Germans Not Saving for Old Age

A new study shows that about 40 percent of Germans are without any kind of private old-age provisions. The Dresdner Bank, which conducted the study, said the remaining 60 percent invested 114 euros per month on an average towards retirement provisions. However, the majority of Germans surveyed said that they didn't want to rely entirely on the state-run pension scheme. 53 percent said they were in favor of a mixture of state-run pensions and mandatory private pensions, 7.3 percent said they wanted the current state system to be scrapped to make way for a purely private pension scheme. Pointing to the results of the study, executive chairman of the Dresdner Bank, Herbert Walter said more education about individual financial planning was urgently needed and should begin in schools. "We must inform all strata of society about economic factors and links underlying pension problems," Walter said.