Retiring on old-age pension? A new guide in Suomi.fi helps to make smart choices

Many 55–70-year-olds reflect on how to arrange their future days in retirement in terms of finances, continuing to work, housing and wellbeing. At the same time, they look for information from several sources, and the overall picture may remain unclear. The now published Suomi.fi guide Retiring on old-age pension compiles all the key information and instructions in one place for the first time.

The guide helps to understand what needs to be done before the pension starts, what kind of information is transferred between the different parties and when the citizen must take action themselves.

The guide contains answers to questions related to the pension amount, taxation and applying for a pension. It also explains how it is possible to work after retirement, how much a pensioner is allowed to earn and how it affects taxation.

The guide answers questions that retiring people reflect on

“Retiring on old-age pension is a big change. We wanted to explain the change as clearly as possible. The guide helps people plan their own pension path well in advance,” says Senior Specialist Marja Vuorikoski from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

More than 40 people retiring on old-age pension, people close to them and stakeholders were interviewed for preparing the guide.  Three concerns in particular emerged from the interviews: uncertainty about the pension amount and the taxation of pensions, information gaps between different actors, and how to build a new everyday life and identity after retiring. The guide responds to these concerns. 

The interviewees described retirement at the same time as something they had been looking forward to and as something they were a bit worried about. Many were worried about how their everyday life would change and how sufficient their finances would be.

“I knew the pension would affect my income, but I didn't know how much. I was afraid I would make some kind of mistake,” one of the interviewees explains.

In the preparation of the guide, advantage has also been taken of the service design project of the Ministry of Finance’s programme for promoting life event-based digitalisation. In the project, challenges in services related to retiring were identified and solutions based on digitalisation were proposed to them.

A wide network of experts ensures the reliability of the guide

A large number of experts from key organisations participated in the preparation of the guide, which ensures that the information is reliable and up to date. 

“Different organisations provided the guide with key information from their sector. The collaboration resulted in a comprehensive information package offering basic information for planning retirement and, if necessary, directing the citizen to find more information and the right service provider,” says Marjo Skoglund from the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

The guide has been prepared by the Finnish Pensioners’ Federation, the Interest Group of Pensioner Associations EETU, the Finnish Centre for Pensions, Kela, Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company, Mutual Employment Pension Insurance Company Elo, Mutual Employment Pension Insurance Company Varma, Keva, the Finnish Supervisory Agency, Farmers' Social Insurance Institution Mela, Veritas Pension Insurance and the Tax Administration.

Read the guide suomi.fi/guides/old-age-pension