Working longer pays off

The longer you work and the later you retire, the higher your earnings-related pension will be. If you retire late, your old-age pension will grow in two ways: via the increment for late retirement and the new pension you earn while working.

Increment for late retirement raises your total accrued pension

Your old-age pension will increase by 0.4 per cent for each month that you retire late, that is, for each month past the month in which you reached your retirement age. For example, if you have accrued a pension of 2,000 euros, your pension increases by 8.00 euros for each month that you retire late.

The increase is calculated on the pension you have earned throughout your working life up to the end of the month before you start drawing your pension. This means that also the pension you have accrued for work done after you have reached your retirement age is included in the calculation.

The increase for late retirement does not apply to periods during which you receive unemployment benefits. You also do not accrue increment for late retirement if you are already receiving a disability or old-age pension and you are working alongside the pension.

You were born on 15 January 1960. Your retirement age is 64 years and 6 months, which you reach on 15 July 2024.

You retire on an old-age pension on 1 November 2024. By the end of the previous month, that is, by 31 October 2024, you have earned a monthly pension of 1,650 euros.

The period from 1 August 2024 to 31 October 2024 is three months, so you will get an increment for late retirement for three months.

3 months × 0.4% = 1.2%

Your increment for late retirement is 1.2% of the pension you have earned by 31 October 2024.

1.2% × €1,650 = €19.80

Your increment for late retirement is added to your monthly pension amount.

€1,650 + €19,80 = 1,669.80 euros.

Your final pension amount will be slightly smaller as it will be reduced by the life expectancy coefficient.

If you were born in 1955 or later, your age group will not only have its own retirement age but also a computed target retirement age. Your target retirement age is slightly higher than your retirement age. For example, if you were born in 1960, your target retirement age is 65 years and 9 months.

If you defer your retirement until your target retirement age, the increment for late retirement that you get offsets the reduction to your pension caused by the life expectancy coefficient. In other words, your pension will be of the same amount as the pension you have accrued by your retirement age, without the cutting effect of the life expectancy coefficient.

New pension for work

If you work past your retirement age, you earn new pension in addition to the increment for late retirement. You earn new pension to the amount of 1.5 per cent of your annual earnings.

You earn new pension up to the age when your insurance obligation ends. This is about five years after you reach your retirement age. After that you can continue working and, for example, draw a pension at the same time, but you no longer earn new pension for that work.

Use the pension calculator to estimate how your pension will grow if you continue working and retire late.

Example: How will your pension increase if you continue to work?

The following table shows how your pension will increase if you continue to work beyond your statutory retirement age. The example in the table considers both the increment for late retirement and the pension you have earned while working. You can also use the pension calculator at the bottom of the page to assess your situation.

Example person:

  • Born in 1960
  • Reaches their statutory old-age retirement age (64 years 6 months) in 2024
  • Has a full working career (39 years 6 months to the statutory retirement age)
  • Continues to work for the same salary until retirement
  • Assuming that own earnings or general price and earnings levels remain unchanged

Earnings-related pension at statutory retirement age and when working continues for 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years and 5 years past the statutory retirement age at different salary levels, €/month

AgeWorking continues for€2,500 /month€3,000 /month€3,500 /month€4,000 /month€4,500 /month€5,000 /month
64 years 6 months1,4291,7152,0002,2862,5722,858
65 years6 months1,4811,7782,0742,3702,6662,963
65 years 6 months1 year1,5351,8422,1482,4552,7623,069
66 years 6 months2 years1,6441,9732,3012,6302,9593,288
67 years 6 months3 years1,7562,1082,4592,8103,1623,513
68 years 6 months4 years1,8722,2472,6212,9963,3703,745
69 years 6 months5 years1,9702,3642,7583,1523,5463,940

The national pension can supplement pension provision if a pensioner living alone receives less than €1,601 per month in earnings-related pension. For a pensioner with a partner, the corresponding income limit is €1,435 per month. The part of the increment for late retirement is not considered as a reduction in the national pension.

Calculate your pension

Use the pension calculator to estimate how much pension you will receive.

 

Year of birth

Select your year of birth. It is needed to calculate your pension. Your retirement age, your target retirement age and the life expectancy coefficient are determined based on your year of birth.

Select the year in which you were born
 

Birth month

Select your birth month.

Select the month in which you were born
 

Monthly gross wage

Enter your current (or an estimate of your future) annual wage/income from self-employment at a monthly level, as a whole number (for example, 2500).

Enter your wage (whole number, for example 2500)
 

Your accrued pension, from your pension record

Check your pension record (www.tyoelake.fi/en/pension-record/) and enter here your total pension amount (in full euros, for example 800). The amount is the amount you estimated to have accrued by the end of the previous month, adjusted with the life expectancy coefficient. Enter the accrued pension amount excluding a possible increment for late retirement.

Alternatively, you can estimate the amount of your previously accrued pension by looking at the typical pension accrual of your own age group. See “Statistics on accrued pensions” below.

