Save additional capital for your retirement and build up private assets. A budget will help you plan for your retirement better. Also think about a possible purchase into your pension fund.
Find out what retirement options your employer offers. Consider whether early or partial retirement is an option or whether regular retirement suits you better.
Decide whether you want to withdraw your pension fund assets as a monthly pension, as a one-off payment or as a combination of both.
The OASI pension, i.e. benefits from the first pillar, can be drawn at the earliest two years before regular retirement. As soon as the OASI reform comes into effect, it will be possible to draw a portion of your pension (between 20% and 80%) early and defer the rest.
With the second pillar, your occupational pension fund, you have the option of taking out your pension benefits as a lump sum, as an annuity or a combination of both.
Many pension funds already offer the option of partial retirement. For example, those who reduce their working hours from 100% to 60% at the age of 63 can then draw 40% of their annuity or pension capital. Under the OASI reform, all pension funds are obliged to facilitate this form of partial retirement.
Depending on the terms of your pension fund, you can often draw the benefits from your pension as early as 58 or 60. However, the consequence of this is that the pension capital / annuities paid out will be permanently lower than in the case of ordinary retirement. This is because the pension capital that you have saved will be correspondingly smaller.
Currently, you may draw funds from pillar 3a five years before regular retirement age, i.e. at age 59 for women and 60 for men at the earliest.
As a rule, you should begin thinking about the topic of early retirement as early as possible, but no later than from the age of 50. Start thinking about the question of when you want to retire as soon as possible. Because early retirement is costly: first, you have to bridge the gap financially between early retirement and the time you begin receiving your OASI pension. Second, the final years of contributions have a significant influence on pension fund capital thanks to the accrued interest on your total assets, and you will have to reckon with noticeable losses. Finally, you will no longer be receiving your earnings from gainful employment.
Tip: the pension certificate issued by your pension fund illustrates how much the amount of your occupational retirement pension will vary depending on the date of your retirement. This will provide you with an initial, rough overview.
Early retirement is expensive: as a rule of thumb, each additional year of retirement prior to regular retirement age costs about one year's salary. This is because, first, you must compensate for your loss of earnings, and second, you are already drawing benefits from your pension fund, which will consequently be lower than in the case of regular retirement for the remainder of your life. Conversely, the OASI pension is usually only paid out after you have reached regular retirement age, so you must also bridge the costs incurred by this gap. You will also have to pay OASI contributions for non-employed persons – unless your spouse's income is still subject to OASI contributions. In addition, your tax situation will change, perhaps also your living situation. All these factors have an impact on your income.
The exact costs of early retirement can only be determined in the course of financial or pension planning. You can reach an approximate figure by multiplying the net annual salary on your salary statement by the number of years before the regular retirement age that you plan to retire.
Begin planning as soon as possible. You should start laying the groundwork for your retirement when you reach the age of 50 at the latest. It is prudent to seek the support of a specialist here: In the course of creating a financial plan, you will develop an overview of your future income and financial situation, determine your budget for living costs after retirement together with your financial advisor, and define methods for closing any potential income gaps.
A financial or retirement plan is a life plan:
building up assets is the central component of financial planning. Financial planning benefits those who want to achieve their goals, organize their assets and save in a targeted manner in order to prepare for the third phase of their lives. It creates clarity, while offering you a foundation for making prudent and well-informed decisions about your financial future.
Our specialists will develop a suitable concept for you on the basis of your needs and goals as a client– in other words, a plan to optimize your financial situation gradually.
In concrete terms, pension planning is about laying the groundwork for your retirement: you optimize the process of building up your assets, consciously decide the age at which you wish to retire and develop a sensible strategy for the use of your assets. You allocate your money during retirement in a way that enables you to cover your needs comfortably until the end of your life.
At Zurich, you benefit from comprehensive advice on every aspect of your retirement needs. As an insurance provider, we offer not only expertise in financial matters, but also competent advice on your risk situation, including protection for your home, and financial security in the event of disability or death.
At the same time, we can offer you a broad range of investment solutions: Zurich Invest Ltd manages the Group's real-estate fund and is responsible for the largest bank-independent investment foundation in Switzerland. It works together with renowned investment managers from around the globe. Pension funds, institutional clients and private clients all invest with us using the same investment vehicles. As a private investor, you will invest in the same way as the big players and, consequently, will benefit from the economies of scale.
