IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/iaecre/v26y2020i3d10.1007_s11294-020-09791-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Performance of Personal Pension Funds in Portugal

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Teresa Medeiros Garcia

    (Universidade de Lisboa)

  • Beatriz Costa

    (Universidade de Lisboa)

Abstract

This paper analyses the performance of personal pension funds in Portugal, during the period from 1999 to 2016, providing the first detailed analysis of this matter. Three performance measures are used: the Sharpe ratio, the difference between the returns of the fund and its benchmark, and the M2 measure. The findings show that the performance of these funds is very low and that their returns are not significantly different from zero, which might be the result of government-imposed limits concerning asset allocation. Additionally, evidence was found confirming that these funds, on average, underperform their benchmarks. Tax gains seem to be the main reason why people decide to invest a portion of their wealth in these funds, rather than in other investment forms where there are no penalties in the case of early withdrawals.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Teresa Medeiros Garcia & Beatriz Costa, 2020. "Performance of Personal Pension Funds in Portugal," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 26(3), pages 259-272, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:iaecre:v:26:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11294-020-09791-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11294-020-09791-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11294-020-09791-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11294-020-09791-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James M. Poterba & Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1996. "How Retirement Saving Programs Increase Saving," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 91-112, Fall.
    2. Gale, William G & Scholz, John Karl, 1994. "IRAs and Household Saving," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1233-1260, December.
    3. William G. Gale, 1998. "The Effects of Pensions on Household Wealth: A Reevaluation of Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(4), pages 706-723, August.
    4. Blake, David & Wright, Douglas & Zhang, Yumeng, 2014. "Age-dependent investing: Optimal funding and investment strategies in defined contribution pension plans when members are rational life cycle financial planners," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 105-124.
    5. Gregory, Alan & Tonks, Ian, 2004. "Performance of personal pension schemes in the UK," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 24698, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1991. "The Saving Effect of Tax-deferred Retirement Accounts: Evidence from SIPP," NBER Chapters, in: National Saving and Economic Performance, pages 103-130, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Eric M. Engen & William G. Gale & John Karl Scholz, 1996. "The Illusory Effects of Saving Incentives on Saving," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 113-138, Fall.
    8. Srinivas, P.S. & Whitehouse, Edward & Yermo, Juan, 2000. "Regulating private pension funds’ structure, performance and investments: cross-country evidence," MPRA Paper 14753, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Anastasia Petraki & Anna Zalewska, 2017. "Jumping over a low hurdle: personal pension fund performance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 153-190, January.
    10. Mariacristina Rossi, 2009. "Examining the Interaction between Saving and Contributions to Personal Pension Plans: Evidence from the BHPS," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 71(2), pages 253-271, April.
    11. Orazio P. Attanasio & Thomas DeLeire, 2002. "The Effect Of Individual Retirement Accounts On Household Consumption And National Saving," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(6), pages 504-538, July.
    12. Jonathan McCarthy & Han N. Pham, 1995. "The impact of individual retirement accounts on savings," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 1(Sep).
    13. Alessandra Guariglia & Sheri Markose, 2000. "Voluntary Contributions to Personal Pension Plans: Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 21(4), pages 469-488, December.
    14. Samwick, Andrew A., 1998. "Tax Reform and Target Saving," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 51(3), pages 621-635, September.
    15. World Bank, 2017. "The Gender Pension Gap in the Aging Societies of East Asia," World Bank Publications - Reports 26422, The World Bank Group.
    16. World Bank, 2015. "The State of Social Safety Nets 2015," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 22101.
    17. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1990. "Have IRAs Increased U. S. Saving?: Evidence from Consumer Expenditure Surveys," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(3), pages 661-698.
    18. Maria Teresa Medeiros Garcia, 2017. "Overview of the Portuguese Three Pillar Pension System," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 23(2), pages 175-189, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Axel Börsch-Supan & Tabea Bucher-Koenen & Michela Coppola & Bettina Lamla, 2015. "Savings In Times Of Demographic Change: Lessons From The German Experience," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 807-829, September.
    2. Andersen, Henrik Yde, 2021. "Pension taxation, household debt and the real economy," Nationaløkonomisk tidsskrift, Nationaløkonomisk Forening, vol. 2021(1), pages 1-14.
    3. Andersen, Henrik Yde, 2018. "Do tax incentives for saving in pension accounts cause debt accumulation? Evidence from Danish register data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 35-53.
    4. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Søren Leth-Petersen & Torben Heien Nielsen & Tore Olsen, 2014. "Active vs. Passive Decisions and Crowd-Out in Retirement Savings Accounts: Evidence from Denmark," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(3), pages 1141-1219.
    5. Bassett, William F. & Fleming, Michael J. & Rodrigues, Anthony P., 1998. "How Workers Use 401(K) Plans: The Participation, Contribution, and Withdrawal Decisions," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 51(2), pages 263-289, June.
    6. Gaobo Pang, "undated". "Tax-Deferred Savings and Early Retirement," Research Reports 3, Watson Wyatt Worldwide.
    7. Ludmila Fadejeva & Olegs Tkacevs, 2021. "Are Tax-Favoured Savings Plans Effective in Raising Private Savings?," Discussion Papers 2021/01, Latvijas Banka.
    8. Bernheim, B. Douglas, 2002. "Taxation and saving," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 18, pages 1173-1249, Elsevier.
    9. William M. Gentry & Joseph Milano, 1998. "Taxes and Investment in Annuities," NBER Working Papers 6525, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Juan Ayuso & Juan F. Jimeno & Ernesto Villanueva, 2019. "The effects of the introduction of tax incentives on retirement saving," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 211-249, November.
    11. David Card & Michael Ransom, 2011. "Pension Plan Characteristics and Framing Effects in Employee Savings Behavior," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 228-243, February.
    12. Monica Paiella & Andrea Tiseno, 2009. "Saving for retirement and retirement investment choices," Discussion Papers 1_2009, D.E.S. (Department of Economic Studies), University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.
    13. Jacob, Martin & Johan, Sofia & Schweizer, Denis & Zhan, Feng, 2016. "Corporate finance and the governance implications of removing government support programs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 35-47.
    14. Börsch-Supan, Axel & Bucher-Koenen, Tabea & Goll, Nicolas & Maier, Christina, 2016. "15 Jahre Riester - eine Bilanz," Working Papers 12/2016, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung.
    15. Gary V. Engelhardt, 2000. "Have 401(k)s Raised Household Saving? Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 33, McMaster University.
    16. Eren, Okan & Genç İleri, Şerife, 2022. "Life cycle analysis of savings accounts with matching contributions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    17. Eric M. Engen & William G. Gale & John Karl Scholz, 1996. "The Illusory Effects of Saving Incentives on Saving," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 113-138, Fall.
    18. James M. Poterba & Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1996. "How Retirement Saving Programs Increase Saving," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 91-112, Fall.
    19. Olivia S. Mitchell & James F. Moore, "undated". "Retirement Wealth Accumulation and Decumulation: New Developments and Outstanding Opportunities," Pension Research Council Working Papers 97-8, Wharton School Pension Research Council, University of Pennsylvania.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Personal pension funds; Performance;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:iaecre:v:26:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11294-020-09791-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.