Old-age pension

When the time comes to retire based on your age and you are ending your career, you can apply for old-age pension as an earnings-related pension. Your minimum retirement age depends on your year of birth. You can choose when to retire on old-age pension at the earliest starting from the first day of the month after you reach your personal minimum retirement age. For those born in 1959, the minimum age of retirement is 64 years and 3 months and for those born in 1960, the minimum age of retirement is 64 years and 6 months. For a person born in January 1960, old-age pension may start on 1 August 2024.

Receiving the pension is conditional on your employment relationship ending. As a self-employed person, you can continue your entrepreneurial activities during your retirement, but your YEL insurance will be terminated at the end of the month before your pension begins. Voluntary YEL insurance is possible also during retirement.

Old-age pension

Earnings-related pension is supplemented by Finnish national pension. National pension is possible if your earnings-related pension falls below the income limit specified by Kela. The retirement age is 65. You can apply for early old-age pension as of age 64. Old-age pension for long-termed unemployed is possible for persons born 1958. You can apply for earnings-related pension and national pension using the same application.

Read more about amount and payment of national pension on Kela’s website

You can freely enter a date of retirement. It can start at the earliest at the beginning of the month following the month in which you reach your minimum retirement age. If you were born in 1962 or before, your minimum retirement age is already confirmed. For people born after 1962, the retirement ages are estimates. The longer you work, the more your pension grows. The maximum retirement age is the age at which your pension accrual ends, even if you continue working.

Check your retirement age using the pension calculator

In our online service, you can calculate an estimate of your old-age pension in advance. Once you have applied for pension, it is no longer possible to calculate an estimate.

Calculate a pension estimate in Varma Online Service

1. Decide when you want to retire.
2. Agree on terminating your employment relationship with your employer well in advance. Your employment relationship must end before your pension begins. The pension of an employed person can start earliest at the beginning of the month following the termination of the employment relationship. Pension can be granted to a person who has reached the maximum retirement age (68 years), even if the person remains employed.
3. Apply for pension 2 weeks before the start of your retirement. Choose Pension applications => old-age pension application. If you have lived or worked abroad, apply for pension no earlier than 6 months before the start of your pension and also fill in Appendix U (Residence and employment abroad). 
4. We usually issue a provisional decision first. Take it easy and wait for your final decision: you will usually receive the final pension decision in the month following the start of the pension only once your employer has notified the Incomes Register of the end date of your employment relationship and your salary information.
5. You will receive a message when the decision is made and you will be able to see the decision in the electronic archive. If you have not opted for our electronic service, the decision will be sent by post to your home address.

Fill in a pension application online. Choose old-age pension from the list. Also if you have been working while drawing old-age pension, you can apply for pension for that part using old-age pension application.

You can the same application to apply also for national pension. If you have lived or worked abroad, you can fill in the application six months in advance. In that case, you must also fill in Appendix U (Residence and employment abroad). Appendix U must be filled in even if you are not yet applying for a foreign pension. Based on the information in Appendix U, the impact of your time abroad on your earnings-related pension and national pension will be determined.

Be sure to have your bank account number in IBAN format on hand, as it will be requested in the application. The application also asks you when you will stop working. You do not need to attach your letter of resignation to your application.

You will receive your pension decision in your electronic archive, if you choose electronic service. You will receive a notification when the decision is made. You can check your personal documents in your electronic archive.

Apply for old-age pension in Varma Online Service

You will usually receive a provisional decision on your application. The average processing time varies, but right now it is three days. If you have lived or worked abroad the processing time may be longer. A provisional decision is issued before all the information that affects the amount of your pension is known; for instance, the amount of your final salary. The final pension decision takes into account all factors, such as the increase for deferred retirement, that affect the amount of your pension.

Along with the decision, you will receive instructions that include important matters for pensioners, as well as a reminder to apply for a new tax card for your pension as soon as possible after your pension begins.

If you choose the electronic service, you will see the decision concerning your pension in your electronic archive. Otherwise, the decision will be sent by post to your home address.

If you have been working while drawing old-age pension, you can apply for pension for that part at the earliest starting from the beginning of the month following the month in which you turn 68 (those born 1958 from the beginning of the month in which you turn 69). You do not have to stop working even if you apply for the pension that has accrued on your employment during retirement. You will no longer accrue pension, however. Your maximum retirement age, meaning the age when your pension accrual ends, depends on your year of birth. You apply for the pension that has accrued on your employment during retirement using an old-age pension application.

Read more on page Working during retirement

During retirement, the amount of your pension is adjusted on an annual basis in January based on the earnings-related pension index. When you retire, the wages and income you earned during your career are adjusted to the level of the year in which your pension begins by a wage coefficient. 

Example:

• If you retire on 1 December 2023, earned income affecting your pension is adjusted by using the 2023 wage coefficient. The earnings-related pension index for 2024 will increase the amount of pension paid to you as of 1 January 2024.
• If you retire on 1 January 2024, the earned income affecting your pension is adjusted by using the 2024 wage coefficient.

Read more: Indices for earnings-related pension cover for 2024 have been confirmed

Read more about earnings-related pension index and the wage coefficient