Pension is lower than Hartz 4
Information from the German pension insurance flutters into the mailbox every year. Some find that the pension will later be lower than Hartz 4. If you are one of those affected, it is time to act. Later, for some, only a supplement through the supplementary basic security in old age comes into consideration.
Low-income earners do not have a high one pension expected. Even if your employment history has been longer through times unemployment or illness, you will have to skimp in old age. Your own pension should therefore be an issue.
Pension will be lower than earnings
If you are already barely getting by on your income, it will become even more difficult in old age: for later generations of retirees, the pension level will be below 50 percent of earned income. This means that your individual retirement income may be below the amount that Hartz 4 grants as the subsistence level.
The sooner you start building an additional retirement provision start the better. In addition to the amount of the payments, the amount of a later private provision depends largely on the period in which you made payments.
- This is of course difficult if you are barely able to get by on your earned income anyway. In addition to purely financial retirement provision, there are other types of provision: Take care of yourself a healthy lifestyle will keep you working longer than just 65 or 67 Years. If you do not retire until later than the law provides, there are surcharges for the statutory old-age provision. These compensate for the fact that you will only make use of your retirement benefits later.
- If you draw your retirement benefits after you reach the statutory entry age, you can earn unlimited additional earnings: the normal pension will not be reduced. However, you should be careful if you do this as a full-time self-employed person: then you will fail Health insurance The pensioner out, the health insurance as voluntarily insured in the statutory health insurance will then be very expensive.
A pension payment will usually be a reason to be pleased. However, it can ...
Hartz 4 and basic security in old age
- Hartz 4 is generally regarded as the benchmark for modest income. In old age you are no longer entitled to Hartz 4 as basic security for job seekers, but you can have a right to basic security in old age in accordance with SGB XII.
- The so-called standard requirement for basic security in old age - as for Hartz 4 - increases regularly. From the 1st January 2014 it is 391 euros per month for a single person and for couples who are considered to be a community of needs, 353 euros per month for each. Then there are the costs for accommodation and heating.
- If you receive payments from a private pension plan in old age, these are considered income. This will reduce your entitlement to basic security. This may seem unfair compared to those who have not taken precautions at all - but it will make you less dependent on government payments.
- However, it is cheaper if you own and live in a small condominium - this is usually considered to be a protective asset that you do not have to use in old age.
If the pension is lower than the subsistence level, there is still basic security in old age. Your own income and assets - apart from tax exemptions - are to be given priority. (Article as of April 2014)
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