Retirement at 63: Did the federal government miscalculate?
Created: 2022-02-10, 2:24 p.m
By: Sophia Lother
Retire at 63?
Apparently, more and more people are using this option.
(Iconic photo) © Hodei Unzueta/Imago
More and more people are taking advantage of the pension at 63, which can only be claimed by those who have been insured for a particularly long time.
That could become a problem.
Frankfurt – Retirement* at 63 is an enticing prospect for many employees.
With it, long-term insured persons in particular can retire earlier and spend their time with family, friends or their favorite hobbies.
Anyone who has been insured in the statutory pension insurance for at least 45 years can “in principle retire earlier”, according to the German pension insurance.
Since July 2014, insured persons born before 1953 have been able to retire at 63 without any deductions.
Since then, the retirement age* has been gradually raised.
However, according to media reports, the federal government seems to have miscalculated.
Retirement at 63: Has the federal government miscalculated the concept of early retirement?
As early as 2019, there were indications that more people than expected wanted to retire at 63*.
The draft law in 2014 said at the time: "It is assumed that there will be around 200,000 cases per year".
However, in 2018, for example, around 240,000 early retirees took advantage of this offer.
The following year the number was also higher.
As the Bild newspaper now reports, a total of 254,337 applications for a pension at the age of 63 were approved in 2021.
This means another increase of 2.5 percent with regard to the following year.
Overall, there are around 340,000 more people who have taken advantage of the pension offer for particularly long-term insured since 2014 than the federal government had planned.
According to the newspaper, the costs are expected to rise to over three billion euros a month for the first time in the spring.
Early retirement: the retirement age is gradually being raised
It is not yet known how the new federal government intends to meet the apparently continuously rising costs.
In 2009, it was decided to raise the retirement age that had been in effect until then.
If it was 65 years before, the limit will now be gradually raised to 67 years by 2029.
The Federal Minister of Labor at the time, Franz Müntefering (SPD), justified the procedure by saying that this made sense and was fair to the generations, since more and more people would draw their pension for longer and start working later.
An overview of the retirement age by year of birth:
Year of birth | retirement age | retirement from |
---|---|---|
1955 | 65 years and 9 months | 2020 |
1956 | 65 years and 10 months | 2021 |
1957 | 65 years and 11 months | 2022 |
1958 | 66 years | 2024 |
1959 | 66 years and 2 months | 2025 |
1960 | 66 years and 4 months | 2026 |
1961 | 66 years and 6 months | 2027 |
1962 | 66 years and 8 months | 2028 |
1963 | 66 years and 10 months | 2029 |
from 1964 | 67 years | 2031 |
Retirement at 63: What are the requirements?
For the pension at 63 for those who have been insured for a particularly long time, the focus is on having reached the minimum age and that the waiting period of 45 years must be fulfilled.
According to the Federal Ministry of Labor, “primarily contribution periods from insured employment or activity, care and child-rearing” are credited to this.
The Ministry has published a list of the times that count towards the required 45 years:
Times with compulsory contributions from employment or self-employment
Times of compulsory insurance and minor employment such as a mini job with your own contribution payment
Times in military or civilian service
Times when relatives were not cared for on a commercial basis
Periods of raising children (until the child is ten years old)
Periods of unemployment, partial unemployment or in which professional training services were used (the last two years before the start of retirement are excluded here, unless the unemployment is due to insolvency or the cessation of business by the employer)
Times with sick pay or when transitional allowance, short-time work allowance, bad weather allowance, winter allowance, or insolvency allowance (employer's inability to pay) was received
Periods of voluntary insurance also play a role here if there are at least 18 years of compulsory contributions from employment or self-employment (exception: the last two years before the start of retirement if there are periods of credit due to unemployment at the same time)
replacement times
In 2022, pensioners will again be faced with various changes*.
In addition to a pension increase, the taxation of the pension* also increases in some cases.
(slo)
*fr.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.