Regulator: 800,000 Dutch households have money to invest but don't

One in 10 Dutch households has sufficient financial resources to invest but is not doing so, the Authority for the Financial Markets said Friday, warning that the choice could leave them short of money later in life.

The financial markets watchdog identified more than 800,000 households nationwide that are building up too little pension savings to maintain their current standard of living after retirement.

AFM board member Jos Heuvelman said many households in this group have an opportunity to make their assets work harder in a responsible way.

“For this group it is therefore not only possible, but it can also be advisable to let the wealth that they currently have available render more,” Heuvelman told NU.nl.

The AFM stressed that people should invest only money they can afford to set aside for the long term. Even so, the amounts involved can quickly run into tens of thousands of euros.

The regulator calculated that half the households in the group have at least 30,000 euros in financial room on top of the emergency buffer recommended by the Nibud family budget institute.

The AFM said Dutch people could benefit more from their savings overall by putting spare cash to work instead of leaving it in low-yield accounts.