Just like most French people, you are certainly familiar with the basic pension and the supplementary pension. Our retirement system is based on these two mandatory devices, which pave the way for a new daily life far from the office. The first, the basic pension, is paid by one or more retirement funds, the vast majority of which depend on the general Social Security system. Secondly, the supplementary pension, as its name suggests, pays a supplement to the basic pension. This secondary pension is also affiliated with different pension funds, the most widespread of which is Agirc-Arrco.
In parallel with this duo of diets, there is a third optional pension: the supplementary pension, formerly called supplementary pension. Very different from its predecessors, the supplementary pension can be implemented at the initiative of the employer or individually. Explanations.
The different additional pensions
Unlike the basic and supplementary pension, the supplementary pension is not not mandatory. It is added to the pensions you already have, so as to build up savings for retirement. His system works by capitalization, in other words, by accumulating contributions as an employee during working life for future retirement. Conversely, the compulsory, basic and supplementary schemes operate on a pay-as-you-go basis. This device takes the form ofA retirement savings planmore commonly known as PER. Launched on October 1, 2019, the PER will gradually replace the old existing retirement savings products. There are now three forms: the collective company PER, the compulsory company PER and the individual PER.
The collective corporate PER
THE Collective corporate PER is a financial investment contract open to all employees of a company. They are not obliged to subscribe to it, it’s up to them. The collective company PER succeeds the Perco (collective retirement savings plan), which has no longer been marketed since October 1, 2020. When a company decides to subscribe its employees to a supplementary pension as part of a collective contract, then PER holders will be able, at legal retirement age, to decide to the way they want to liquidate their PEReither with an annuity exit or a capital exit.
Mandatory company PER
THE Mandatory company PER, known as PERO, is also a financial investment contract, either reserved for certain categories of employees of a company, or for all employees. Although similar to its predecessor in many respects, it is not optional. In other words, the employees concerned are obliged to subscribe to it. This savings solution replaces the old Article 83 contract, which took the form of a group life insurance contract taken out by a company for certain employees.
The individual PER
An additional pension can also be set up individually, we then speak of individual retirement savings plan, or individual PER. This long-term savings product succeeds the Madelin contract and the popular retirement savings plan (Perp). Accessible to all, the individual PER can be opened with a financial institution or an insurance organization, this is what we call an investment PER (in the form of a securities account) or an insurance PER (in the form of an insurance contract).
How do I know if I have a supplementary pension?
The supplementary pension remains a still marginal device in our French system. According to DREES estimates, 2.6 million people received supplementary retirement benefits at the end of 2021. Many recipients forget to have retirement savings. For example, it is possible that you one day subscribed to an individual PER, or that one of the companies where you worked years ago subscribed to a collective company PER, so that that you no longer remember it.
Rest assured, whether you are employed or retired, you can easily find if you have contributed to a supplementary pension thanks to the individual right to information on retirement, introduced in 2003. The deployment of this right involves precisely the creation of the official website Retirement Info. This public platform lists your personal information, including your possible supplementary retirement contracts. To check, simply log in to your personal space, then go to the dedicated service entitled “My Retirement Savings”. You will then be able to see if you are the beneficiary of a savings contract, and, if necessary, contact the management organization in question.
Sources:
- The new retirement savings plans represent more than half of supplementary pension contributions in 2021 two years after their launch – Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES)
- Retirement savings plan (PER) – Public service
- Are you the beneficiary of a dormant additional retirement savings product? – Ministry of Economy and Finance