Your age counts, but what age counts when it comes to your pension?

It never used to be this complicated. You had the state pension age (AOW age) and your retirement date, and this was the age of 65 in both cases. However, so many different ages are now used for your pension that you can no longer figure out when you’ll be able to retire!

Let’s start with the ages that the Dutch government works with, such as the ever-changing AOW age. If you were born after February 28, 1957, the AOW age is currently 67 years. If you were born before this date, your AOW age will be between the ages of 66 and 67. According to the latest reports, the AOW age of 67 years will apply until 2026. It may be increased again from 2026.

The government also sets a pension calculation age, also known as a standard retirement age. This is used to calculate everyone’s pension accrual. The government has set this pension calculation age at 68. A maximum accrual rate of 1.875% applies to this pension calculation age of 68. However, to complicate things even further, social partners may decide to deviate from the age of 68 in the pension regulations. The social partners at SPF have not done that and opted for a pension calculation age of 68. This age is referred to as the pension age on your UPS. Be careful not to confuse it with your AOW age. Your pension therefore starts earlier than the pension calculation age of 68 years because, according to the CLA, your employment contracts ends on your AOW age.

With all these ages, how do you figure out when you’ll be able to retire?
Luckily there is one important date that you can choose yourself: your own retirement date. This is the date on which you want your pension to start. At SPF, your pension can start from your 60th birthday, but must start no later than five years after your AOW age. Of course, starting your pension earlier has consequences for the level of your pension benefit. You can calculate these consequences in our pension planner, click here.