Japanese pension after paying in for 40 years

[Roger Van Zant]

I will have paid in close to, if not the full, 40 years by the time I reach retirement age.

I was doing some research to see how much I could expect to get.
I came across this website:

https://mponline.sbi-moneyplaza.co.jp/m ... ugaku.html

And specifically, this:

https://ibb.co/cwx1bvj

So a company employee who pays in for forty years can expect to get 146,162 yen per month?
And a housewife can expect to get 56,049 yen per month?

Am I understanding this correctly?

146,162 yen per month in addition to a full UK pension is not too shabby of a starting point....of course, other savings will be necessary, but still....

[Moneymatters]

Obviously, it's linked to your income so varies.

https://hoken-all.co.jp/hoken/nenkin-ik ... 9%E3%80%82

Scroll down to find this table which shows a variation of salaries (Obviously Salary should vary during employment so think of that as the average salary whilst enrolled.)
"年収別の老齢厚生年金の支給額"

Whilst salary of 500万 isn't in the table it's the example underneath the table showing it equates to approx 10万 monthly.
年収500万円前後で40年間加入すると老齢厚生年金の支給額の平均（月額）が10万円になります。
And under there it shows base kokumin might be an additional 6.6万 monthly taking that to 16.6万 in total
老齢基礎年金の支給額が6.6万円なら合わせて16.6万円です。

Your linked article has a similar table 3-2 based off monthly income and that's also showing just the Employee pension portion without Base pension included.

[beanhead]

And a housewife can expect to get 56,049 yen per month?

There you go. A reason to consider getting married

[ClearAsMud]

Calculations get quite complicated for 厚生年金 because the pension consists of both a fixed portion (the equivalent of the Basic Pension, so easy to calculate) and an earnings-based portion, the latter of which depends not only on knowing one's standardized monthly income (which is lower than actual income and fluid over time) but requires the application of two separate formulas with a dividing line of April 2003. As a result, most online sites that provide estimates caution that the estimates are only very rough.

The most recent compendium of actual pension statistics provided by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, for 2020, can be downloaded here:
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/000925808.pdf


For 2020, the overall monthly 厚生年金 average (in line with what Moneymatters suggests for an inclusive pension) turns out to be ￥144,366, with ￥164,742 as the average for men and ￥103,808 as the average for women. The number of pensioners receiving monthly amounts over ￥250,000 (the vast majority of whom are men) is quite small. A convenient graph of amounts for 2019 will be found on the following Aeon Bank page: https://www.aeonbank.co.jp/investment/special/257/.

Overall average monthly 厚生年金 benefits by age are as follows (this includes both portions of the pension):

60 ￥90,838
65 ￥145,337
70 ￥143,775
75 ￥147,519
80 ￥157,097
85 ￥162,711

Most male pensioners with average incomes and average-length careers can be expected to come in at under ￥200,000 per month (the most common band for men is actually ￥170,000-￥180,000). You would have to have a relatively high average income and a relatively long career to go much beyond that (only 16,346 men in Japan, out of a total of 10.7 million pensioners, received over ￥300,000 per month in pension benefits in 2020).

[Roger Van Zant]

And a housewife can expect to get 56,049 yen per month?

There you go. A reason to consider getting married

LOL! Think I'll pass on that!

[Roger Van Zant]

Obviously, it's linked to your income so varies.

https://hoken-all.co.jp/hoken/nenkin-ik ... 9%E3%80%82

Scroll down to find this table which shows a variation of salaries (Obviously Salary should vary during employment so think of that as the average salary whilst enrolled.)
"年収別の老齢厚生年金の支給額"

Whilst salary of 500万 isn't in the table it's the example underneath the table showing it equates to approx 10万 monthly.
年収500万円前後で40年間加入すると老齢厚生年金の支給額の平均（月額）が10万円になります。
And under there it shows base kokumin might be an additional 6.6万 monthly taking that to 16.6万 in total
老齢基礎年金の支給額が6.6万円なら合わせて16.6万円です。

Your linked article has a similar table 3-2 based off monthly income and that's also showing just the Employee pension portion without Base pension included.

