Subsequent retirement in Ireland and then
One of the strongest realities is how many households have saved when they retire.
In Ireland;
- The contributing state pension offers around € 15,100 per year (€ 289.30 per week in 2025) for people with full contributions (Gov.ie).
- CSO data show that 56% of employees without private pensions expect to rely on the state pension in retirement (CSO, pension reporting 2024).
- TILDA investigation has shown that for households aged 65, the state pension makes up about two-thirds of the gross income and 26% is completely dependent on the income funded by the state (Tilda report).
Based on American research, the image there is not much different;
- Vanguard’s How America saves believes that the Mediaan Defined Contribution (DC) Plan Balance for 55-64 year olds $ 95,642 was in 2024 (Vanguard, 2024).
- Professor James Poterba’s research shows that for Americans aged 65, public pensions (social security) are good for 85%, 84%, 57%and 18%of income in the first to fourth income quartielen.
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CCPC Pension reporting Ireland September 2025
The beautifully mentioned ‘Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’ here in Ireland (CCPC) does enormous positive work in the training, protection and informing of All-Things financially and otherwise. They recently published their findings of very interesting research into the preparation of Irish people in retirement. They approached it from a financial and pension overview perspective …
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- While 60% of Irish adults have a form of retirement, a significant 26% remains completely unprepared for retirement
- 11% intend to rely on the rental income (almost a year and a half years ago!)
- A third of the pension holders regret that they have not started their contributions before.
- 36% of the pension holders are not sure how pensions work
- 66% never spoke with a financial adviser
- 60% has little or no understanding of how car registration (January 2026) will work, and only 27% of those without expecting a pension to be registered in AE!
- More than half of those with a pension have no confidence in their ability to offer a good standard of living in retirement.
- Pension ownership is the lowest among 18 to 24-year-olds (18%)
- Caring is 21% of those aged between 45 and 54 notification with no pension schemes
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Full CCPC report available here.
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But why is this a problem, could you ask?
The real problem here ??
But why is this a problem, you could ask. Reasonable.
The real problem is not that 40% have no pension, or that there is a lack of awareness about Auto registration or another stat.
For me, the problem is that most of us have given little to no thought or plan to finance our financial freedom.
Of course there are many who struggle from week to week, from month to month, and for those who, make the end meet, is the only focus. That is not an easy place to be.
For many, however, there are resources and choices and satisfactures that can be postponed, and planning can be done – they just don’t do it.
And why should they?
Because they need the money …….
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EuropThe ‘smile’ pension in spending patterns
Much of the research over the years (of which we have assessed and shared here before), states that the pension expenditure is rarely optional.
It often follows a U-shaped curve:
- Higher in the early years (the ‘go go’ year!); Travel, leisure, lifestyle (such as a young calf that has been gained in a field!)
- Lower in the middle (the SLO-Go years!); The activity slows down, the health restrictions grow.
- Later higher again (the no-go years!); Healthcare and supporting costs rise
CSO -Data for households of 65 years shows:
- 40% less on transport than younger households,
- More than 50% less about recreation and culture, but
- More about health, and only a little less on food and housing (CSO, household budget research 2022–23).
The message seems clear: discretionary expenses fall, but essential things remain stubborn.
But is that reduction in pension expenses due to choice or enforced?
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Expenditure can increase in retirement, if we have it!
“Heterogeneity in publishing change during retirement” (Hurd & Rohwedder, 2013)
Hurd & Rohwedder (2013) investigated how expenditure changes when people retire. On average there is only a small decrease in total expenditure on retirement.
But the change is not the same for everyone. People with more wealth often increase the expenses after retiring. The drop is larger for less rich households.
Important observations
- Expenditure decreases in retirement Average small For total expenses.
- Keeping undestination household see a lot raised In expenditures after retirement!
- Households with low wealth show larger expenses decreases.
- Poor health is a major factor in early retirement and larger expenditure drops.
- Part of the decline is explained by the Stopping work -related costs (living -work, clothing, etc.) That stops when the work stops.
- Another part comes from replacement: people replace market -purchased goods and services with housing production or use their own time instead.
Full research here.
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It seems that having more assets/income in retirement will cause us not to reduce our expenses!
And that reducing expenditure is enforced in contrast to a choice that we want to make as a general rule.
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EuropSpend habititions today, tomorrow retirement pressure
It seems that we collect generations for those who flow money easily and immediately!
If today’s habits are rooted in seamless consumption, reducing those habits in retirement and during career will not feel natural. It will feel like deprivation!
Do we lose the ability to postpone satisfaction? That is a big question, but my feeling is that we are very bad! And I’m not proud of that.
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How can I encourage people/employees to retire?
If you are a parent, team leader, manager or business owner, you may be able to encourage your team to increase the Ante (I recently played poker!) With regard to their pension planning?
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- Encourage them to start saving early: Starting with pension savings leads early to higher investment growth, resulting in a larger pension pot that could support the standard of living of your employee during the pension. So if they have not started saving, you recommend it immediately.
- Help them define their pension goals: By defining pension goals, your employees can make realistic pension -saving decisions. As soon as they have decided what they want, they can concentrate on spending such as health care and travel.
- Ask them to evaluate their investment performance: Remind your employees to regularly revise the performance of their pension fund against relevant benchmarks to make informed decisions! Also ask them to consider whether the value of their pension fund is in line with their pension needs.
- Involve professional advisers: Entering access to qualified financial advisers to simplify the performance management, financing and planning of the pension fund for your employees. These experts can help to plan pension and analyze your investment strategy to ensure that your company effectively supports employees while staying on the right track.
- Car -registration: Due to the kick -off in January 2026, then assess whether AE, a PRSA or a Group Master Trust may be better for your team and your company.
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Last word: building a pension without myths
Would you rather build a financial future with velvet cushions, or a combined together with spud bags?
According to some of the above, expenditure is not voluntary, they are the result of decreasing means and necessity.
If we want our pension to be defined by freedom, not by limitation, we must look at the real numbers.
We have to stop ourselves.
We must start planning accordingly.
I hope this helps you act.
Thank you,
Paddy.
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#pension #costs #hope