The Joint Distribution of Net Worth and Pension Wealth in Germany

Abstract

The research on wealth inequality has generally focused on real and financial assets, while giving little attention to pension wealth: the present value of future pension entitlements from public and company pension schemes. This is surprising given the important role pension plans play in guaranteeing material security and well-being for a majority of the population, and suggests that they should be accounted for in peoples’ wealth portfolios. Using novel data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we study the incidence, relevance, and distribution of individual pension wealth, net worth, and augmented wealth (the sum of the two) in Germany. Further, we investigate age-wealth profiles and differences between East and West Germany.