The number of people who put money aside for their old age through an annuity, single premium or life insurance policy is still very small. The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) wants the financial sector to pay more attention to these so-called third-pillar pensions.
Research by the regulator shows that it is now mostly the elderly and people with a high income who accrue pension in this way, for example to be able to stop working earlier. Moreover, according to the AFM, the investment is often small.
Tax attractive
The financial watchdog thinks that this is partly because many people are not yet aware that you can save so tax-efficiently for extra pension. About seven out of ten workers would never have heard of it.
They will probably only know the AOW benefit and pension accrual via the employer. These are the first two pillars of the Dutch pension system.
The low accessibility due to the difficult tax rules is also a barrier, is the impression of the AFM. It is also difficult for consumers to compare different providers of individual supplementary pension provisions.
According to the AFM, it is important that the sector does something about this and that it provides consumers with more information. Because there will be more fiscal space for self-employed persons, among others, to accrue pension in the third pillar, the size of this pension form may increase, the regulator thinks.
