Compulsory and private pension insurance: The analysis of users' attitudes

Abstract

The aging of population and the problem of unemployment are the two main causes of difficulties for the pension systems of many countries - both the developed ones and those that have finished or are currently in the process of transition. Problems related to the operation of pension systems, including some serious crises of pension systems, call for some major reforms. In this respect, Serbia is no different from other countries. In most countries and especially in "countries in transition", the pension insurance systems are in crisis and they are trying to establish a model of sustainable functionality with reforms. In the period from 2001 to 2014, Serbia was reforming the pension system in order to deal with numerous problems such as: high deficit, debt, the employed to retired population ratio, negative demography, etc. In this paper we have presented our research results with the aim to evaluate the opinions of Serbia's citizens about the existent compulsory pensions insurance funds and the trust in private insurance funds, as well as the opinions about the need for additional reforms of the system. The "H0" Hypothesis has been proven to be correct: The citizens are not satisfied with the existing state of the pension insurance funds. They are con­cerned that the pension fund is empty and that it cannot guaranty reliable pen­sions. This means that reforms carried out until the present moment are simply not sufficient and they need to be continued.

Keywords

• compulsory pension insurance
• private pension insurance
• system reforms