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The purpose of this study is to investigate the Finnish welfare state from the point of view of the production and funding of care services. The authors examine the views of different generations as to which agency should be responsible for providing care services, and how such services should be financed.

The data used in the study was gathered in May 2011 in Finland, informants were aged 18 and 74 (n=1,011). Statistical methods used were analysis of variance (ANOVA), cross tabulation and multinomial logistic regression analysis (MLRA).

The authors’ results show that most of the respondents hoped to be able to take care of themselves in their senior years. If this were impossible, the public sector was seen as the primary service provider. As expected, most of the respondents thought that the service system should be funded with tax revenue. Nevertheless, the authors’ results show that younger people are more willing than older people to take personal responsibility for funding the care services they need in their old age.

The research findings indicate that in the future respect and the role of individual preparedness will be stronger. The fact that younger generations react seriously to individual preparedness may be vital for the whole system since public economic resources are limited. At the same time, research results exert pressure on decision‐makers and current systems to create new, innovative options for funding and organising services.