Actual pension figures

[Zara]

During my working life, I was never able to get straightforward information on what my total Japanese pension would be.
I worked 25.5 years full-time at a Japanese university that pays a below-average salary.
Here are my figures:
¥132,000 per month from the Private Schools Mutual Aid pension
¥ 35,000 per month from kokumin nenkin.
I hope this is helpful to others!

[RetireJapan]

Wow, that is very encouraging. So presumably you are receiving 25.5/40s of a full pension (unless you have extra eligibility from before that?).

Thanks for the information. Anyone else care to share their figures?

[Zara]

I do not have any extra eligibility.
It must be the case that the kokumin pension is not paid on a per-year pro-rated basis.
Please let me know if these calculations make sense. My 25.5 years equals 64% of 40 years. I understand that the monthly kokumin nenkin received after 40 years is 65,000 yen per month. My 35,000 yen per month is 54% (not 64%) of 65,000 yen. Correct me if my math is wrong.
In any event, Japanese pensions all around are very LOW.
I do hope other people post their actual pension amounts. It made me very anxious not to have a clear idea of how much I might receive. The kosei nenkin figure is obviously much more important than the kokumin nenkin figure.

[RetireJapan]

Are they deducting kaigo hoken from your kokumin pension before you receive it (or are you taking that into account?). Could be that you were not enrolled for all of the 25.5 years, or perhaps something else.

The pension office should be able to explain if you care to ask them.

[Zara]

The kaigo hoken is not deducted from the 35,000-yen figure. I already paid my kaigo hoken for the rest of the year.
I suppose there is a kind of sliding scale for how kokumin nenkin is calculated.

[captainspoke]

...
Here are my figures:
¥132,000 per month from the Private Schools Mutual Aid pension
...

Interesting. Did you by chance retire a little early--e.g., at 60 or so? The reason I ask is that my predicted payment (and what I am now getting) crept down over the years from 60-65. IIRC, they said since I was working and making money longer, it was being reduced... I don't remember what it was at 60 or so, but now, with 29 years paid, and having quit on the next 3/31st after my 65th, I'm getting about ¥257,000 every other month, so ¥128,500/month. This part of pension has not changed since I retired.

On the other hand, I think my initial 国民年金 number was about ¥38,000/month. Then after paying the first 5-6 months of 介護保険 directly, we got auto-deduct started. Since then they have been subtracting that so my payment here stayed at about ¥25,500/month for quite a while (= ¥51,000 every other month). So I was at about ¥154,000/month for quite a while. (And I was expecting it to remain stable.)

However, this month, that was cut a little more--it was about ¥35,000 instead if ¥51,000. I need to go talk to them to confirm what's going on, and why. I thought I was maxed out on 介護保険 (or almost), so it's likely something else, so maybe a tax payment? It'll be interesting to see if this is some kind of one-off, or a change that will last longer. Also, due to a health issue earlier this year I switched to 後期高齢者医療制度, and it might be that (or some combination of things).

I do have some passive income, so it may be a tax prepayment charge due to that. Or, maybe with enough income pension payments get adjusted down (as with social security in the US)? I generally trust them, but I'll stop by there sometime this week and ask what's going on.

[Zara]

I retired at age 65, the mandatory retirement age at my university.
Actually, from what I understand, I receive MORE pension because I worked from age 60 to 65. This makes sense.
I think the kosen nenkin depends upon one's income. My university was not a high-paying one .... but perhaps your income was even less. A colleague of mine who retired at age 65 after working at the same university for 30.5 years receives ¥220,000 PER MONTH in combined kosei nenkin and kokumin nenkin.
Your initial 国民年金 number of about ¥38,000/month makes sense in that it is higher than mine for more years of work.
I do wonder why your payment was cut this month.... Like you, I do generally trust the pension people.

[RetireJapan]

Trust, but verify! Especially the nenkin people

Recently I am meeting people (including my wife!) who are not getting their nenkin annual statement (年金定期便).Definitely worth asking if that is the case, or if you are not sure about your numbers.

They do make mistakes, sometimes huge newsworthy ones.

[captainspoke]

The pension office says that the change I talked about above is due to reassessment of 住民税, and that city hall can provide the numbers if I want to see them. Apparently the adjustment on this is done yearly in October (and it will continue, not just a one-off). They said I should have gotten a notice/通知 for the change, but I either didn't, or more likely mislaid it (or put it in the wrong place--swamped w/some other paperwork lately).

One of those first world troubles, I guess.

[regular]

Zara,

Are you getting what was shown in your nenkin teikibin annual mail when you were aged between say, 61-64. For reference, Ben recently posted his pension update for 2019 in https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/japan- ... date-2019/ where section 3 is ‘pension based on contributions so far’. It’s a calculation of what you would have gotten if you stopped paying right then. I think it is for the kokumin pension only but do you now draw close to that figure?

I also guess Kosei nenkin will be proportional to the figure in section 1. Captainspoke and others who are now drawing from shigaku kyosai (or private universities mutual fund) may be able to give more exacting details.

Regards