Pension scheme in the new pension system: old-age pension

The social partners (the employers’ and employees’ representatives) want to choose for the solidarity-based pension scheme. In this pension scheme are windfalls and setbacks absorbed together and collective investments are made. As a result, pensions will be stable.

In the coming months, we will explain the new pension scheme to you in small pieces. Let’s start with the old-age pension. This is the pension you will receive when you stop working.

In a nutshell: how does it work now
Agreements have been made in the current pension scheme about the amount of pension you will receive when you retire. So you know in advance how much pension you will receive each month.

In a nutshell: how will it work in
the future In the new pension system, agreements are made about how much money (contribution) you and your employer will contribute to your pension. This is called a contribution scheme: it is an agreement about the amount of the premium. You can clearly see how much money you and your employer are putting in for your pension and how this amount is growing. In short: You build up capital that you use to purchase a pension when you retire.

This capital, and ultimately your pension, will move in line with the economy: up faster when things are going well and down when things are not going so well. Because pensions will move in line with the economy, declines cannot always be prevented. The new rules do ensure that the movements become less significant when you are (almost) retired: by investing less risky as you get older. A buffer is also used for setbacks: the solidarity reserve. In good times, we build it up, so that we can absorb or mitigate a decrease in pensions in bad times.