Calculation of retirement from private + public with deferment

[trajan]

I have read the info in the links below and am more confused than I was.

https://www.nenkin.go.jp/service/jukyu/ ... 21-02.html

https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/Japanese_pension_system

I just want to know what my pension will be, the plain numbers. My situation is as follows.

Let us say for simplicity's sake that my salary is 10 million and I will have paid for 35 years at 65 into both the public pension and my university's private pension. The wiki says 40 years "of contributions are required to receive the full Base State Pension" but it is unclear to me what this means.

So, how much will my pension be if I retire at 65 versus at 70? Just the numbers, please. Is it 2, 3, or 4 million?

I have seen the formulas but, forgive me, I cannot make sense of "deferred increase rates" or what rate applies to which fund, i.e., the public, the private, or both.

Thank you all.

[adamu]

Check your pension statement:

https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/Nenkin_Net#C ... 9%E3%82%8B

The amount you will eventually receive depends upon your circumstances in the future - there is no simple answer.

[trajan]

Check your pension statement:

https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/Nenkin_Net#C ... 9%E3%82%8B

The amount you will eventually receive depends upon your circumstances in the future - there is no simple answer.

Thank you for the quick reply.

I did do that but all I got is the following message.

ねんきん定期便送付時点にて年金加入記録が共済組合のみであるため、年金見込額試算はできません。

That letter (which I think I have) speaks of some ~2 million yen but it is unclear (to me) if that is the total or separate from the Kokumin. There is no mention of "deferred increase rates" or a retirement age other than 65.

Assuming no changes in circumstances (same employer, payments, etc), is that ~2 million yen what I should expect? It seems extremely low. I would understand 4 but 2 is just above the poverty level (~1.3 right?).

I feel I am not understanding something here.

[RetireJapan]

Assuming no changes in circumstances (same employer, payments, etc), is that ~2 million yen what I should expect? It seems extremely low. I would understand 4 but 2 is just above the poverty level (~1.3 right?).

I feel I am not understanding something here.

Japanese nenkin is not designed to provide a comfortable life in retirement. Even for people who have paid into kosei/kyosai nenkin for the full period, they are not likely to get more than 1-2 million yen a year in retirement (people paying kokumin nenkin won't get more than 800,000 yen a year).

Traditionally people would also have cash savings, a large retirement bonus (20-30m was not uncommon), a paid off home, and possibly a spouse receiving kokumin nenkin (800,000 a year).

More recently it is important to use iDeCo and NISA to boost your assets before retiring.

And of course doing some research and planning as you are doing is vital so as not to be caught unprepared.

[trajan]

Assuming no changes in circumstances (same employer, payments, etc), is that ~2 million yen what I should expect? It seems extremely low. I would understand 4 but 2 is just above the poverty level (~1.3 right?).

I feel I am not understanding something here.

Japanese nenkin is not designed to provide a comfortable life in retirement. Even for people who have paid into kosei/kyosai nenkin for the full period, they are not likely to get more than 1-2 million yen a year in retirement (people paying kokumin nenkin won't get more than 800,000 yen a year).

Traditionally people would also have cash savings, a large retirement bonus (20-30m was not uncommon), a paid off home, and possibly a spouse receiving kokumin nenkin (800,000 a year).

More recently it is important to use iDeCo and NISA to boost your assets before retiring.

And of course doing some research and planning as you are doing is vital so as not to be caught unprepared.

Thank you, Ben.

I have the NISA, savings, and property covered, I think. It is the pension I do not understand. By what you say, the estimate of ~2 million could be correct. That's a shocker.

Is there a way to figure out how to calculate the retirement bonus or is it institution dependent?

[RetireJapan]

Is there a way to figure out how to calculate the retirement bonus or is it institution dependent?

Your employer will have documentation. You should be able to get it from HR (人事課).

I wrote about mine here: https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/retiring-in-japan/

[captainspoke]

...salary is 10 million and I will have paid for 35 years at 65 into both the public pension and my university's private pension. ...

IIRC, I paid in for 29yrs, and my salary was a little less (9m) during my last years. I get a little over ¥2m/yr in pension. (I've been told tho that that is on the low side for 29yrs.)

My wife, who made less but had more years total employment--and I'm not sure exactly how many more--makes more in pension than I do. So in some sense it balances out.

If you are 60 or above, and perhaps once if over 55(?), you can get a consultation with shigakukyosai. (I was lucky to have these happen in my city, but you could set up an appointment in tokyo when at a conference or during other travel.) They also should be sending regular mailings with updates. Tho as I recall they do not preview what the future might be, they only tell you what you'd get if you were to retire that year.

An aside, but if you happen to be US, and have any social security earnings (high school or college jobs etc), the totalization agreement works. I only had ~20 credits/quarters, and what you usually read is that 40 are needed to collect SS. Totalization brings you up to minimums. I get about ¥50k/month (which is more than I get from kokumin nenkin), and it is direct deposited monthly, already in yen, into a local bank acct (and they pay any wire fees).

