An Empirical Study on the Financial Preparation for Retirement of the Independent Workers for Profit in Poland

Abstract

Modern pension schemes are based on the delegation of responsibility for pension provision from state institutions to individuals, which implies voluntary retirement saving. Workers for profit (independent workers in household market enterprises) hold much greater personal responsibility for financing their pensions than workers for pay. The main aim of this study was to provide an empirical identification of economic and social factors that would determine the propensity toward long-term saving for pensions by independent, for-profit workers in Poland. Additionally, the study recognizes the level of saving accumulated by them as well as preferred forms in which this saving is made.In order to select determinants of pension saving, a logistic regression model was used. The data come from the direct survey conducted in 2020 by CAWI method (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) on a random nationwide sample of Poles. The analysis of the data also used other methods of descriptive and mathematical statistics. The conducted research showed that the respondents’ individual decisions concerning saving for retirement are affected by such factors as gender, age, family situation, amount of revenue, share of revenue from business activity in total revenue, and subjective assessment of the respondents’ financial situation. The respondents declared holding various, though not high, savings. Moreover, it turned out that independent workers for profit in Poland opt for non-conventional forms of gathering pension savings.