Bosse Hansson: Here’s how your pension could increase by 2,100 kr a month

Bosse Hansson, deputy leader of the Ambition Sverige party, says that your pension and retirement should be a reward for a lifetime of hard work, but unfortunately pensioners are not benefiting from the growth in their pension capital and are therefore not receiving the pension increases they should be entitled to.

Hansson says that it takes a long time to change the pension system, but that what can be done in the short term is to raise the basic deduction for pensioners, so that they receive much more from their pension than today.

The quickest way to tackle the problem is to increase the basic allowance. The Ambition Sverige party wants to raise the basic allowance to two price base amounts, which means that the first 10,000 kronor of the monthly pension will be tax-free.

This means that the vast majority of pensioners will receive an extra 2,100 Swedish kronor in pension after tax each month. This can be financed by cutting the number of government agencies in Sweden and also by discontinuing foreign aid.

Torbjörn Sassersson asked Hansson what he would recommend younger people, those in their thirties and forties now, to consider in order to get a good pension.

Bo Hansson:

”Above all, they should think about saving themselves, individually in private equity funds. Start saving early. It builds your capital, your own capital in the long run, and that's where you'll get a decent life from.”

Hansson continues by pointing out that today's income pension system is not actually your own capital, but a claim on a payment that the state has full control over.

”Save privately instead and start early. This builds capital so that you have a more bearable future.”

Torbjörn Sassersson: Are you talking about pension funds or your own savings?

Bo HanssonAmbition Sverigeanswers that it doesn't matter, but rather that it's about saving in something you feel comfortable with. He recommends equity funds, preferably index funds that have the lowest fees in the long term. ”That's the winning concept.”

Torbjörn Sassersson: If we take those who are furthest from retirement, the twenty-year-olds who have just entered working life, do the same principles apply to them, or should they think in a particular way?

Bo Hansson:

”Yes, fundamentally the same principle applies, but when you're twenty and before you're thirty, there are so many other circumstances and costs.”
”I didn't save separately for my pension before I was thirty, so I have complete sympathy for that, but at least as soon as you pass thirty, you should start thinking about saving yourself, individually in some index fund for your own pension future.”

Interview and compilation: Torbjörn Sassersson