Have you heard of Finnish earnings-related pension?

Do you live abroad and have ever worked in Finland? Did you know that when it's time for you to retire, the pension you earned can also be paid to your country of residence. You can receive your pension in a foreign bank account and in a currency other than euros.

I have colleagues in Ilmarinen who are very passionate about their work. I have learned a great deal from experts in pension and foreign work insurance over the years. So much so that I have sometimes dared to talk to people about pension insurance even in civilian life, so to speak.

Nowadays I am aware of among other things that when working in Finland, citizenship does not matter from the point of view of pension accrual. It is the employer's responsibility to take out earnings-related pension insurance for her employee and to withhold the employee's pension contribution directly from his or her salary. If you are an entrepreneur in Finland, you must arrange pension insurance yourself from the pension company of your choice. All insured work accrues pension regardless of the length of work.

How to tell a young person about earnings-related pension in short - in Swedish?

If the topic is difficult for some of us Finns, it seems almost impossible to explain to a foreigner. I was once in a particularly brave mood and decided to give it a try. I was picking up my child from kindergarten and talking to his Swedish teacher about what I do for a living. I was happy to remember the long and knotted term arbetspensionsförsäkringsbolag (Swedish) and told what kind of work I do in a pension company.

I asked the young teacher if she knew that even as a foreigner she is entitled to apply for a pension for work she has done in Finland when she reaches that age. The question was mostly rhetorical because, as I thought, she didn't know or at least didn't remember discussing it with her employer. I hope that this young professional, who is doing extremely important work in Finland, will after decades still remember when she retires, that she also earned pension in Finland while working here.

More and more people come to work in Finland from abroad

Statistics Finland published its latest population projections in October. The forecast, updated every three years, is central, as it is the basis for many long-term calculations in our society, such as the development needs of the pension system.

We need workers from other countries in Finland. This has been publicly communicated by many; the Minister of Labour, the business community and the executives of pension companies, to name a few.

In my day-to-day life, I highly appreciate these daycare workers, many of whom have moved to work in Finland from elsewhere. I follow an unwritten rule in the kindergarten world,  where you in every possible way try to ease the burden of those conducting the actual child care and pedagogical work. I stick to the schedules, follow the instructions given to the homes and organise the lost property while at the facility. Maybe I can carry my small professional stake by trying to tell about the Finnish earnings-related pension as well.

One of our most important tasks as a pension insurance company is to make Finnish earnings-related pension better known. And let us not forget the ever-growing pool of international professionals that complements the domestic workforce in many fields. Sharing information and raising awareness is our job and responsibility, even in the yards of kindergartens.

Read more

What is earnings-related pension?

Pension for work in Finland (tyoelake.fi)