Pension literacy and consumers’ decisions in the context of pension system reforms

The research problem of this article is the evaluation of the correlation between the level of knowledge about pensions and the perception of the changes introduced by the government in the pension system, as well as the correlation between the knowledge and decisions made by consumers in connection with these changes. The study uses a triangulation of research methods. The used primary data were obtained from our qualitative and representative quantitative studies. The research was a part of National Science Centre’s research project (no. UMO-2012/05/B/HS4/04183). The level of knowledge, both objective and subjective about the pension system is low. The research positively verifies the hypothesis of the relationship between knowledge on the evaluation of the changes in the pension system and the decisions concerning additional saving. It must be highlighted that evaluations and decisions are associated with the self-assessment of one’s knowledge much more than by the actual level of one’s knowledge. The considerable challenge for the government and the institutions linked to the pension system is to build financial pension awareness and encourage saving.