As an important component of the "third pillar" of China's pension insurance system, the personal pension system has expanded from pilot cities to the whole country in the past three years. The account opening scale has continued to grow, the product types have been continuously enriched, and the overall operation has been stable, providing better protection to meet the diversified pension needs of the people. On April 21, 2022, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Development of Personal Pension Funds", proposing to promote the development of personal pension funds that are suitable for China's national conditions, government policy support, voluntary participation by individuals, and market-oriented operation. The top-level system design for personal pension has been officially released. After pilot projects, on December 12, 2024, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and five other departments issued a notice on the comprehensive implementation of the personal pension system, clarifying that from December 15, 2024, the personal pension system will be promoted from 36 pilot cities (regions) to the whole country, and many specific measures will be introduced from optimizing product supply and improving management and service levels. The third anniversary of the introduction of the personal pension system is a milestone and a new starting point. ”Lou Feipeng, a researcher at China Postal Savings Bank, believes that with the improvement of economic development and the acceleration of population aging, Chinese residents have higher aspirations for elderly care. Personal pension, as the core supplement of the "third pillar", will continue to release policy effectiveness and have enormous development potential. Dong Ximiao, Chief Researcher of the China Merchants Association, said that by referring to mature international experience and starting from China's national conditions, exploring the establishment of a personal pension system is conducive to actively responding to population aging, building a more comprehensive third pillar pension insurance system, promoting the sustainable development of the pension insurance system, and meeting the multi-level and diversified pension security needs of the people. According to data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, as of the end of November 2024, 72.79 million people have opened personal pension accounts. However, in the opinion of the interviewed experts, despite the continuous increase in the number of account openings, the problems of "hot account opening and cold deposit" in the implementation of the system still need to be further solved, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in the per capita payment amount. Tian Lihui, a finance professor at Nankai University, stated that the personal pension system has entered a period of rapid development, and a trillion yuan market prototype has emerged. In the face of low willingness to contribute and insufficient product attractiveness, we should continue to optimize the system design, accelerate the leap from expanding the scale to improving the quality of personal pension, and truly achieve the universal goal of "providing for the elderly". The personal pension system has not been introduced for a long time, and the investment period through personal pension accounts is relatively long. Some domestic investors are still unfamiliar with this and still need a process of understanding and accepting it. ”Dong Ximiao said. Over the past three years, financial institutions have actively participated in the promotion of personal pension systems to improve investment efficiency. Based on personal pension accounts in banks, commercial banks, bank wealth management subsidiaries, insurance companies, and fund companies have made good progress in product supply and channel expansion. The variety of products is constantly expanding. On the basis of existing financial products such as wealth management products, savings deposits, commercial pension insurance, public funds and other financial products, treasury bond will be included in the scope of personal pension products. Include specific pension savings and index funds in the personal pension product catalog, and promote more pension financial products to be included in the scope of personal pension products. According to data from the National Social Insurance Public Service Platform, as of May 20th this year, there are 1019 personal pension products, including 466 savings products, 292 fund products, 228 insurance products, and 33 wealth management products. The personal pension system provides financial institutions with more ways to serve individual customers, and also offers new opportunities for financial institutions to carry out long-term asset allocation on the asset side. ”Lou Feipeng believes that financial institutions should fully consider the needs of residents to accumulate pension assets, and design targeted personal pension products for residents with different income levels, age groups, and risk preferences, in order to better meet long-term investment needs. At the critical stage of personal pension expansion from scale to quality improvement, financial institutions need to innovate their product matrix and enhance investment efficiency. ”Dong Ximiao said that at present, there are five categories of personal pension financial products: deposit, fund, insurance, wealth management, treasury bond, but generally speaking, there are relatively few specific products under each category, so it is necessary to continue to enrich the product catalog. How to provide investors with more suitable investment product choices? Tian Lihui believes that there are four innovative paths. One is differentiated supply, designing products based on different risk preferences to meet diversified needs, such as providing savings oriented products for conservative investors and insurance oriented products for prudent investors; The second is intelligent investment advisory, which attempts to use AI technology to provide users with dynamic asset allocation recommendations; The third is rate optimization, promoting low rate products, reducing holding costs, and enhancing long-term returns; The fourth is to strengthen scenario based services, which can be combined with scenarios such as health management and disease care to comprehensively design elderly care plans. Standing at a new starting point of the third anniversary, experts interviewed believe that the personal pension system still needs to form a joint force on the policy, market, and demand sides, accelerate the construction of a more inclusive, efficient, and sustainable pension finance ecosystem, and benefit a larger group. Currently, the coverage of preferential policies for the personal pension system still needs to be expanded. For example, according to current policies, individual pension participants can enjoy a maximum pre tax deduction of 12000 yuan per year. However, the situation faced in the implementation of this preferential policy is that high-income earners benefit more and are not attractive enough to the middle and low-income groups. The reporter observed that there are still some individual pension account holders who have a vague understanding of product characteristics and investment risks, and regard their personal pension accounts as "mandatory savings tools". Dong Ximiao reminds investors that personal pension accounts are operated in a market-oriented manner with the support of national policies. Purchasing corresponding products through personal pension accounts is an investment behavior, where individuals enjoy all the benefits and bear the risks themselves. In addition, some bank branches have a phenomenon of "heavy account opening and light service", and some staff are more inclined to promote high fee products rather than providing personalized asset allocation plans. Investors tend to choose the 'default option', further exacerbating the problem of homogenization in personal pension products. To encourage more people to participate rationally in personal pensions, it is necessary to strengthen investor education. Many people have incomplete understanding of the personal pension system and some misconceptions. It is necessary to strengthen their understanding of this policy. Lou Feipeng believes that the assessment mechanism for developing personal pension business by financial institutions needs to focus on service quality rather than account opening quantity, and can help users understand the risk return characteristics of products through case analysis, simulation tools, etc. At the same time, it is necessary to carry out long-term propaganda, emphasizing the "time for space" characteristic of personal pension, and encouraging early planning. To further effectively benefit more people, Tian Lihui believes that the policy side needs to optimize incentive and liquidity rules, financial institutions need to innovate products and services, and investors need to enhance their awareness and participation in order to achieve sustainable development of the pension security system. Provide higher tax incentives or direct subsidies to low-income groups and lower the participation threshold; Explore the implementation of a flexible payment mechanism, allowing monthly and quarterly payments to meet the needs of flexible employment personnel; Strengthen precise publicity, popularize the system to new citizens and young people through community, online live streaming and other forms, emphasizing "early planning and early benefits". (New Society)