Reform of private pension provision: This is how Germans save money privately for old age

An exclusive survey suggests: Saving for old age with Riester? Only a few do. How the Germans are taking precautions instead. And why young people have a problem.

March 27, 2026, 5:26 am

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Article summary

The Riester pension is being reformed, but many Germans prefer to invest independently in stocks, real estate or overnight money. According to a survey by the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions, 25 percent save for retirement without a Riester contract, while only 14 percent use traditional pension products. State-sponsored retirement provision is being overtaken by individual investment strategies, with 60 percent overall saving privately for old age. Differences can be seen in income, gender and educational qualifications, although the federal government’s reform plans focus on more transparency and lower costs. Despite the need for reform and a focus on security, many remain skeptical about state-sponsored pension products.

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The Bundestag is scheduled to finally discuss the reform of the Riester pension this Friday. But many Germans apparently didn’t wait for a new government offer: they’ve been saving for a long time themselves – with us Sharesreal estate or daily money – and remain skeptical about new pension products. This emerges from a representative survey by the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM), formerly GfK, which is available exclusively to ZEIT. 1,026 adults aged 18 to 74 were surveyed.

Accordingly, independent investing is more popular than state-sponsored investing Retirement planning: 25 percent of those surveyed stated that they were saving for retirement using stocks, ETFs or fund savings plans without a Riester contract. The classic Riester or Rürup pension, on the other hand, only comes to 14 percent. The state-sponsored private pension provision, which was introduced a good 20 years ago as the main component of a new pension policy, has been overtaken by products that function completely without the requirements of the legislature.