Pension security

The amount of each pension is individual and mainly determined by your earnings during your working career and until what age you work. Pension accrues from your earnings according to your MYEL insurance and according to the same rules regardless of whether you are a MYEL-insured grant recipient or an entrepreneur. Pension benefits are also the same for both groups.

Old-age pensions are the most familiar type of earnings-related pensions, but earnings-related pensions also provide security for many other life situations. For example, your earnings-related pension provides income if you are unable to work or have to reduce your work due to age or a disability. In addition, earnings-related pensions secure the livelihood of spouses and orphans in the event of the death of the family wage earner.

The pension you accrue in Finland can also be paid abroad, regardless of which country you are a citizen of or whether you have already moved out of Finland. The pension you have earned is safeguarded, even after your work ends.

Pension insurance premiums are not refunded when you move out of Finland. Instead, you will receive the pension you have accrued when you apply for a pension from Finland. The Finnish pension can be applied for in different ways, depending on which country in which you reside when applying for the pension.

How much pension will I receive?

You can check the amount of pension that you have accrued from your pension record, which you can access from our e-Services.

Your pension record shows how much pension you have accrued while working on a grant or from the periods during which you worked as an entrepreneur or farmer, as well as during employment relationships in the private and public sectors.

You can view your pension record online at any time using our e-Services. You can log in to our e-Services using Suomi.fi e-identification. On your online pension record, you can see up-to-date information about the pension you have accrued so far. Every three years, we mail a paper pension record to all MYEL policyholders. The paper pension record lists information about your pension-accruing work only for the past six years.

You can also calculate the amount of your future old-age pension using our calculators.

If the amount of your pension accrued from your earnings is small, you can apply for a supplementary national pension (guarantee pension) from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela). The conditions for receiving a national pension are that you are covered by the Finnish social security system and that you have resided in Finland for at least 3 years after having reached the age of 16 years. You can read more about national pensions on the Kela website: National pensions

When can and should you retire on an old-age pension?

In Finland, you can retire on an old-age pension at the retirement age for your birth year. For example, if you were born in 1956, you can retire on an old-age pension at the age of 63 years and 6 months. If you were born in 1957, you can retire on an old-age pension at the age of 63 years and 9 months, and if you were born in 1958, you can retire on an old-age pension at the age of 64 years. The retirement age increases by increments of three months a year up to the retirement age of 65.

If you reside abroad, the retirement age in Finland may differ from that in your country of residence. Therefore, you may have to apply for your Finnish and foreign pensions at different times.

You do not have to retire on an old-age pension as soon as you reach the minimum retirement age for your age group. The longer you continue working and postpone your retirement, the bigger your pension will be. You can continue working and accruing pension up until the insurance obligation ends for your age group.

Pensions must be applied for

Pensions must always be applied for in writing. There is a different application for each type of pension.

We are happy to help if you have any questions about retiring on a pension.

Read more about accruing a pension