OLGA IZRYADNOVA: “ONE SHOULD SAVE MONEY FOR A PENSION FROM THE VERY FIRST PAYCHECK”

The financial authorities do not make a secret that the Russians will have to save extra for ensuring their decent old age, reports the Nezavisimaya gazeta. Olga Izryadnaya, Head of the Structural Economic Studies Department of the Gaidar Institute has noted that today’s workers should start saving money as early as possible right from their first paycheck.

The reform of the funded pension system in Russia is postponed at least to 2023 though originally it was planned to complete the introduction of a guaranteed pension plan as far back as 2021. A large-scale pension reform, which first stage included an increase in the retirement age, was initially planned in 2018. The second stage was to deal with the modernization of the Russian funded pension system. However, the financial authorities made it clear right away that for ensuring a decent old age the Russians would have to save money extra even after the retirement age was increased. But the second stage of the reform dragged on, the pandemic broke out and then the developments of 2022 followed.

Оlga Izryadnova believes that money should be saved for pension from the very first paycheck owing to a change in the existing stereotypes of investment and consumer behavior and relevant growth in the level of financial literacy. Most importantly, individuals should be responsible for their own future, Оlga Izryadnova notes.