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Is it worth paying pension contributions for your studies?
Photo: damircudic/Getty Images
What's the problem anyway?
Studied medicine for a few semesters, dropped out, then got a bachelor's degree in geography, the standard period of study ripped off, then added on to the master's degree: the course quickly takes longer than planned.
And that can have consequences for your pension.
When you can retire and how much money you get paid out depends on how long and how much you pay into the pension insurance.
It also depends on how many years you have worked.
But it shouldn't "fall on anyone's feet" if for some reason it took him or her longer to complete the training, says Katja Braubach from the German pension insurance.
That is why you can sometimes voluntarily pay additional contributions for training and study periods.
According to data from the German pension insurance, a total of around 2,500 insured persons used this option in 2019.
Who can pay pension contributions?
In principle, you can only pay back for years that do not count towards your pension anyway.
That's not that many.
Because from the 17th birthday, up to eight years of training can be credited without having to pay any contributions.
It doesn't matter whether, for example, you have completed your studies or not.
Only those who have invested more than eight years in school, studies and/or school training after their 17th birthday can voluntarily pay back.
Additional payments are also possible for attending school, technical college or university and for taking part in pre-vocational training measures between the ages of 16 and 17.
Until when can I pay back?
Anyone who would like to voluntarily pay contributions for longer periods of training has until their 45th birthday to do so – the application must have been received by the German pension insurance by then.
This can be done using form V0080, which is available for download on the website.
The degree certificate or enrollment certificates are sufficient as evidence, says Braubach.
What are additional payments?
It is not easy to judge whether additional payments are really worthwhile.
After all, no one can predict how old you will be.
Not even whether the retirement age will change in the coming decades.
But a few questions can help with the decision: Will I still reach the minimum insurance periods due to my long studies?
Do I want to retire earlier in the future?
Or would I like to be paid a higher pension?
Minimum
insurance periods, also known as waiting periods: In order to receive benefits from the German pension insurance, one must have paid into the pension insurance for a certain number of years. For the so-called standard old-age pension, the minimum insurance period is only five years. Depending on how long you pay into the pension insurance, you may be able to buy yourself an earlier start of your pension.
Retire earlier
: Anyone who has paid into the pension insurance for 35 years can retire earlier – although the benefits will then be reduced.
The official term: old-age pension for long-term insured persons.
If you want to retire earlier without cuts, you have to prove that you have contributed for 45 years.
Then one speaks of the old-age pension for particularly long-term insured.
Caution: The voluntary contributions only count here if you have paid compulsory contributions for at least 18 years.
Higher pension
: Voluntary contributions also have an impact on the size of pension payments.
Here the rule applies: the more money is paid in, the higher the pension will be later.
Even if ultimately no one can predict what life will be like after retirement age: a few years after starting your career, you can probably estimate whether starting your job later will cost you a pension or whether you will fall short of the minimum insurance periods for an earlier start of your pension.
In these cases, a voluntary additional payment can be worthwhile.
How much can you pay back?
There is a minimum and a maximum contribution for voluntary additional payments.
At the moment they are EUR 83.70 and EUR 1320.60 per month.
How much you should pay later also depends on the motive: If the aim is to shorten waiting times, the minimum contributions may be sufficient.
If the later pension is to be increased, higher contributions can also make sense.
Good to know: The Deutsche Rentenversicherung provides free advice and sometimes also makes a test calculation.
What about side jobs?
Waiting tables in the café around the corner or giving private tuition: Many students work alongside their studies and, depending on the type of part-time job, are already making contributions to the pension insurance system.
However, you can be exempted from this under certain circumstances.
If eight years of study are credited anyway, is it still worth paying pension insurance contributions for part-time jobs?
"Yes, it's still worth paying for a mini-job, for example," says Braubach.
The fact that a flat rate of eight years is taken into account only has an impact on the minimum insurance period - not on the amount of the pension.
But if you already pay contributions for a part-time job, then there will be more money in the end.
And the contributions also count for the disability pension, for example.
aba/sos/dpa
