Maximum pension in the statutory pension insurance
Statutory pensioners have to get by with salaries in old age that are far below those of German pensioners. This applies even to the few retirees who receive the maximum pension from the statutory pension insurance. What maximum pension is possible under what conditions?
In Germany, the state retirement provision between pension and pension differentiated.
Civil servants record plus in pension provision
The Federal Statistical Office shows that an employee with an average income receives a pension of around 1,263 euros. He paid 45 years of insurance into the pension fund and made provisions himself with his contributions. The German pensioner can look forward to an average of 2,800 euros.
- The comparison is a bit of a horse, because it is a gross comparison. Because pensions are taxed higher, health insurance contributions have to be paid in full, and there are no company pensions. Nevertheless, in old age, civil servant households are better off.
- One main reason is that earnings are irrelevant over one's entire professional life. Above all, what counts is the merit of a few years at the end of the career. In official German this is referred to as "supply from the last office".
- The years of service are by no means unimportant. These accumulate almost by themselves, as civil servants cannot usually be terminated. Depending on the federal, state or local government, the maximum pension rate is a little over 72 percent of gross income.
- It is an open secret that the benefits of the statutory pension insurance will in future only be sufficient to ensure a basic standard of living.
- You will not be able to maintain the usual standard in old age. Even if you may think that you are paying high premiums. What you will get out in the end is just a modest amount, at least not the amount you hoped for or dreamed of.
Not only employees, but also those who receive a pension must make contributions to the ...
Why the maximum pension is just theory
the pension insurance has calculated what you can expect as a pension.
- Ideally, you have paid high premiums for 45 years. In 2013 this would result in a maximum monthly pension of 2,320 euros. The actual payout amount is even lower due to taxation.
- The maximum contribution is around 1,000 euros per month. It is paid from a monthly income of 5,800 euros in West Germany. With this calculation, it should be remembered that due to the maximum contributions and contribution years, only a few can receive the maximum pension.
- In the first years of employment, the earnings of trainees and employees are not high. The result is that a large part of the possible maximum pension is forfeited. Those who finish their studies in their late twenties will never make it.
- Before the pension reform of 2005, credited training absences provided some compensation in the pension. However, several pension savings laws have meant that this option has largely ceased to exist.
The financial experts of the pension insurance nevertheless assume a positive return on pension contributions. One reason is the increasing duration of pension payments. Those who retire today will still live on average for around 19 years. That is more than twice as long as when the dynamic pension was installed in 1957.
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