Enter the accrued pension amount as a whole number, for example, 2500
 

Select how your wage and salary earnings will develop in the future

Development according to projection means that your own earnings change in the calculator according to the annually estimated wage coefficient development until retirement. When calculating your pension, your earnings are also adjusted with the wage coefficient to the level of the year of retirement. The development of the wage coefficient in the calculator follows the projection of the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

Earnings kept at current level means that your own earnings or the wage coefficient used in indexing do not change.

For more detailed information about the assumptions used by the calculator, check the section About the calculator.

Retirement age  

Retirement age

Your retirement age is the first possible age at which you can retire on an old-age pension. The retirement ages are estimates for persons born in 1965 and later.

- Pension estimate/month - €/month
Your target retirement age  

Your target retirement age

At your target retirement age, the increment for deferred retirement has increased your pension as much as your life expectancy coefficient cuts it at your retirement age.

- Pension estimate/month - €/month

Your estimated pension €/month

The pension is in the price level of the ongoing year.

Retirement age 

Retirement age

Your retirement age is the first possible age at which you can retire on an old-age pension. The retirement ages are estimates for persons born in 1965 and later.

- years and - months

Test how the age at which you retire affects your pension estimate.

Time of your retirement: -

Earnings-related pension

- €/month

Your earnings-related pension has been adjusted with the life expectancy coefficient - 

Your earnings-related pension has been adjusted with the life expectancy coefficient

Your earnings-related pension has been adjusted with the life expectancy coefficient confirmed for the year in which you were born. The life expectancy coefficient adjusts your pension to changes in life expectancy.

Your pre-retirement salary 

Your pre-retirement salary

In the calculator, your own wage grows each year according to the wage coefficient if you have selected the alternative in which the general income level grows. Your wage has been converted to the price level of the ongoing year.

- €/month

Your pension relative to your pre-retirement salary

- %

Next year's index-adjusted pension amount

Earnings-related pension

- €/month

Next year's pension amount has been adjusted with the projected nominal development of the earnings-related and national pension index.

This calculator will calculate the amount of your earnings-related pension. It doesn’t calculate your partial old-age pension or your disability or years-of-service pensions. If you are 55 or older this year, the calculator will also calculate the amount of your national and guarantee pensions if you qualify for them. You can estimate your pension using this calculator if you were born between 1955 and 2006.

The calculator will calculate your pension based on the wage you’ve entered and the laws that are valid in 2024. To get an estimation that is as close to the truth as possible, enter the amount of your accrued earnings-related pension that is stated on your pension record. Your final pension cannot be calculated until just before you retire.

If you are a wage earner, you will begin to accrue pension at age 17. If you are self-employed, the age limit is 18. The calculator will calculate your earned pension as of age 17 and under the assumption that you will not retire early. The calculator will calculate your pension to the age of 70 at the most. After that, you no longer earn more pension.

The calculator calculates your pension under the assumption that the earned pension you have entered has been adjusted with the life expectancy coefficient and does not include an increment for late retirement. If you have already reached your retirement age, the pension you have earned may include an increment for late retirement.

If you can retire during the ongoing year, you can estimate not only the amount of your starting old-age pension but also the amount of your index-adjusted pension amount for next year. You can see the index-adjusted amount for next year when you select “Assessment of index effect (nominal price level)” and your selected time of retirement is in the ongoing year. By changing your age at retirement, you can compare your index-adjusted pension for next year with the pension amount you would get were you to retire next year.

Calculator’s assumptions on wage and price development as well as extended life expectancy

You can select between two different future general wage developments in this calculator. The option in which the wage level remains unchanged corresponds to the pension record’s baseline projection of your pension. The option in which the wage level grows corresponds to the Finnish Centre for Pensions’ baseline assumption in its long-term projection.

If your pension can start during the ongoing year, you can also select to have the pension amount presented at a nominal level in addition to the price level of the ongoing year. In the alternative with the nominal price level, the projected price development corresponds to the baseline projection of the long-term projection of the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

According to the baseline assumption, the earnings level grows by 1.2 per cent and the consumer price index by 2.0 per cent per year real term. The near-future economic outlook has been taken more closely into account in the calculator. The wage coefficient that your pension is adjusted with to the level of the year in which your pension begins is calculated based on the general wage and price development. Long-term, the real-term annual development is around 1.0%.

The calculator assumes that your earnings grow each year in line with the wage coefficient. That is why your earnings grow slightly less than the average wages of wage earners since the wage coefficient takes into account 80% of the general growth in earnings.

The calculator presents your assumed pension amount in current prices. The euro amount thus reflects the effect of the wage coefficient adjustment and the growth of your own earnings on your pensions’ purchasing power. If you reach your retirement age during the ongoing year, you can assess your pension also at a nominal price level. In that case, the assessment includes the impact of the projected price development.

The extended life expectancy that affects the projected retirement ages and life expectancy coefficient are based on the population forecast of Statistics Finland.

The assumptions used by the calculator regarding the life expectancy coefficient, the retirement age and the general earnings and price development are listed in this excel file.

