Performance that really matters: A company exposes the real performance of private pensions
Pension payments. Hotnews collage. Photo: Inquam Photos, Shutterstock
FinRadar has expanded the comparator of private pensionsoffering the possibility to compare pension funds including the real return. It reflects the gain generated by the fund after adjusting for the inflation rate, being the most important performance indicator for consumers.
The FinRadar comparator comes to cover this need for information for the first time and allows any participant to quickly consult the real return of all funds (Pillar II and Pillar III) over various multi-year periods, starting from 2008. The return can be displayed both cumulatively over the entire analysis period and in annualized format.
Pension funds underperform during periods of high inflation
The results in the comparator show that the performance of the funds is strongly influenced by price stability.
During periods of low inflation, the funds generate robust performance in real terms.
Between 2011 and 2015, the average cumulative return was over 30% in real terms for mandatory private pension funds and almost 25% for voluntary pension funds. These performances coincided with a period of price stability.
The last 5 years (period 2021-2025) were characterized by a volatile economic environment and high inflation, and the real return of pension funds experienced the worst performances.
Although 2025 was a year with very good results, it was not able to fully compensate for the negative developments of the previous years, so that over the last 5 years, the cumulative return at the market level is negative in real terms.
| Cumulative real return | ||
| Period | Pillar II | Pillar III |
| 2011-2015 | 30.8% | 24.7% |
| 2016-2020 | 15.1% | 9.8% |
| 2021-2025 | -2.2% | -6.0% |
High-risk funds better protect savings from inflation
On an individual level, high-risk funds tend to perform better and manage to preserve the purchasing power of savings even when we have high inflation. This phenomenon is best observed in the segment of optional funds.
In the period 2021-2025, only 2 funds managed to generate positive real returns: NN Activ (+2.05) and AZT Vivace (+1.53), both being funds with a high degree of risk.
In the same interval, funds with a medium risk degree (from Pillar III) recorded a real return between -5.7% and -11.69%.
