With 7.4 million French people equipped, Bercy is delighted with the success of the Retirement Savings Plan (PER)

Margaux Fodéré // Photo credit: Riccardo Milani / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP 12:32pm, October 04, 2023

Bercy did not expect as much. Faced with a retirement that is sometimes considered uncertain, the French are increasingly looking at investments that allow them to build up additional income for their old age, especially with the retirement savings plan (PER), launched four years ago via the Pact law for retirement savings.

The latest figures unveiled Tuesday, October 3 by the Ministry of the Economy confirm it: at the end of the first quarter of 2023, 85 billion euros had been placed by the French on the retirement savings plan, an increase of nearly 30% in one year.

"This responds to a relatively high level of anxiety"

The number of French people who have opened a PER is also increasing to reach 7.4 million people today. That's $1.8 million more over one year. Especially since at the launch of this savings product, the government targeted 3.5 million French people equipped with a PER by the end of 2022. The target was therefore far exceeded.

Debates on pension reform in recent months have pushed many French people to save on their own, said Philippe Crevel, director of the Cercle de l'Épargne. "According to a survey conducted by the Cercle de l'Épargne, nearly 3 out of 4 French people consider that in retirement, they will have an income problem. So obviously, it is a clientele likely to open a retirement savings plan. This responds to a relatively high level of anxiety," he told Europe 1.

An increasingly young audience

If this device attracts outstanding amounts that were previously placed on other employee savings accounts, it also attracts an increasingly young audience, says Philippe Crevel. "The PERP, the popular retirement savings plan, it was mainly employees over 50 who opened it. Today, with the PER, there has been an enlargement. There are more and more young people opening it and therefore, there has been a rejuvenation of the average age at the level of the PER," he said.

Another argument that explains the success of the PER is its tax attractiveness. The sums paid on an individual PER are deductible up to 10% of taxable income.