The majority of members of the Dutch pension fund PensioenfondsING are not willing to take much investment risk, research has found.

A survey by the fund of over 5,200 of its members found that most participants like to have certainty about the amount of their pension. This remains true even if their pension ends up lower than it could have been if more risk was taken.

The pension fund found that those already in receipt of their pension want to take the least amount of risk. Those not yet receiving a pension do not want to take too much risk either, although there are more participants in this group who want to take more risk with their pension.

However, the survey found that most members can take some investment risk with their pension as the majority said they do not expect to immediately run into financial problems if their pension becomes lower than expected.

“They can absorb this (in part) with savings or in some other way. However, there are major differences between participants. Some participants would run into financial problems if their pension became lower than expected. They can afford little risk with their pension,” PensioenfondsING stated.

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