Factors determining the possession of voluntary retirement savings by individuals

The aim of the article is to identify the demographic, economic, and financial factors influencing savings accumulation in Individual Private Pension Plans across selected European countries. The study utilized 2020 data from the Europe an Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions. The countries selected for the study were those for which respondents answered the question on accumulating savings in individual pension plans. These countries included Poland, Czechia, Germany, Bulgaria, and Austria. Based on the literature, potential factors that may influence the accumulation of retirement savings have been identified. Considering the available data, potential independent variables were selected: age, gender, marital status, type of work contract, self-defined current economic status, the ability to spend a small amount of money each week on oneself, and non-cash employee income. The results obtained through logistic regression models revealed that not all analyzed variables were significant for each country. Only in Czechia did gender become a statistically significant determinant of savings in individual pension plans. In the case of Poland, Germany, Czechia, and Austria, the significant factors in systematically accumulating retirement capital by individuals are age and type of work contract. The ability to spend small amounts of money on oneself every week was statistically significant in Germany, Austria, and Czechia. For Bulgaria, non-cash employee income was the sole significant variable.