With the increasing aging of China's society, the allocation of personal pensions has become a major challenge for young people. Against this backdrop, Zhou Yanfang, a deputy to the National People's Congress and director of the CPIC Strategic Research Center, presented a report on recommendations aimed at promoting young people's active participation in the allocation of personal pensions on the eve of the 2024 National People's Congress and the National People's Congress. Zhou Yanfang emphasized the importance of encouraging young people to actively allocate personal pensions in the context of the current aging society.
The report pointed out that although the number of personal pension accounts opened in 2023 has reached 50 million, accounting for 76% of the number of taxpayers in the country8%, but the actual number of depositors is only 22% of the number of account openings, and the per capita deposit amount is far below the upper limit, showing that the enthusiasm for deposit is not high. In particular, the young group of the post-90s, although the number of accounts for a relatively high proportion of accounts, is hesitant in the deposit and investment of pensions, reflecting the lack of sufficient understanding of pensions among young people, as well as the lack of willingness to long-term pension reserves.
Zhou Yanfang pointed out that the current tax policy is not enough to motivate young people, coupled with the lack of flexibility in account management, and the high professional threshold for the selection of personal pension products, which are the main reasons for the low participation of young people. Young people with low incomes, in particular, may face a higher tax burden after participating in a personal pension plan, which undoubtedly increases their financial pressure.
In response to these problems, Zhou Yanfang put forward four policy recommendations, aiming to increase the participation of young people in the allocation of personal pensions. First of all, she suggested strengthening the publicity and education of personal pensions, especially the use of the new platform, to design publicity content that matches the interests of young people, so as to improve their level of pension financial knowledge and enthusiasm for participation. Second, in order to incentivize long-term participation, it is recommended to provide financial subsidies to low-income groups and adjust the upper limit of annual contributions to increase tax incentives.
In addition, Zhou Yanfang also proposed to differentiate the design of personal pension products, increase the flexibility of the use of funds, and allow early withdrawal of pensions in the event of major changes. Finally, she suggested that financial institutions should provide more convenient pension consulting and planning services and lower the selection threshold, so as to improve the willingness and satisfaction of young people to participate in personal pension allocation.