These are taboo topics in retirement planning - AXA Insurance

Couples avoid talking about the financial consequences of separation and divorce, as shown by AXA’s Retirement Provision Monitor. Only one third (32%) of respondents who are in a relationship have discussed this topic. Conversations more frequently revolve around financial protection in the event of death (63%) or retirement provision (78%), although about half of those surveyed say they feel overwhelmed when it comes to retirement planning.

Tax returns are particularly unpopular

Around one quarter of all employed respondents postpone planning their retirement provision. However, this places it only in the middle range of unpopular topics. “Medical treatments are clearly even more unpopular,” says Michael Herrmann, Head of the Sotomo Research Institute. As many as 31% of respondents say they put off preventive medical check-ups. Visits to the dentist or dental hygienist are postponed by 37%. The most frequently delayed task is the tax return: 39% say they put it off.

Consequences of part-time work and childcare: only a minority discuss them in depth

According to the survey, family planning is postponed the least. Closely linked to this topic are part-time work and childcare, which have a significant impact on financial security and retirement provision. However, these issues are discussed very little. Only 23% of parents say they have discussed the topic in depth, while three quarters (77%) have either not discussed it at all or only superficially, despite 62% of parents with minor children rating the impact of childcare on their personal retirement provision as significant.

Mothers worry about pension gaps due to part-time work, fathers about their standard of living in old age

Mothers of minor children in particular (44%) are concerned about pension gaps—whether because they have reduced their working hours for childcare or temporarily left the workforce altogether. By contrast, only one fifth of fathers with minor children (21%) are worried about their retirement provision. Instead, they are more concerned about not being able to maintain their accustomed standard of living in old age (53%). This concern is shared by half of childless men (50%) and women (53%). When it comes to whether something can be passed on to their children, mothers of adult children are significantly more concerned (22%) than fathers (12%).

When love breaks down

What does it mean financially when a relationship ends? The study shows that only one in two respondents (55%) who are in a relationship knows the answer. “This is worrying, given that half of those surveyed expect a negative impact on their finances if they were to separate,” says Michael Herrmann of Sotomo.

(Un)fair divorce

According to the Federal Statistical Office, 40% of marriages do not just end in separation but in divorce. Among divorced respondents, more than half (55%) perceived the financial settlement of their own divorce as rather fair or very fair. However, a substantial proportion 41% feel they were treated rather unfairly or very unfairly. While 58% of divorced women consider the financial settlement of their divorce to have been fair, this applies to only 49% of men. When children are involved, maintenance payments are particularly often a source of dissatisfaction (41%). Around one third (32%) find it unfair how caregiving work was or was not taken into account. About one quarter (24%) consider the division of retirement assets to be unfair.

One fifth of families have no additional financial protection

Almost two thirds (61%) of parents with minor children have invested in private retirement provision, and one in three (30%) has taken out life insurance. Nearly as many (28%) have emergency savings. However, only one fifth (20%) of parents with minor children have regulated custody and childcare arrangements for their children in the event of death or serious illness. “What stands out is that 19% almost one in five parents of minor children have taken no additional measures to financially protect their family,” says Niklas Elser, Head of Retirement Provision at AXA.

More than one third of mothers feel poorly protected if their partner dies

One in four mothers (25%) and just under half of fathers (42%) feel well protected should their partner pass away. Thirty-one percent consider the protection to be adequate, while around one quarter (27%) feel inadequately protected. Fathers generally assess their financial protection more positively than mothers, more than one third of whom (36%) say they do not feel well protected if the other parent were to die.

Fathers are concerned about childcare, mothers about finances

If one parent dies, parents of minor children see the greatest challenge in organizing everyday life (59%), specifically childcare (55%), and balancing work and family life (58%). Women are far more likely (60%) than men (28%) to worry about finances. Men, on the other hand, more often see childcare as the main challenge (63%) compared with women (46%).


Contact:
Nicole Horbelt
Head of Media Relations
media@axa.ch

This article was originally published on December 17, 2025, on the website of AXA Versicherungen AG.

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