What is a pension? There are three pillars

Your retirement pension is your income from the moment you stop working. In the Netherlands, your retirement pension consists of three components, or pillars. We’ve listed them for you below.

• First pillar: State Pension (AOW)
  Everyone in the Netherlands is entitled to State Pension from a certain age onwards, whether you work or not. A state old-age benefit is a basic income you get from the government. Your date of birth determines the age at which you receive your State Pension. You can calculate your State Pension Age on the website of the Sociale Verzekeringsbank (Social Insurance Bank – SVB).

• Second pillar: pension through your employer
  If you are employed, you usually accrue pension through your employer. In fact, most Dutch employers offer a pension scheme through a pension administrator such as BeFrank.
  
  Your employer pays part of your pension contribution and the pension administrator then invests that money. That way, your contributions will yield a return. More information on accruing pension with BeFrank is available here. 

• Third pillar: accruing additional pension
  Already know you won’t have enough pension to make ends meet later on in life? Or are you a business owner who doesn’t accrue pension through an employer? You can supplement your pension yourself by saving, investing or through an annuity, for example.

How much pension do you need?

If you want to continue doing all the things you’re doing now, it’s wise to start accruing a pension in good time. After all, you will need quite a lot of money to cover the years when you’re retired.

A good pension fund amounts to about 25 times your annual salary, but note that this is just a guideline. If you have big plans, such as foreign adventures, you will need a higher pension. If you win the lottery, you’ll need less. It also depends on how much the State Pension amounts to by the time you retire.

View your expected pension

Your personal pension page gives you access to your pension information anytime, anywhere. One clear summary shows you how your investments are doing and what the returns are. You can also merge all your pension funds. That way, you can see straight away how much your expected pension will amount to later. 24/7, always up to date.