A house is not a retirement plan : households' perceptions of old age and the use of housing equity in Belgium

Palmans, Vicky (author), De Decker, Pascal (author)

With the coming boom of people entering pension age, the debate on the affordability of the legal pension in Belgium has accelerated. On the one hand, the argument is that the legal pension scheme will remain affordable, while on the other hand doom scenarios refer to its un-affordability and the fact that the legal pension will not be high enough to live a decent life when retired. With this last opinion in mind, it is not surprising that commentators and/or policy makers look at the assets households have and include them in the debates on the sustainability of the welfare scheme. In this paper, based on a qualitative research layout, using in-depth interviews with 30 households in the Ghent region, we report on the strategies and the attitudes of households concerning their future pension and the possibility of using the equity of their own house to supplement their income when retired.

• Language: English
• Work type: Not categorized
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Year: 2010
• Number of pages: Str. 959-974
• Numbering: Letn. 47, št. 5
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-23147
• UDC: 316.334.54:364.35(493)
• ISSN on article: 0040-3598
• COBISS.SI-ID: 29738589
• Publication date in RUL: 11.07.2014

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Teorija in praksa : revija za družbena vprašanja
• Shortened title: Teor. praksa
• Publisher: Fakulteta za družbene vede
• ISSN: 0040-3598
• COBISS.SI-ID: 763652

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian

Abstract

Pričakovani skokoviti porast števila ljudi, ki vstopajo v obdobje upokojitve, je v Belgiji pospešil razpravo o tem, koliko si lahko še privoščijo sedanje zakonsko določene pokojnine. Po eni strani se trdi, da bo to možno, po drugi strani pa po črnem scenariju to ne bo možno, pa tudi pokojnine ne bodo dovolj velike, da bi po upokojitvi omogočale spodobno življenje. Glede na slednjo možnost torej ni čudno, da poznavalci in oblikovalci politike analizirajo premoženje gospodinjstev in ga vključujejo v razprave o ohranitvi sistema blaginje. V tem članku, ki temelji na kvalitativnem raziskovalnem načrtu in uporablja poglobljene intervjuje s člani 30 gospodinjstev na območju Genta, poročamo o tem, kakšne strategije in stališča imajo gospodinjstva glede svoje bodoče pokojnine in glede možnosti, da bi uporabili stanovanjsko premoženje kot dopolnilni prihodek po upokojitvi.