Your pension status in greater detail
The law lays down that retirement age is reached at the age of 65 years. This means that you are entitled to a pension from age 65 onwards. At least, if you duly paid your social contributions.
To what am I entitled?
The size of your monthly pension depends first and foremost of the length of your career. A 45-year career will result in a full pension. Did you only work 40 years? Then you will enjoy 40/45th of a full pension.
The level of your income during your career is also taken into account. This is logic, as you paid social contributions based on this income.
Finally, the law will adapt your monthly benefit to your family situations (head of the family or single) and to the maximum and minimum benefit scales. The result is a monthly benefit, which ranges between these amounts:
|
Family |
Single |
|
|
Minimum |
890.05€ | 669.92€ |
|---|---|---|
|
Maximum man |
1010.64€ | 808.51€ |
|
Maximum woman |
1046.88€ | 815.80€ |
Can I stop working before the age of 65?
The law allows you to end your career when you are 60. Attention: You will pay a 5-percent price for every year that you decide to work less.
Example: You stop working at the age of 63? Then you will lose 10 percent of your pension.
Can I continue to work after the age of 65?
Yes. What’s more, the law has created an intermediary format, which allows you to gradually phase out your activities, while benefiting from a partial pension.
Do you wish to make use of this combination? Then you have to respect the following income limits:
- Before legal retirement age, without children/dependants: Annual income of €5,937.26;
- Before legal retirement age, with children/dependants: annual income of €8,905.89;
- After legal retirement age, without children/dependants: Annual income of €13,719.35;
- After legal retirement age, with children/dependants: Annual income of €16,687.98;