[trajan]

IIRC, I paid in for 29yrs, and my salary was a little less (9m) during my last years. I get a little over ¥2m/yr in pension. (I've been told tho that that is on the low side for 29yrs.)

My wife, who made less but had more years total employment--and I'm not sure exactly how many more--makes more in pension than I do. So in some sense it balances out.

If you are 60 or above, and perhaps once if over 55(?), you can get a consultation with shigakukyosai. (I was lucky to have these happen in my city, but you could set up an appointment in tokyo when at a conference or during other travel.) They also should be sending regular mailings with updates. Tho as I recall they do not preview what the future might be, they only tell you what you'd get if you were to retire that year.

An aside, but if you happen to be US, and have any social security earnings (high school or college jobs etc), the totalization agreement works. I only had ~20 credits/quarters, and what you usually read is that 40 are needed to collect SS. Totalization brings you up to minimums. I get about ¥50k/month (which is more than I get from kokumin nenkin), and it is direct deposited monthly, already in yen, into a local bank acct (and they pay any wire fees).

Your employer will have documentation. You should be able to get it from HR (人事課).

I wrote about mine here: https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/retiring-in-japan/

Thank you both. Much appreciated.

[captainspoke]

Sorry, I missed this line the first time.

...
Is there a way to figure out how to calculate the retirement bonus or is it institution dependent?

I think it depends on the school. Mine had their own chart-and I totally doubt they would have let anyone outside the school control it. Given that you're a regular employee (seishain) you should also been issued a copy of the school rulebook (kisoku), and likely updated sections/pages when they issue them.

The chart for taishokikin will be in there, likely close to where the charts are for salaries. Ours was pretty simple, not even two full pages. Down the left column was the number of years you had worked there, a row for each year. Then there were maybe 5 more columns/headings that indicated the reason or type of separation from the school. IIRC, one of these was if your quit on your own, eg., to leave for a (better?!) job somewhere else. Another was if they had to ask you to leave. Another was if you died--like before retirement. And one was teinen/定年 ("one column to rule them all" ), for when you reached official retirement age, which for my place, it was the March 31st following 65th birthday. ((Maybe one column was for dismissal due to something criminal?))

For a given row, like if you had worked 30 years, each of those columns had a different number, which was a multiple of your basic monthly salary at retirement. Teinen, dying on the job were equal. Quitting on your own was about half as much--eg, I got about 48xbase salary when retiring, but if I had quit on my own three days earlier, it was something like 20x. And note at my place it was a multiple of your base monthly salary--specifically not yearly income including bonuses, any 手当金, etc.

So anyway, you likely need to check the school rulebook, and given how formal that was at my place (hanko required even to receive it, same for any updates, and it had to be turned in on retirement), I'll guess you have a copy somewhere, there's probably a legal requirement that this has to be issued to employees. Dig it up, and if you can't, or are certain you don't have one, go to your jinjika and ask them to show you the chart.

[trajan]

Sorry, I missed this line the first time.

...
Is there a way to figure out how to calculate the retirement bonus or is it institution dependent?

I think it depends on the school. Mine had their own chart-and I totally doubt they would have let anyone outside the school control it. Given that you're a regular employee (seishain) you should also been issued a copy of the school rulebook (kisoku), and likely updated sections/pages when they issue them.

The chart for taishokikin will be in there, likely close to where the charts are for salaries. Ours was pretty simple, not even two full pages. Down the left column was the number of years you had worked there, a row for each year. Then there were maybe 5 more columns/headings that indicated the reason or type of separation from the school. IIRC, one of these was if your quit on your own, eg., to leave for a (better?!) job somewhere else. Another was if they had to ask you to leave. Another was if you died--like before retirement. And one was teinen/定年 ("one column to rule them all" ), for when you reached official retirement age, which for my place, it was the March 31st following 65th birthday. ((Maybe one column was for dismissal due to something criminal?))

For a given row, like if you had worked 30 years, each of those columns had a different number, which was a multiple of your basic monthly salary at retirement. Teinen, dying on the job were equal. Quitting on your own was about half as much--eg, I got about 48xbase salary when retiring, but if I had quit on my own three days earlier, it was something like 20x. And note at my place it was a multiple of your base monthly salary--specifically not yearly income including bonuses, any 手当金, etc.

So anyway, you likely need to check the school rulebook, and given how formal that was at my place (hanko required even to receive it, same for any updates, and it had to be turned in on retirement), I'll guess you have a copy somewhere, there's probably a legal requirement that this has to be issued to employees. Dig it up, and if you can't, or are certain you don't have one, go to your jinjika and ask them to show you the chart.

That's very helpful. Thank you.