Retirement age

Each birth year group has its own retirement age. The retirement age for those born in 1965 and later is based on the currently estimated life expectancy. The projection is based on Statistics Finland’s 2021 population projection that has been updated by the Finnish Centre for Pensions. Read more about how the retirement ages are determined   

Earning a pension and age at when your insurance obligation ends

Your earnings-related pension pot grows by 1.5 per cent of your annual earnings. If you are between 53 and 62 years old, your pension pot will grow by 1.7% of your annual gross wages between the years 2017 and 2025. If you retire late (after you have reached your retirement age), your pension will be increased by an increment for late retirement (0.4% for each month that you retire late).  

The age when you stop paying pension insurance and your pension pot no longer grows will rise from 68 to 69 (for those born between 1958 and 1961) and 70 (for those born in 1962 and after). 

Life expectancy coefficient

When you retire, your pension pot will be adjusted with the life expectancy coefficient, which depends on your year of birth. The life expectancy coefficient for your age group will be confirmed when you turn 62 years. If you are younger than that, it is an estimate. The estimate is based on Statistics Finland’s population forecast for 2021. 

Wage coefficient

When the amount of your starting pension is calculated, your income from work and self-employment during your working life will be adjusted with the wage coefficient to the level of the year in which you retire. The wage coefficient ensures that the pension you have earned during your working life retains its value. The wage coefficient takes into account 80% of the changes the index of wage and salary earnings and 20% of the changes in the consumer price index. 

Kela pensions

You can get a national or guarantee pension from Kela if you have no or only a small earnings-related pension. Every euro of earnings-related pension that you get will reduce your full national pension by 50 cents until there is no national pension left to pay. Your national pension depends on whether you live alone or with a spouse. You get a guarantee pension if your total pension is below the full amount of the guarantee pension.  Apart from the earnings-related pension, the calculator does not take into account other pensions that may affect your national or guarantee pension. 

All components of your earnings-related pension do not reduce your national pension. The increment for late retirement does not reduce your national pension, but the calculator takes all other components of your earnings-related pension into account as factors reducing your national pension.  

In the national pension scheme, the retirement age is 65 years. As of those born in 1965, the retirement age will be linked to life expectancy, just as in the earnings-related pension scheme. The calculator counts the reduction for early retirement (0.4% per month that you take the pension early) for both the national and the guarantee pension if you retire before you reach the retirement age of the national pension. The calculator also calculates an increase for late retirement if you retire after reaching the retirement age of the national pension. If you were born before 1962, the increment for late retirement is 0.6% for each month that you postpone your retirement and 0.4% if you were born in 1962 or after.  

The calculator calculates your Kela pension providing you have lived long enough in Finland to qualify for a full national pension (80% of the time between you turned 16 and when you retire).   

In the future, the national and the guarantee pension are expected to develop in line with the price index. In real terms, the Kela pension is at the current level in the calculator. 

For more information on the national pension and the guarantee pension, go to Kela’s website. 

By year-end 2023, the different age groups had accrued a median pension as shown in the table below. This means that half of each age group had accrued a higher and half a lower pension than the figure shown in the table for the age group. The accrued median pension has been presented separately for men, women and the combined total.

The accrued pensions have been adjusted with the wage coefficient to the 2024 level and multiplied with the life expectancy coefficient for each birth year.

The data of the table can be used in the calculator, for example, as an estimate of the previously accrued pension. For a more detailed information on your own accrued pension, check your pension record.

Estimate of the accrued pension at year-end 2023, median, €/month

Birth yearMenWomenTotal
2006212
2005545
2004151414
2003252927
2002404040
2001555655
2000767978
1999101105103
1998129132131
1997164166165
1996200200200
1995235235235
1994274272273
1993313305308
1992352336342
1991393369380
1990436399415
1989478438455
1988522476494
1987575508535
1986620548578
1985666578613
1984712602647
1983751631680
1982787658711
1981827688746
1980883719787
1979939762837
1978998800883
19771069841938
19761116880980
197511769121023
197412139411056
197312559681092
197213109991132
1971135610391169
1970139610781211
1969145611221262
1968151211861322
1967156812561387
1966162713191449
1965169713861514
1964176314501583
1963184115071643
1962186215431666
1961189915831707
1960191116271740

The statistics includes data of persons who reside in Finland, are insured for an earnings-related pension and who have not retired. The accrued pension for each age group is based on the data for year-end 2022. It has been adjusted to the level at year-end 2023 according to each age group’s previous development.

If you can retire during the ongoing year, you can estimate not only the amount of your starting old-age pension but also the amount of your index-adjusted pension amount for next year. The indexes for next year are projections; the figures will be specified in the autumn.

For example, you can compare the amount of your pension if you retire in December 2024 or January 2025. For comparable results, select the nominal price level in all calculations.

  1. Calculate how much your monthly pension would be if it were to start in December 2024 and how much your index-adjusted pension that would start in January 2025 would be.
  2. Calculate how much your pension that would start in 2025 would be by selecting a higher age at retirement.
  3. Compare the results with each other.