What you should know about pensions when you’re about to enter your working life

Although you’re far away from retirement, it’s good to know about pensions already when you’re at the beginning of your working life. The choices you make along the way may also affect how much pension you’ll get when you do retire.

The earnings-related pensions have been set up in law. They make sure you have an income when:

you are old,
you develop a disability, or
the wage earner in your family dies.

If your earnings-related pension is small, you may get a national pension and a guarantee pension paid by the Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela).

The basic principle is that you earn an earnings-related pension when you work as an employee or a self-employed person. How much pension you’ll get depends on for how long you work, how much you earn and how much your pension accrual rate is. The more you earn and the longer you work, the higher your pension will be.

17 years

If you’re employed, your employer will take out pension insurance for you when you have turned 17. Your employer will deduct your share of the contribution from your wages. Check your payslip to make sure your employer has met its obligation to insure you.
If you’re self-employed, you have to take out pension for yourself when you have turned 18.

1,5 per cent

Each year, your pension will grow at a rate of 1.5% of your annual gross wages. It doesn’t matter for how long you work. Your pension will grow also when you have a summer job or a seasonal job, as long as you earn about 65 euros per month. If you work off the books, you don’t earn a pension at all.

Retirement age depends on year of birth

The number of retired people is growing and people live longer. That is why each birth year has its own retirement age. If you were born in 1965 or later, your retirement age is still only an estimate. It’ll be con-firmed later and based on life expectancy projections.

Check your retirement age

Select your year and month of birth. The calculator will tell you when you can retire.

Retirement age

- Your pension can start at the earliest on - Your estimated time in retirement based on life expectancy.

Your target retirement age

- Your pension can start at the earliest on - Your estimated time in retirement based on life expectancy.

Your qualifying age for retirement on a partial old-age pension - You can take out a partial old-age pension at the earliest as of -

Which things affect your pension?

Your pension grows when you work – either in Finland or abroad. Your pension grows also for studies and many social security benefits. Find out how the different stages in your life will affect your pension.

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