Germany’s Deutsches Aktieninstitut (DAI) has said it advocates for the greater use of shares in all three pillars of the country’s pension system, as it publishes its annual Return Triangles for 2025.

DAI said its Return Triangles showed that, when invested over the long term, broadly diversified and continuously, equities are a reliable instrument for wealth accumulation and retirement provision.

DAI chief executive and member of the board, Henriette Peucker, said: "Our return triangles provide a fact-based basis for political debate. The decisive factors for investment success are not the timing of entry, but time in the market, broad diversification and regular investment.”

Indeed, she noted that short-term fluctuations become less important with long-term investment.

“By following these basic rules, good returns can be achieved. At the same time, they are a built-in safety mechanism that makes equities, equity funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) a particularly suitable instrument for wealth accumulation and retirement provision,” she added.

DAI stated that those who do not want to select their own stocks can fall back on equity funds and ETFs.

Broad indices such as the DAX, which tracks the performance of large German companies, or the MSCI World, which covers listed companies from many countries around the world, offset fluctuations in individual sectors or regions, it explained.

"Our return triangles clearly show that the stock market offers great opportunities for better retirement provision and successful saving if the basic rules are followed.

“We are therefore committed to improving the framework conditions that encourage people to invest in equities on a long-term, broadly diversified and continuous basis. In this way, we want to enable as many people as possible to share in the successes of the economy while at the same time improving financing opportunities for companies," Peucker said.

At a political level, DAI noted that it has called for a bold reform of private pension provision and the introduction of an early-start pension that seamlessly transitions into a retirement savings account.

It is also campaigning for the introduction of a tax-advantaged investment savings account that makes it easier to save in shares for different life goals.

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