Pension insurance is insurance aimed at creating sources of financing for pensions. In developed countries, like Western Europe, the USA and Canada, it is the basis pension system.
Compulsory Pension Insurance
Distinguish between state and private insurance. The first is carried out on the basis of laws, norms and acts of the country, while all citizens have the right to it.
The size of payments depends on the length of service and salary of the employee, the degree of disability and other nuances. They are calculated in each case individually.
Voluntary insurance
NPS is a system of savings, which has several main differences from the mandatory:
- firstly, in this case the insurer is not the state, but private pension funds or insurance companies;
- secondly, it is not mandatory - if it is impossible to refuse the state, then in the case of voluntary everything depends on the will of the citizen himself;
- thirdly, the amount of contributions is determined by the agreement between the insurance company or the fund and the client;
- fourthly, the size of payments depends on the size of contributions - work experience, position, salary and everything else affects it only indirectly.
Insurance in England
As an example, we can take two not the last states in the European arena - Great Britain and Germany.
The UK has a very complex, old and multi-level pension system. People there receive money coming from two sources: basic and labor, depending on length of service and salary.
Women and men from 60 and 65 years old, respectively, are entitled to basic pension insurance. The size of such a pension is limited and depends on the rate of inflation and length of service. State guarantee - 20% of the average person's salary.
The “labor” pension is paid from the national insurance system, and it is formed by the employee’s contributions in half with the employer. It completely depends on the amount contributed, but still offers in the end only about 20% of the salary.
German Pension System
The German pension system has three levels and is similar to the systems of Austria, Italy and France. The first level is compulsory insurance from the state. However, it is mandatory only for certain categories, such as workers, employees, artists and publicists, artisans, as well as people working at home.
This also includes officials, farmers and their families, as well as representatives of certain professional groups: doctors, veterinarians, pharmacists, lawyers, architects, etc.
This basic pension in Germany depends on salary and seniority.
The second level is the so-called “enterprise pensions”. It is optional. The employer company decides whether to take care of its former employees. Pensions from the enterprise exist as an addition to the basic state security.
And finally, the third level - in addition to the state: private care of yourself. For this, almost any legal way of creating passive income can be used - securities funds, real estate purchase, insurance company policies, etc.
Insurance in Russia
At the beginning of the 2000s, the country underwent pension reform, which resulted in the appearance of the so-called OPS. In 2002, mandatory state pension insurance was introduced in Russia - according to it, every citizen of the Russian Federation who was born in 1967 or later is created insurance and funded parts of the pension from the money that the employer made.
This system has two levels - insurance and funded.
The insurance part is a variation on the topic of the distribution system, the same as existed before. A person who works and transfers money reserves the right to a pension in the future, while his money goes to the payment of pensions to the previous generation.
This is all served by the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. Payouts are indexed each year.
The cumulative part, unlike the insurance, is individual. Money from this account can go only to the person who made the contributions, or to his successors. Now there are two ways to manage the funded part:
- through private pension fund insurance (to resort to it, you need to become a client of an NPF by concluding an agreement);
- through the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation - this option is enabled by default at the beginning of labor activity, it can be changed, and you can always return to it.
SNILS
According to the current scheme, in order to start the process, you need to register in the PF system. As a result of such registration, an individual opens an individual account with a number - SNILS. The document on which this number is indicated has a long name: "Certificate of Obligatory Pension Insurance".
With it, you can get a variety of public services, including online - from the help of doctors and to the purchase of preferential tickets for transport.
For working citizens, the most common way to get a pension insurance certificate is through an employer. If it is not, you must fill out a special form, which is then sent to the PF, and within three weeks an account is opened there.
A child under the age of 18 may also have a similar document - in this case, the application is submitted by parents or authorized persons.
How does NPF work?
NPF is a special type of non-profit organization. According to Russian law, its activities are similar to the work of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. He, like the FIU, collects funds, takes into account them, invests, appoints and pays “his” part of the retirement pension.
What happens with the account of the person who signed the contract with the NPF is also reflected in the individual insurance account. It is the responsibility of the state to inform citizens with a pension insurance certificate of their account status.
NPFs are monitored by several government agencies, including the Pension Fund, the Federal Tax Service, independent auditors and actuaries, the Audit Chamber, and others.
The largest NPFs in terms of pension reserves at the end of March 2014 were: NPFs Gazfond, Blagosostoyanie, Elektroenergetika, Transneft, Telecom-Soyuz, Neftegarant.
As for the volumes of pension savings, the picture is a bit different. Here the leaders of NPFs are Lukoil-Garant, RGS, again NPF Elektroenergetika and Blagosostoyanie, there are also NPF of Sberbank and VTB Pension Fund.
Alternatives
In addition to the non-state pension fund, there are other opportunities to ensure a decent pension. Among them are pension insurance. Another option is banking programs.
Thus, at the first, basic level, a person receives help and support from the state. In addition to this, he can conclude an agreement with an NPF, resort to the appropriate banking program or purchase a life insurance policy from an insurance company.
How does the policy work?
Endowment Life Insurance fully lives up to its name - this is an agreement with an insurance company for a period of 5 to 40 years, during which a person deposits funds into his account. The amount of payments and the final amount the client chooses himself.
The key point here is the following: everything that got into the account, plus the income earned with the help of this money by the company under the contract, is returned to the person after the expiration of the term.Insurance companies guarantee a client income of at least 4% of the amount deposited, which neither bank nor state pension insurance can provide. Some programs also provide direct insurance against accident, fatal illness, and disability.
After the contract expires, the client has a choice - he can receive the whole amount at once or the company will pay it monthly, just like a state pension is paid.
