Concern for the self-employed
Pension boss: No pressure to act when entering the age
3/11/2023 4:03 am
The retirement age will rise to 67 by 2031, and calls for a further increase are already being made. The president of the German pension insurance currently sees no urgency for this. But there is all the more in the case of the obligation to provide for the self-employed.
The President of the German Pension Insurance Association, Gundula Roßbach, pleads for the introduction of compulsory old-age provision for the self-employed before the end of this legislative period. “The risk of the self-employed ending up in basic security in old age is significantly greater than that of dependent employees,” Roßbach told the editorial network Germany (RND). “We are counting on the federal government introducing the obligation to provide for old age in this legislative period.”
It is also important that the regulations are as simple and digitally implementable as possible for everyone involved. Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil had already confirmed in December that he wanted to introduce compulsory old-age provision for the self-employed. Roßbach criticized: “In Germany we have the almost unique situation that we do not have to insure such a large group of people as the self-employed. We should provide mandatory old-age security for this group.”
Significantly more one-off payments
In their view, the retirement age does not currently need to be raised. “I don’t see any need for action at this point in time when it comes to the retirement age,” she said. “The average age at which people actually retire is currently 64.1 years. By 2031, the age limit is to rise to 67. What was introduced as a pension without deductions from 63 grows up to a pension from 65 years of age in the same period “, added her.
Recently, more and more people are taking advantage of the opportunity to retire earlier without deductions by making one-off payments. “Last year, income from voluntary contributions increased by around 29 percent compared to the previous year – to 1.9 billion euros,” said Roßbach. The biggest driver was the contributions that were used to buy discounts. “We recorded an increase of 45 percent here last year compared to 2021,” says Roßbach.