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Post-Entrepreneurs: Self-Employed People in Retirement

The Case of Old Age Pensioners in Germany

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Contemporary Entrepreneurship

Abstract

One central aim of people is to maintain a decent standard of living and quality of life into old age. However, even the best financial literacy is not enough to deal with the imponderables of the future. For this reason, to help people reach these goals, most countries design their old-age security as a three-pillar system composed of statutory, occupational, and private pension schemes for employees. Nevertheless, self-employed people must rely heavily on private old age insurance to maintain their living standard after retirement, as they are not covered by occupational pension schemes; statutory pension systems in general only ensure a subsistence level with a few exceptions, as in Austria.

Therefore, the question arises whether old age provisions for self-employed people are adequate and fit their special situation. Are self-employed people better off with the freedom to choose the mix of old age provisions and to form a portfolio that is oriented to the specific situation of the person? What is the income situation of formerly self-employed people: Do they have enough money saved for old age to live a decent life? Overall, this paper explores questions concerning the old age income situation of formerly self-employed people.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For an overview, see, e.g., Directorate-General for Employment (2014).

  2. 2.

    Those countries are France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United States, and United Kingdom; Nikolova and Graham (2014): 4 ff.

  3. 3.

    For example, see Amorós and Bosma (2014): 62 ff.; for a brief overview of the literature, see, e.g., Åstebro and Chen (2014): 89 ff.; for, Germany see Bögenhold and Fachinger (2013), Fachinger and Frankus (2014), and Frankus and Fachinger (2012).

  4. 4.

    See, e. g., Kröger (2011): 383.

  5. 5.

    Craftsmen with an entry in the register of artisans resp. in the register of self-employed craftsmen.

  6. 6.

    Includes architects, auditors, tax advisors and related professions, civil engineers, dental surgeons, legal representatives and solicitors, pharmacists, physicians, physiotherapist, veterinary surgeons.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics and Demography, Institute of Gerontology, University of Vechta, Vechta, Germany

    Uwe Fachinger

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  1. Uwe Fachinger
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Correspondence to Uwe Fachinger .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Alpen-Adria University Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria

    Dieter Bögenhold

  2. University of Caen Lower Normandie, Caen, France

    Jean Bonnet

  3. University of Namur, Namur, Belgium

    Marcus Dejardin

  4. Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT), Cartagena, Spain

    Domingo Garcia Pérez de Lema

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Fachinger, U. (2016). Post-Entrepreneurs: Self-Employed People in Retirement. In: Bögenhold, D., Bonnet, J., Dejardin, M., Garcia Pérez de Lema, D. (eds) Contemporary Entrepreneurship. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28134-6_12

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