“Key areas of development” have been identified to improve the Swedish pensions dashboard’s retirement planning service.

A report by academics at Jönköping University has advised making the tool, available on the country’s minPension (My Pension) website, as simple as possible. However, it stressed this should not compromise on the details and features required for users who want to make more advanced and customised forecasts.

Among other things, the report recommended sending reminders via SMS or email to encourage users who have started but not finalised their plans to return to minPension, finalise those plans and explore more options.

Researchers Johannes Hagen and Andrea Schneider at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) conducted the study titled,Swedish occupational decumulation outcomes following the use of the country’s withdrawal planner service.

The withdrawal planner was launched in 2019 to make it easier for savers to plan their pensions. Among other things, users can test different ways of drawing their pensions and see their pension over time, both before and after tax.

The analysis is based on individual data from minPension and Statistics Sweden on people over 55. As many as 90 per cent of 66-year-olds have logged on to minPension at some point and 40 per cent have used the withdrawal planner service.

Although just 40 per cent planned to draw their occupational pension over a lifetime, the figures for shorter payment periods were higher at 50 per cent for five and 10-year payment periods.

The research also found that people with higher education and income are more likely to use the tool and most opt out of having their occupational pension paid out for life. Use of the withdrawal planner on minPension is also linked to longer working lives and later retirement ages.

As a result of their findings, Hagen calls for the service to be “designed in a way that makes it user-friendly, even for those with no prior knowledge”.

"Many people choose short withdrawal periods for good reasons, but it is worrying that most pensioners are opting out of the financial security that lifelong withdrawals provide in case they live longer than expected," Hagen said.

In addition, minPension CEO, Cecilia Rosendahl Lavén, said the research has helped the service identify “key areas for development”.

“We need to further develop and improve the functionality in close cooperation with all actors providing data to minPension. By building on the existing service, we create even better opportunities for our users – and our affiliates' customers – to easily plan and apply for their pension withdrawals.”

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