62% self-employed Finns hope to work past retirement age

More self-employed Finns expect to continue working past retirement age compared to other employees, said the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

Almost two-thirds (62%) of the self-employed Finns plan to continue working after they have reached the retirement age, said the pensions centre in a release.

Around one in five expect to work until retirement age. One in eight self-employed persons intend to stop working before retirement age.

These are some of the major findings of a new study conducted by the Finnish Centre for Pensions on self-employed persons’ retirement intentions and perceived working conditions.

The self-employed expect to remain at work beyond retirement age twice as often as employees. Two in three self-employed persons say they will continue to work because they enjoy it. Commitment to work, a high level of influence and a sense of enthusiasm increase intentions to stay on.

"Typically, a self-employed person who expects to continue to work is a highly educated male aged over 60 who is excited about his work and who believes he is in good enough health to keep working until retirement age," said Finnish Centre for Pensions Economist Satu Nivalainen.

One-third of the self-employed feel they are not paying enough to provide sufficient pension coverage.

One in four self-employed persons intend to continue to work past retirement age if they have enough work. One in twelve plan to continue out of financial necessity.

Among the self-employed who say they will have to stay on for financial reasons, a higher proportion than in other groups report high levels of work-related stress and doubts about their health holding up. Furthermore, they more often live alone and feel they have not put enough into their pension pot.

Only about half of all self-employed persons say they are paying enough to provide sufficient pension coverage. One-third feel they are not paying enough. The remaining respondents were unable to say or paid no pension contributions at all because they were already retired.

"Our results show that the financial necessity to continue working is associated with inadequate future pension cover, in other words some self-employed persons decide to stay on longer in order to top up their meagre pension fund," said Finnish Centre for Pensions Economist Sanna Tenhunen.

Half of the self-employed Finns are extremely satisfied with their work

Almost one-third of the self-employed said they worked at least 50-hour weeks, and around one-third felt that they neglected home because of work.

On the other hand, almost half (45%) of them said they were extremely satisfied with their work, and the same proportion said they were excited about their work.

"The self-employed are more satisfied and more committed to their work than employees. They have greater influence over their jobs, but on the other hand higher workload stress as well," Nivalainen explained.

The study is based on data collected for the Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey. A total of 1,250 self-employed persons aged 50 or over were asked about their retirement intentions.