National Pension Fund

[Gareth]

Have been looking at the English website for iDeCo at this link:
https://www.ideco-koushiki.jp/english/

Looking at the "Overview of the plan" section part way down, in the category one column, it mentions the "National Pension Fund". Here's the link to that:
https://www.npfa.or.jp

I'm a bit confused as to what this is exactly. Is this another pension option only for self-employed folk? I can't seem to find any explanation on RetireJapan. Apologies if I've missed it. The table indicates it's something you can do in addition to iDeCo?

Before I do more research on it, just wondered if others know anything about this.

Cheers.

[adamu]

Good question, I'm very fuzzy about that myself.

My understanding is it's the equivalent to Kosei Nenkin for "Category 1" self and unemployed people, to voluntarily top up their standard contributions (in addition to iDeCo).

However, it seems to be split up into a number of different funds, including the "National National Pension Fund". So if you're going to spend time looking into it, I'd be interested in hearing your conclusions

[Kanto]

Edit -> My first response was confused. Sorry about that

[Moneymatters]

Category #4 - Dependant

- They only pay the basic Pension

Is that right?
My wife, who hasn't worked for decades, is still on track to get the full 国民年金.

Maybe it's just dependent spouse that doesn't need to pay?

[adamu]

Category #1 - Self-employed / PT / Students etc

- They only pay the basic Pension

Catagory #2 - Private Sector - Full-time.

Basic pension + Company Pensions

Category #3 - Government Work

Basic pension + "Government worker" Mutual Aid Pension

Category #4 - Dependant

- They only pay the basic Pension

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

As you can see this system creates huge gaps.

IDeCo allows you to privately adjust for this.

Which is why Category #1 can contribute 68,000 a month.

This isn't really relevant to the topic, which is about National Pension Fund, not iDeCo.

I also think it's inaccurate. AFAIK the categories are 1) Catch all 2) Employees 3) Dependent spouses of category 2.

Edit: 3rd time lucky? Categories in English: https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/ ... nsion.html

[RetireJapan]

I looked into nenkin kikin for my wife a couple of years ago. They still send us promotional material every so often

https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/overpa ... in-nenkin/

I think I need to write a new post about it, as the first one had some misunderstandings (although in my defence the person who 'explained' it to me didn't understand it either).

Nenkin kikin uses the same allowance as iDeCo, so it might be appropriate for US citizens or people who are allergic to investing. Anyone else will probably be better off just maxing out their iDeCo account.

[Kanto]

Category #4 - Dependant

- They only pay the basic Pension

Is that right?
My wife, who hasn't worked for decades, is still on track to get the full 国民年金.

Maybe it's just dependent spouse that doesn't need to pay?

My understanding was 10 years of payments = Full pension. Under the new rules

Is that not correct?

[Kanto]

Edit -> My first response was wrong. Sorry about that

[Roger Van Zant]

Category #4 - Dependant

- They only pay the basic Pension

Is that right?
My wife, who hasn't worked for decades, is still on track to get the full 国民年金.

Maybe it's just dependent spouse that doesn't need to pay?

My understanding was 10 years of payments = Full pension. Under the new rules

Is that not correct?

Not correct. 10 years is the minimum you need to pay in to get something back. But with only ten years of contributions, you'll only be getting 1/4 of the full pension; so probably around 30,000 yen per month.

[RetireJapan]

Not correct. 10 years is the minimum you need to pay in to get something back. But with only ten years of contributions, you'll only be getting 1/4 of the full pension; so probably around 30,000 yen per month.

Indeed. Except the full kokumin nenkin is currently 65,000 yen a month, so more like 17,000 yen a month for ten years' contributions. Pretty grim prospect