Forty per cent of young Finnish adults are worried about their future pension income, according to a survey by earnings-related pension provider Elo.

Its survey of 117 Finns between the age of 17 and 30 asked young people about their attitudes towards the earnings-related pension statement and general opinions on pensions.

In regard to the earnings-related pension statement, it found that just 28 per cent of those that responded to the survey have checked their earnings-related pension statements and feel they have received important information about their pension.

A further 25 per cent of respondents have checked their earnings-related pension statements but do not know if the information is necessary. The rest of the respondents, 47 per cent, did not remember checking their earnings-related pension statement.

Concerns about the retirement age were also highlighted in open-ended responses, where many respondents considered the impact of part-time work, studies and the ageing of the population on their own pensions. Many also commented that they were not interested in pension issues at a young age and that they planned to study things closer to retirement age.

The results of the survey are very similar to the Finnish Centre for Pensions' May 2021 survey on the Pension Barometer 2021. According to the Pension Barometer, pension knowledge improves with age, and only 16 per cent of young people under the age of 25 felt that they knew pension issues well or fairly well.

Elo pension counselling manager, Satu Saulivaara, said that many young people think that they don’t need to think about retirement until they are closer to it.
“This is understandable. However, earnings earned during one's career affect future pension security, and when making life choices, it is good to recognize their impact on retirement.”

She added that earnings-related pension statements contain all earnings data that has accrued earnings-related pensions. “The future pension is based on this information and therefore it is important to review the earnings-related pension statement,” she said.

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