Last week sounded finance minister Niklas Wykman (M) announce that the number of AP funds should decrease.
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Finance Minister Niklas Wykman (M). Photo: Jonas Ekströmer/Ttch for reduces the AP Funds
The background is that the management of the funds needs to be more efficient, says the minister.
– We are guarding the taxpayers’ money, which is why we tighten the requirements on the boards and merge some funds. Today, there are five buffer funds even though there are obvious economies of scale. This lowers costs and gives better control over the funds’ operations. It benefits everyone who works and pays to this system, says Finance Minister Niklas Wykman, in a Press release from the government.
The big question now is how this will affect the management of pension, as is the pensioners’ personal finances.
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Pensioner: “The responsibility to manage SEK 2,000 billion”
In an interview with News24 accounts Alecta’s pension economist, Staffan Strömthat the change regarding the AP funds will not cause any major difference for most people.
-The AP funds have the great and important responsibility to manage SEK 2,000 billion, but despite the large amount, nothing affects pensions here and now. The AP funds are primarily available to level out imbalances between reception and payments in the pension system over time. Sometimes it is about the stock exchange’s oscillations, but above all it is about the generations being different and about the group of pensioners growing and continuing to grow over time.
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Pension economist Staffan Ström. Press image Alecta/Photo: Evelina Carborn
Ström believes that he thinks the decision to make if the AP funds are good, provided it is implemented in a good and correct way.
-If you take advantage of the skills that exist at today’s AP funds but organize it in a more cost-effective way, you can both sharpen the conditions for delivering a good result and save upwards of half a billion a year. It is not about the AP funds delivered poorly so far, but that today not five organizations are needed to perform what three organizations can do at least as well, he tells News24.
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So your pension is affected – according to the expert
Whether the reduction in the AP funds affects the pension and future pension payments is unclear. According to Staffan Ström, there are other things that are more important for the Swedes’ pensions.
How do you think it affects the Swedes’ pension?
– – – In the short term, it is positive if a few hundred million SEK each year becomes pension money instead of disappearing in operating costs. In the long term, it is clearly more important for the Swedes’ pensions, for example how the balance between those who pay to the pension system and those who take out pensions look like, says Ström and adds conclusion:
– The forecast forward is that the number of pensioners is increasing properly, while the group that pays is constant or even decreases as a result of reduced immigration and a reduced childbirth. That risk can effective AP funds mitigate the effect of, but it is also the main reason why Sweden in 2026 for a target age-a recommended retirement age that is linked to the average life expectancy.
The government wants the changes regarding the AP funds to be implemented until January 1, 2026.
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