Topical issues

Most pension funds included in our comparison reached a real return of 10–20 per cent. The Swedish AP funds, part of the public pension system, performed particularly well, scoring highest in all compared categories. The year was favourable also for Finnish pension investors, particularly for Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company.

Partial old-age pensions have been selected mainly by wage earners with an average income. As the retirement age rises, the pension cutting effect of the partial old-age pension increases. The increasing cutting effect of early retirement is already showing in starting old-age pensions.

Employer, are you employing a worker from Ukraine? Remember to take out earnings-related pension insurance for the worker.

Nearly one third of all pensions in Finland are higher than 2,000 euros per month. Every third Finn receives a monthly pension of less than 1,250 euros. The gender gap in pensions remained unchanged.

Pension assets increased by 33 billion euros last year, particularly due to a robust return on pension providers’ investments. Pension contribution income also developed favourably due to the growing wage sum. Low inflation curbed expenditure.

The earnings-related pension field and Tax Administration will launch two joint trials. In both of them, 25,000 citizens will receive a message via the MyTax service. The message encourages the recipient to check their pension record via the web service of their pension provider. The customer is steered to the web service via a joint steering service.

Although the employment rate in Finland has exceeded its pre-corona level, the number of long-term unemployed has not improved. Many of those who lost their jobs during the pandemic are still unemployed. Focus should be put on the hard-to-employ, particularly those with disabilities and immigrants. A state-owned special assignment company Työkanava has been established to create meaningful jobs for people with disabilities.

In 2021, the number of new retirees on a disability pension declined by more than eight per cent. The decline was evenly distributed between the main disease categories. Mental disorders continue to be the most common cause for retirement on a disability pension. The single most common cause is depression – on average, it causes nine persons a day to retire on a disability pension.

Nearly three out of four employers state that working with typical tasks at the workplace until age 65 is possible. Yet, according to a new study by the Finnish Centre for Pensions, most employers doubt that working lives will be extended at their own place of business.

Does poverty in old age develop differently compared to other age groups? Why are women often at a higher risk of poverty than men? Does it matter for perceived income adequacy from which source the income comes from? Join our webinar (Teams) on Monday 14 March to hear more about and to discuss these questions.