Finfluencer Dionne Knooren: make your pension dreams concrete

To enjoy her life later as much as she does now. That is what Dionne Knooren is aiming for. And that’s why she’s already hard at work on her retirement while she’s still in her thirties. She advises all her peers to do the same. ‘For example, visualise your pension dreams. That way, they become concrete and can really motivate you.’

Good food, long trips and occasionally buying new running shoes. In many ways, Dionne Knooren, who is in her thirties, hardly differs from most others her age. But what distinguishes the ‘finfluencer’ from many of her contemporaries is not only that she buys almost everything second-hand, but also that she is already interested in her pension. ‘Because I want to enjoy my life later as much as I do now,’ she explains.

Helping young people

When she started living in student housing, she quickly discovered how expensive life is. She first started saving up, and deposit accounts soon followed.  In 2017, she started investing and bought a new-build apartment. In 2020, she added pension investments, followed by (via crowdfunding) investments in start-ups.  On her Instagram and in her blogs, she talks about it to anyone who wants to learn more. This group quickly grew, so she can now call herself a professional financial influencer, or finfluencer for short. In fact, she has even made it her mission to help young people, in plain language, to build up their wealth and prepare for retirement.

Getaway or savings

‘The moment of insight came to me when an entrepreneur I know told me that she hadn’t accrued a pension at all until she was almost 60, more or less unaware that, as an entrepreneur, she was entirely responsible for this herself. That won’t happen to me, I thought then,’ she says. Of course, she understands that this story is difficult for many young people. It’s always hard to resist going on that one outing or buying that new sweater, and putting money aside is often something for later, she realises. ‘I’ve experienced that psychological effect myself. When you’re young, you often don’t feel the urgency like that.’

Pension challenge

However, she also stresses that, the sooner you start, the more benefit you can get from your contributions, because of the interest-on-interest effect. That’s why she has, for a number of years now, been working on the so-called Fix your Pension Challenge from Finance Freaks. This is a type of challenge in which you receive practical tips in your mailbox for five days, on all five possible pillars with which you can build up your pension: from state pension to supplementary or employee pension, annuities or bank savings, equity and work. With this kind of information, she hopes to make people aware of the importance of thinking about their financial future as well. ‘It’s not specific to young people,’ she explains. Fortunately, however, she does see that they make up a large part of the database of participants. ‘Many people see us as a kind of role model. I know that many of my peers find their pensions boring or uninteresting. I’m familiar with the arguments: not fun, too many difficult terms, I might not even make it there, it costs money, I’ll do it later. We try to remove this threshold by at least getting people to think about it and checking their own situation via mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl.’

Plan your dreams

In the past, she worked as a freelancer in the marketing department for ABN Amro’s pension product, and before that, she was employed by an online marketing agency in Amsterdam, where they did nothing at all about pension accrual. ‘At the time, I thought: “Yeah, who cares?” That won’t happen to me anymore, I think.’ 

As a self-employed person, you obviously have to save for your pension fund all by yourself. But even in paid employment, you can no longer simply assume that you will accrue sufficient pension through your employer to be able to live later as you do now, she stresses. However, under the Pension Communication Act (Wet Pensioencommunicatie], employers must inform their employees of the amount of their pension and the consequences of changes in their personal situation, such as a divorce, dismissal or another job. This also applies to the choices to be made regarding the pension scheme, so that employees know what is possible. That is why Dionne advises young people not only to read up on this subject and to see whether they can set something extra aside, through their current pension administrator or otherwise, but also to plan their dreams in this regard. ‘That way, it becomes concrete, and that really motivates you to put money aside.’

Such a dream can also be quite flexible, she says. ‘For example, I always had the dream of living and working in Spain for a while. I’ve already done that. And then I’ll just set a new goal. So I try to visualise that again. Because I know that helps. For example, I also have a progression bar and a vision board on my phone. That’s how I consciously work towards these goals.’

Financial freedom

A while ago, the FIRE trend was quite popular. This acronym stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early.However, she argues that this trend is ‘too restrictive’. After all, you have to sacrifice a lot for it while you’re still young. ‘My financial freedom now is also important. I want to enjoy life now as well. On the contrary, I want to show that one does not rule out the other: that you can have a nice life later, but also now. At least, if you arrange it properly.’

That does require some efforts, she says, explaining her calculations: ‘Let’s take 2,500 euros a month as a basis. If you multiply that by 12, for 25 years, that already constitutes an amount of EUR 750,000. And then we’re not even talking about dreams like owning a second house or going on a trip around the world. Everyone understands that setting aside 50 euros a month isn’t going to cut it. We always communicate this when we share our knowledge and experience in this regard.’

On the other hand, she also stresses, once again, that 50 euros contributed when you’re young will be much more likely to multiply than 50 euros contributed after you’ve passed the age of 50. In other words: ‘The sooner you start, the better. Really.’

No panic behaviour

Even with the stock markets collapsing, following US President Trump’s actions? ‘Yes, 2025 is in the red,’ she admits. However, what matters is the long-term effect, she says. ‘You’ve got to try to switch off your emotions. Don’t check on your stocks too often, and don’t move. No panic behaviour. There will always be dips, and yes, those can be pretty scary. Even so, all the statistics show that things will always straighten out in the long term.’

In any case, she would always stop regular investments rather than pension investments, she says. This is because the latter are the most attractive for tax purposes – unless you want to get that money before you retire. ‘Because you’ll pay a high penalty in that case.’

The biggest trap for young people who want to put something aside for later? ‘Doing something you don’t understand,’ she replies immediately. ‘So: let yourself be informed, read up on it. Make sure you have an understanding of your dreams and the financial picture that goes with it. And try to enjoy it a little. Financial freedom is something I really want everyone to enjoy.’

Additional contributions to your pension?
When you retire, you can receive income from five different sources: state pension (which everyone receives), supplementary or employee pension (which you accrue through your employer), annuities or bank savings, equity and work. With most pension administrators, such as BeFrank, you can also make extra contributions (tax-friendly) yourself in addition to the pension that you accrue through your employer. You can also often choose how offensively or defensively you want to invest. Another good idea is to listen to the Female Fix podcast, in which BeFrank managing director Kaya de Lange explains how things work. ‘By making smart use of tax-friendly schemes, you ensure a stronger financial basis for your pension.’

This article appeared on MTsprout.nl on 30 April