hard to say and it will have to be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Of course, living with reduced expenses can do no harm.
For the somewhat older people among us there is often an own home with surplus value. For them it can be interesting to realize (i.e. sell the house) that value and to start living cheaper. This will in any case reduce expenditure during the pension situation.
Taking such a step in a favorable housing market is better than when we are all in crisis again.
I admit that the tax and banking regulations with regard to mortgages do not make it attractive to think about selling and buying one’s property. As a layman in the financial field, it is almost impossible to determine the right course through the forest of rules.
Then procrastination and putting one’s head in the sand become likely.
For example, I recently met someone who decided to postpone the sale of his spacious home because he expected a substantial prepayment penalty from his mortgage bank when he sold it. Completely wrong, I think, but there is always a reason why you should not take action.
People wake up and think about your financial future.
Better late than too late.
Financial planners are there to advise.