Quick, grumpy, done on paper
I went into the ward office to sign up for kokumin nenkin today (this is pretty much the only thing involving pensions you should do at the ward office -make sure to ask questions at a pension office or by calling the national helpline). The process must be done within 14 days (in my case 14 days after losing my job on March 31). I received the paperwork yesterday, so strolled on down to the local ward office after dropping my granddaughter off at school.
I got there just before nine, but it was already open! This may have been the reason the woman who dealt with me was so grumpy 😉
The process itself was very easy. As I was moving from kosei nenkin, I needed a document from my previous employer proving that I was no longer enrolled through them. I also needed my pension book (to provide my pension number -基礎年金番号), and one form of ID. They asked for my zairyu card, I handed over my driving license and that was fine (government workers will often default to zairyu card for ID out of convenience, as it is the only one that all foreign residents are likely to be carrying and they don’t want to get stuck trying to explain things, but other forms of ID are almost always acceptable).
I had to fill in a form, then a second form when I mentioned that I also wanted to join fuka nenkin (the first form was not necessary). The form was easy, name, address, nenkin number, DOB, phone number.
The whole thing took about ten minutes from walking up to the information desk to ask where to go, to walking back out again.
Thoughts
My first thought was why oh why is this very simple process not online? Surely the government wants as many people as possible to sign up, and making it as painless as possible is only going to help achieve that. Also, making people come and line up in the ward office makes no sense during the nascent 7th wave (when did the 6th wave end, by the way?). There was nothing involved that couldn’t have been done with a really simple online form.
Also, at no point did they try to ‘upsell’ me to fuka nenkin or kokumin nenkin kikin. Just the opposite, in fact, my case worker got even more annoyed when I asked to join fuka nenkin. Both of these schemes are good and should help people have a more stable life in old age, as well as help fund nenkin!
Finally, every single person I have spoken to recently about kokumin nenkin has been grumpy, condescending, or otherwise rude. Is it because kokumin nenkin is for the underclasses?
The main reason I was in a hurry to sign up this time is because I want to get my new, 67,000 yen a month iDeCo contribution going. Rakuten Securities told me to finish signing up for kokumin nenkin before sending in the paperwork. That’s next on the agenda.
How about you? How was your experience with kokumin nenkin, fuka nenkin, or kokumin nenkin kikin?
I’ve found out how to check the total number of fuka-nenkin months on Nenkin Net (I can view the page, but since I don’t have kokumin nenkin, there’s nothing useful there for me to see).
The overall progression runs 年金記録を確認する — 詳細な年金記録を確認する — 国民年金加入記録を確認する — 国民年金加入期間の情報.
Breaking it down:
From your personal top page, choose the tab 年金記録を確認する (Check Your Pension Record).
The next page has two main sections. You want the bottom one, 詳細な年金記録を確認する (Check Your Pension Record Details), which in turn contains three numbered columns. Column No. 2, in the middle, contains links to detailed information on your pension record by type of scheme, either kokumin nenkin (top button) or kosei nenkin (bottom button). Clicking the top button will take you to the page with details of your kokumin nenkin coverage.
Once on that page, scroll down to “2. 国民年金加入期間の情報.” The first line item shows the total number of months for which you have made premium payments as a Category 1 Insured Individual, and in parentheses below that (in the same space) is the number of those months during which you were concurrently making fuka nenken payments. Fuka nenkin months credited during maternity leave are also given on a separate line further down the list.
Fuka-nenkin benefits should be included in your pension estimates, at least in theory.
Fantastic! I will check this once I have some fuka nenkin months 😉
You weren’t tempted to split between iDeCo and kokumin nenkin kikin? I’m maxing out the former but wonder whether the latter might not be worth putting something in (I have hardly any kousei nenkin contributions and may well not have many more before I retire).
Not really!
I am not super familiar with kokumin nenkin kikin, but the few times I have looked at it I got the impression it was much less attractive than iDeCo (except for US citizens, who can’t use iDeCo, or people who are scared of the stock market).
Roger that 🙂