(Finance) – At the Salone del Risparmio in Milan, theSilver Economy Observatory Censis-Tendercapital 2023, “The long-lived and savings: values and choices”. The research reveals a clear picture of the economic condition of today’s long-lived people, a generation devoted to savings and ready to safeguard its welfare system with its wealth and its investments.
The generation of savings – The current generations of the elderly benefit from a higher economic well-being than their peers from other eras and from what current young people and adults expect for their longevity. A well-being that the elderly have built over time thanks to the contribution to which they owe their pensions and the good management of accumulated savings. Currently, a family headed by an elderly person has a 50.8% higher average net wealth value and a 100.7% higher value of financial assets than a head aged up to 40 years.
The demographic indicator and the long-lived economy – From the Censis-Tendercapital Observatory on the Silver Economy it emerges that people who have reached the age of 65, commonly considered elderly, are on the increase: they are 14,177,445 and compared to twenty years ago there is an increase of 3,323,545 people (+30, 6%). Over the next twenty years, it is expected that the elderly will become 18,953,717, with an increase of 4,776,272 individuals (+33.7%). The economics of the long-lived age highlights the role of retirement: 65.3% of the elderly believe that retirement alone does not guarantee well-being in the third and fourth age, an idea shared by 74.7% of young people and by 79, 1% of adults.
The wealth of the elderly who save – 84.6% of the long-lived declare that for a serene and well-being old age it is essential in life to invest savings well: 80.9% of adults and 76.7% of young people think so. In twenty years, the average family net wealth of the elderly recorded a real +3.8%, in contrast with that of people up to 40 years of age (-11.9%) and those between 41 and 65 years of age (-13.5 %). As regards the financial wealth of long-lived people, in twenty years it has increased in real terms by +6.9%, compared to a drop of almost 20% for people up to 40 years of age and 17.7% for people between 41 and 65 years old.
Welfare stability, difficult healthcare – The condition of the elderly today also owes much to the effectiveness of our welfare system. Today, however, we are witnessing the return of inadequate welfare funding with respect to the dynamics of ageing, the boom in chronic diseases and the need for services for any emergencies. In the health sector, for example, in the last year it has become more difficult for 84.1% of the elderly to access the services of the National Health Service of their Region, due to increasingly long waiting lists. Savings for the elderly thus becomes a real financial lung to be used to pay for health services and benefits that are otherwise difficult to access in appropriate times.
“From the Censis-Tendercapital Observatory on the Silver Economy – he said Federico Freni, undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy and Finance – it emerges that the average family net wealth of the elderly recorded a real increase of 3.8%, representing a concrete point of reference in the social panorama. It is therefore necessary to develop an offer of innovative services to respond to the needs of the over 65s and all this can prove to be a powerful engine for relaunching growth in an aging country, such as ours, also through the creation of new jobs “.
“The Censis-Tendercapital Observatory on the Silver Economy – he said Claudio Durigon, undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies – highlights the fundamental social role that the long-lived generation plays in the country. It is therefore necessary to adapt the welfare system to the dynamics of population aging taking into account the current particularly complex economic situation. From this perspective, the reform of the pension system represents an essential prerequisite for protecting a generation that has contributed decisively to the progress of our national community”.
“Despite the difficulties of the current historical phase, which collects the harmful consequences of events such as the pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war and with inflation representing one of the main concerns for the maintenance of welfare, the elderly – he said Moreno Zani, president of Tendercapital – remain a concrete point of reference in the social landscape and for their families. As emerges from the Observatory on the Silver Economy, the elderly have an excellent ability to save and invest, while young people are still in financial difficulty, uncertain about their working future and forced to rely on the dynamism and stability of the long-lived generation” .
“The Silver Economy represents a central asset on which – he declared Marco Alparone, vice president of the Lombardy Region and councilor for the Budget and Finance – it is necessary to invest, taking into account the increase in life expectancy. The strengthening of the welfare network, the provision of accessible services and benefits and, at the same time, the protection of savings remain the most important challenges for local administrations in order to safeguard the well-being and economic condition of long-lived people. We have a generation that has invested its whole life in saving, building a family at the same time, having children. In this sense, the role of savings has become a powerful engine for the development of the country”.
“‘Wealth is created with work, it is saved with parsimony and it is conserved with wisdom’, so an old proverb. It was the time of stable and lasting work, of frugal and sustainable consumption, of mature and profound thought. Today – he said Maurizio Grifoni, president of the Fon.Te Fund. – work is insecure, consumption ephemeral, thought fragmented, the present dilated, the future uncertain. It is therefore necessary to believe and invest in education, training, work, business, social life and the family. In addition to guaranteeing a better pension, the supplementary pension will have to take on this commitment”.
“Despite the economic scenario characterized by rising inflation, the state of health of the world of banks appears positive with total assets growing. In this context,” he observed Tiziana Stallone, vice president of Adepp and president of Enpab – the reduction of the tax burden appears to be a priority, with a view to strengthening the purchasing power of pensions and guaranteeing the protection of savings. Our challenge is to respond to a new audience, demographically older. We therefore hope for courageous interventions in order to allow the Banks to invest in the development of the country-system”.