Work to the last... Why the authorities do not allow citizens to save up for old age

Ivan Zubov

As Novye Izvestia has already reported, citing a new VTsIOM survey , the proportion of Russians who cannot save from their salaries due to spending on current needs has reached 39%. Moreover, almost half (44%) of the respondents said that if they save money, then only after all the necessary expenses. Only 14% first take care of savings, and only then distribute the remaining funds for current needs.

Sociologists note that against the backdrop of the situation in the country, our compatriots began to think more often about the need to make savings, but now not everyone has such an opportunity.

At the same time, in the July report “On the socio-economic situation” of the country, Rosstat reported that the real incomes of Russians, that is, the amount that remains on hand after taking into account inflation and all mandatory payments, decreased by 0.8% in the second quarter. A quarter earlier, the Russians became poorer by 1.2%, and for half a year (that is, since the invasion of Putin's army into Ukraine) by 0.8% in annual terms.

An excellent result: today in Russia there are 40% of the poor and another 45% of the needy!

These figures could not remain unnoticed by experts.

Thus, Dmitry Dolgin , an economist at ING Bank, said that the effect of social and other one-time payments has worked so far: “Already now, 55-60% of consolidated government spending is spent on direct support of the population’s income,” however, the possibilities of the budget are not unlimited.

Bloomberg Economics economist Alexander Isakov agrees with him, who predicts that, taking into account the indexation of pensions, as well as a number of new payments that have been made since this year, the overall decline in real disposable income by the end of the year will be about 3.5-4.5%. “The main risk here is a re-acceleration of inflation in the second half of the year,” Isakov warns.

Journalist Pavel Pryanikov approached the problem from a global point of view:

“In general, this repeats the macrostructure of Russian society, which has been studied by many economists. Now it looks like "40% are the poor, 45% are the needy, 15% are the middle class and the rich." Evgeny Yasin, former Minister of Economics and Vice-Rector of the Higher School of Economics, said that "20% of Russians lost from the reforms, 60% remained on their own, 20% won."

Other economists also spoke about this well-established layer of 15-20%, “fitting into the market…”

You can’t live on a pension, so work to the last!

And the economist Dmitry Prokofiev , calling the situation a “(non) cumulative effect”, drew attention to the situation of pensioners:

“VTsIOM accompanied the publication of its new survey on pensions with a noteworthy commentary by economist Nikolai Kuznetsov, (Institute of Economics and Finance, State University of Management).

“In Russia, pensioners make up… 29%… since the 2010s, there has been a steady trend towards an increase in the number of pension recipients. Yes, the number of pensioners in the covid years has slightly decreased, but we can still predict an increase in their share...

If young people can simply not think about it, then the older generation looks at their future most often with pessimism. As a general rule, the closer a person is to retirement, the more their anxiety intensifies. And the survey conducted by VTsIOM clearly demonstrates this.

Over the past 14 years, the focus of attention of our citizens has clearly shifted from state pension provision to independent accumulation of funds.

If in 2008 73% of the population considered the state to be the main guarantor of their pensions, this year it is only 63%.

That is, out of ten of your acquaintances, three or four people do not believe that the state is able to provide them with a decent old age.”

In general, the authorities successfully explain to people that they can only rely on themselves, however, only 6% of respondents allow themselves to save money regularly “for old age”.

But what is interesting is that over the past 17 years, the number of those who plan to live in retirement by renting out real estate has increased 10 times. Why are people willing to do anything "for a mortgage"? - so this is their pension! In the apartment, all their hope that they can survive in old age

“... at the same time, 13-17 years ago, 29-30% found it difficult to name a specific source of income, noting what they would think when the time came, in 2022 there were only 4% of them. This means that the Russians have begun to better understand this issue and plan to ensure their life in retirement,” VTsIOM notes in its release.

As for the size of the pension itself, according to people, “the size of the pension that could provide a comfortable standard of living is 39,638 rubles, which is 2.3 times more than the average size of the assigned pension in April 2022 (16 0974)

Requests for men - 43,908 rubles, women - 37,465 rubles.

At the same time, if in Moscow and St. Petersburg the amount was 49,103 rubles, then in the countryside - 33,736 rubles, 30% lower.

People do not ask for anything extra! Most likely - 30 - 40 thousand - this is the amount on which the pensioner really lives (where he gets his additional 20 thousand, another question).

But it all looks as if, assigning pensions half as low as any acceptable standard of living, the government is pushing a person to super efforts at the present time - a mortgage at any cost, two or three jobs, endless “part-time jobs” on any conditions ... You can’t live on a pension you can, come on, work to the last ... "