Statement on the Questionnaire from the Federal Government’s Retirement Security Commission: Retirement Security – A Matter of Income and Assets

To this end, an index is to be developed that reflects the level of coverage provided by statutory, occupational and private insurance. However, this indicator would lead to erroneous conclusions. For one thing, assets are not considered that can secure one´s standard of living in old age just as effectively as monthly pension payments. On the other hand, in two-person households, one person´s low pension may coincide with the other person´s high pension entitlements. Therefore, the amount of a statutory pension or the prevalence of supplemental pension schemes does not necessarily indicate a pension gap in old age. For the same reasons, concerns about rising risks of poverty in old age are misleading if they are used to justify reforms. Instead, a comprehensive analysis of income and wealth distribution at the household level is necessary to derive a targeted and efficient reform of pension systems.