Accruing your pension
All insured work accrues a pension. If you have valid MYEL insurance, you accrue pension according to your MYEL earnings.
Pension is also accrued from YEL earnings from other entrepreneurial activities, as well as from earnings from employment relationships.
When a pension is awarded, earnings from previous years and other earnings are multiplied by a wage coefficient for the year in which the pension begins.
When are pensions accrued?
With MYEL insurance, you start accruing a pension from the age 18, when the insurance obligation also begins. As an employee, you start accruing a pension from the age of 17.
The amount of time that pension is accrued and the validity period of your MYEL insurance depends on your year of birth, as follows:
| Year of birth | Age limit for insurance |
| 1957 or earlier | 68 years |
| 1958–1961 | 69 years |
| 1962 or later | 70 years |
How much pension is accrued?
Pension is accrued at a rate of 1.5% of your earnings. The exception to this is if you are between 53 and 62 years of age, in which case pension is accrued at a rate of 1.7% during the transition period from 2017 to 2025.
Example: Your MYEL insurance is valid all year for earnings of 25,000 euros. You accrue a pension at a rate of 1.5 percent. The amount of pension accrued for the year is therefore 375 euros, i.e. 31.25 euros per month. If you are between 53 and 62 years of age, the amount of pension accrued for the year is 425 euros, i.e. 35.42 euros per month.
The amount of your pension is based on your MYEL earnings and the validity period of your MYEL insurance. The higher your earnings and the longer your insurance is valid for, the higher your pension will be. Unpaid insurance premiums will reduce the amount of your pension.
Pension is also accrued from the following social security benefits and degrees:
- Earnings-based unemployment benefits
- Maternity, special maternity, paternity and parental allowance
- Adult education allowance
- Job alternation compensation
- Sickness allowance
- Special care allowance
- Rehabilitation allowance
- LITA compensation for loss of earnings
- For care of a child under the age of three
- Professional or university degree.
This has been done to ensure that your pension security does not deteriorate due to a temporary interruption in your work. Pension can be accumulated from these benefits at the same time as your MYEL insurance is valid.
You can view the amount of pension you have accrued on your pension record. You can access your pension record at any time using our e-Services.
Working longer increases your pension
If you retire on an old-age pension only after the minimum retirement age, an increase for late retirement will be added to your pension. Your old-age pension will increase by 0.4% for each month that you retire late. Your pension will increase until you reach the upper age limit for your age group.
The increase is calculated on the entire amount of pension that you have accrued throughout your working life until you retire.
Unemployment compensation, a farmers’ special pension that has already been paid, a disability pension or an old-age pension prevent an increase for late retirement from being accrued.
Life expectancy coefficient
The amount of your pension will be adjusted by a life expectancy coefficient, which is calculated for each age group separately. The life expectancy coefficient has the effect of reducing your pension. If you continue to work until or beyond your target retirement age, you can offset the effect of the life expectancy coefficient on your pension.
You can read more about the amount and accrual of pensions on the website of the Finnish Centre for Pensions
