Save. That sounds somehow like restriction, fun brake and renunciation. Who would want that? Financial expert Larissa Kravitz explains why you can't avoid it for a future in which you want to afford a lot.
When it comes to long-term thinking and planning, according to neuroeconomists and behavioral researchers, we humans don't have a particularly great talent for it,”says investment advisor Larissa Kravitz. The scientists Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler found in studies that we tend to greatly overestimate our ability to save for the future and massively underestimate our impulsive consumer behavior. “No wonder, because our brain is not geared towards it. For our prehistoric ancestors, the urge to eat everything that was available at the moment was an important survival mechanism,”says the expert. This has remained evolutionary, although we are now around 85 years old in Europe and the logic actually dictates that we have to distribute our resources over a longer period of time: “The arguments for long-term financial provision are extensive. We're not only getting older, we're also having fewer and fewer children.”While a woman in Austria gave birth to an average of 2.7 children in 1960, the figure is currently just under 1.5. This demographic change is putting pressure on our pension system.
Thinking ahead. Those who retired in 2019 received an average of 1,275 euros (the initial pension for men was 1,594 euros, for women 1,060 euros). Big jumps, a trip around the world or wintering in Mallorca are hardly possible with these amounts. It often happens that the everyday life of retired women is dominated by savings and part-time jobs. Working up to 70 or longer is already a reality. Due to the explosive nature of the topic and the current pension values, young people are becoming aware that the future prospects for old age without private provision are not very rosy. Tip: There are individual savings plans starting on the next page.
