Going Dutch? Low interest rates rattle 'world's best' pension system

AMSTERDAM - When Frans Kolkman hung up his police badge in 2017, he was looking forward to a comfortable retirement. Two years later he’s among millions of Dutch pensioners facing a cut and fearing there may be worse to come.

The European Central Bank’s stimulus policies, which have helped drive interest rates into negative territory, are blamed in part for the impending cuts in the Netherlands and have triggered a fierce debate over how the funding of pensions should be calculated. The lower this interest rate, “rekenrente” in Dutch, the more conservative the accounting, and the more it costs to meet future liabilities.

Increasing the rekenrente to 2% or 3% would restore the funds to full solvency. Corien Wortmann-Kool, the chairwoman of the 456 billion euro ABP civil servants fund, told Reuters she opposes pension cuts as “unnecessary” for now. His approach is supported by a group of 10 academics who this week wrote to parliament arguing against a change.

But for Kolkman and other pensioners, cuts estimated at up to 8% next year make no sense, given assets in Dutch pension funds have doubled since 2008 to more than 1.5 trillion euros.

Good article.

for those of you under 50 a 'pension' is money your employer gives you every month for the rest of your life after you retire

It's basically a robbery, but done by the financial politicians. The banks and investors get free money. Personally I do not trust he ECB just like many. A shady club with shady people. Just like convicted Lagarde that wants Draghi's job now. Feels like a crazy movie tbh.

In cold print? Printer’s pie. ..

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