Nearly one in three French people are less happy after retirement

2023-11-24 01:53:55

The feelings of the French are mixed after their retirement. Nearly one in three (28%) say they are less “satisfied with (their) life” after retiring from working life, compared to a large third (36%) who say they are more satisfied, according to a study by the Dreesthe public statistical service for health and social services.

The rest (36%) declare “stability” in their level of satisfaction, according to a survey carried out in 2021, therefore before the pension reform, among 5,500 new retirees.

Dissatisfaction after retirement can “lead policyholders to regret, in hindsight, their retirement age,” writes Drees. “21% of policyholders declare that, with hindsight, they would have preferred to leave later” to benefit from a better retirement, she indicates.

More than half of people misjudge the amount of their future pension

Among the insured, “low-income retirees and women more often say they regret not having left later to receive a higher pension, unlike workers who, reporting life satisfaction that was often already low before liquidation, do not, however, regret not having postponed their retirement age,” notes Drees.

The Drees study also shows that more than half of French people have difficulty correctly evaluating their retirement before their departure. According to the survey, only 46% of people who retired were able to correctly estimate the amount of their pension before the big leap. 28% had no idea, and the rest either overestimated (20%) or underestimated (7%).

“Estimation difficulties are more often caused by women, workers and people of modest means”, located in the first pension quartile (the lowest 25% of pensions), indicates the Drees. “Conversely, executives anticipate their pension amounts better,” she explains. The Drees insists on the fact that being affiliated to several schemes increases the risk of incorrectly assessing your future pension.

Logically, “people who had overestimated the amount of their pension more often report seeing a drop in their level of satisfaction” regarding life in general.