As a salaried company employee, I only get the employee pension, right? The base pension is only for housewives and self-employed people?

[ClearAsMud]

As a salaried company employee, I only get the employee pension, right?

As a salaried company employee, your pension automatically includes both a fixed-sum component (the equivalent of the basic pension, easy to calculate, premiums continue in principle until you reach 60) and an earnings-related component (salary and time dependent, premiums continue in principle until you reach 70). Your payslip, however, will only show that you contributed to 厚生年金 because the fixed-sum component is not, strictly speaking, 国民年金 but a constituent part of the 厚生年金 scheme. One scheme, two components, with one of the components functionally the same as 国民年金. The sum of the components is the total pension.

Your Nenkin Net page should actually give you a reasonably accurate current estimate of your expected pension based on both components. Have you taken a look at that? You can always get a detailed breakdown and estimate, along with a printout, by visiting your local pension office.

[Roger Van Zant]

As a salaried company employee, I only get the employee pension, right?

As a salaried company employee, your pension automatically includes both a fixed-sum component (the equivalent of the basic pension, easy to calculate, premiums continue in principle until you reach 60) and an earnings-related component (salary and time dependent, premiums continue in principle until you reach 70). Your payslip, however, will only show that you contributed to 厚生年金 because the fixed-sum component is not, strictly speaking, 国民年金 but a constituent part of the 厚生年金 scheme. One scheme, two components, with one of the components functionally the same as 国民年金. The sum of the components is the total pension.

Your Nenkin Net page should actually give you a reasonably accurate current estimate of your expected pension based on both components. Have you taken a look at that? You can always get a detailed breakdown and estimate, along with a printout, by visiting your local pension office.

Good to know. Thank you for responding.

[Roger Van Zant]

Calculations get quite complicated for 厚生年金 because the pension consists of both a fixed portion (the equivalent of the Basic Pension, so easy to calculate) and an earnings-based portion, the latter of which depends not only on knowing one's standardized monthly income (which is lower than actual income and fluid over time) but requires the application of two separate formulas with a dividing line of April 2003. As a result, most online sites that provide estimates caution that the estimates are only very rough.

The most recent compendium of actual pension statistics provided by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, for 2020, can be downloaded here:
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/000925808.pdf


For 2020, the overall monthly 厚生年金 average (in line with what Moneymatters suggests for an inclusive pension) turns out to be ￥144,366, with ￥164,742 as the average for men and ￥103,808 as the average for women. The number of pensioners receiving monthly amounts over ￥250,000 (the vast majority of whom are men) is quite small. A convenient graph of amounts for 2019 will be found on the following Aeon Bank page: https://www.aeonbank.co.jp/investment/special/257/.

Overall average monthly 厚生年金 benefits by age are as follows (this includes both portions of the pension):

60 ￥90,838
65 ￥145,337
70 ￥143,775
75 ￥147,519
80 ￥157,097
85 ￥162,711

Most male pensioners with average incomes and average-length careers can be expected to come in at under ￥200,000 per month (the most common band for men is actually ￥170,000-￥180,000). You would have to have a relatively high average income and a relatively long career to go much beyond that (only 16,346 men in Japan, out of a total of 10.7 million pensioners, received over ￥300,000 per month in pension benefits in 2020).

Damn, 170,000 yen per month combined with the UK pension (probably around 120,000 yen per month) is not bad at all. That's pretty much what I live on now after paying the mortgage and taxes each month. I'm single with no kids though, so easier for me.

[Tokyo]

Damn, 170,000 yen per month combined with the UK pension (probably around 120,000 yen per month) is not bad at all. That's pretty much what I live on now after paying the mortgage and taxes each month. I'm single with no kids though, so easier for me.

I don’t want to burst your bubble but Kosei nenkin payments have been steadily declining for many years. People who retired 5 years ago get slightly less than those who retired 10 years back. With the decrease in Japanese nenkin and the likely increase in the UK pension through regular cost of living adjustments, they are likely to end up much closer to each other.