The youth departments of the four political parties making up the Dutch coalition government have called for the compulsory participation in a pension for all workers, including freelancers and contract workers.

In a joint statement, the four youth parties give their vision on the future of the pension system. Apart from compulsory participation, they would like to see more freedom of choice, but only after the member has received financial advice.

This vision largely mimics that of the coalition agreement, which also mentions the abolition of the average premium and the introduction of personal pension puts. Moreover, the youth organisations call for an additional measure for every tax-paying citizen in the Netherlands, including contract workers.

When it comes to more freedom of choice, the parties’ plans will allow members to pick their own investment profile. Furthermore, at retirement a larger part of the pension assets can be taken out, and it will be possible to take a so-called premium holiday. However, these types of freedoms of choice would carry the obligation to first seek financial advice.

“Transparency is key, people need to know what they have, which risks they are sharing and which risks there are so that they do not have false expectations,” the young politicians say.

“With these reforms, we hope to end the opposing interests of different generations in the current system. By making clear what is who’s and cover the risks together, we can prevent that different groups become worried that someone else will receive their retirement money.”

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