Applying for pension

1. Check your retirement age in the MyPension service

You can retire at the earliest at your lower retirement age. To find out your retirement age, use the MyPension service’s old-age pension calculator. The calculator also allows you to make pension estimates using different dates.

2. Terminate your employment relationship

When you know at what age you can retire on old-age pension, decide when you will retire. Agree with your employer on the termination of your employment relationship within the notice period. Your employment relationship must end at the latest on the day preceding the start of your pension. Your employment relationship do not need to end if you apply for pension when you reach the upper age limit for old-age pension.

If you have more than one employment relationship, terminate at least one of them.

3. Apply for pension

After having agreed on the termination of your employment relationship, apply to us for old-age pension. Apply for it about two weeks before you wish your retirement to start. You can fill in an application in MyPension service. The application will be available in the MyPension service at the earliest two months before the start of the pension.

You can use the same application to apply for earnings-related pension accrued on work in both the private and public sectors.

If your earnings-related pension is small, you may be eligible for Kela’s national pension and guarantee pension. If you are also applying for Kela’s national pension and guarantee pension, indicate it in the application. In that case, we will submit the application to Kela on your behalf. Kela will make a separate decision regarding the national pension. Please note that if you apply for the national pension before the age of 65, it will be subject to reduction for early retirement. For more information on the reduction and applying for national pension, please visit Kela’s website at Kela (Kela.fi).

If you are not able to fill in the application in MyPension service, you can apply the pension by using a form.

4. If you are an entrepreneur and you apply for pension

File the pension application in the MyPension service in time, about one month before retiring, because if your entrepreneurial activity continues, you cannot apply for pension retroactively. When you apply for old-age pension as an entrepreneur and your YEL insurance is in force, your insurance will automatically end on the day preceding the start of the pension.

However, if you have already terminated your YEL insurance, you can receive the pension for a maximum of three months retroactively. You can continue your work as an entrepreneur while on the pension.

Read more about working while on a pension

1. Apply for partial old-age pension

Indicate in the application whether you wish to start drawing your partial old-age pension at a rate of 25 or 50 per cent. You can estimate the amount of pension using the MyPension service’s pension calculator.

Apply for the pension about two weeks before you intend to retire. The application will be available in the MyPension service at the earliest one month before the start of the pension. Partial old-age pension cannot be applied for retroactively. If you wish to increase the percentage of your partial old-age pension at a later stage, contact our customer service using the MyPension service’s ’Lähetä viesti’ (Send a message) feature.

Survivors’ pensions help you and your children when your spouse has passed away. You can receive surviving spouse’s pension as of the beginning of the month following the death of your spouse. Your children can receive orphan’s pension as of the beginning of the month following the death of their parent. The pension can be granted retroactively for no more than six months.

1. Check to see if you are entitled to surviving spouse’s pension and your children to orphan’s pension. Read more about eligibility for survivors’ pension
2. Estimate the amount of surviving spouse’s pension using the survivors’ pension calculator.
3. Fill in a survivors’ pension application for a surviving spouse and a child in the MyPension service.

If you are also applying for Kela’s survivors' pension, indicate it in the application. In that case, we will submit the application to Kela on your behalf. For more information on the pensions paid by Kela, contact Kela (Kela.fi).

If you work during your retirement, you accrue new pension until you reach the upper old-age pension age. Apply for this new pension separately by filling in an old-age pension application. When you can apply for this new pension depends on your situation.

• If your employment relationship has begun after your retirement, apply for the new pension when you have reached your upper age for old-age pension.
• If you have several employment relationships and you retire on old-age pension only from some of them, apply for pension from the continuing employment relationship when it ends.
• If you work or have worked while drawing a disability pension, apply for the new pension when you have reached your old-age pension age and your employment relationship has ended. Your disability pension will be converted into old-age-pension without application, but you must fill in a separate old-age pension application to apply for the pension accrued on your work.

Examples

Example 1

You retire on old-age pension and terminate your employment relationship. You continue to work for the same employer in a new employment relationship for a year. You will no longer work after that time.

• You accrued new pension for the year during which you worked and received pension. Apply for the new pension once you have reached your upper old-age pension age. File a new old-age pension application.

Example 2

You have two continuing employment relationships, A and B. You retire on old-age pension from the employment relationship A, and your employment relationship ends. The employment relationship B continues while you are on the pension. You continue to work in the employment relationship B for a year.

• The old-age pension you receive does not include the pension accrued on the employment relationship B. Apply for the pension accrued on the employment relationship B when the employment relationship has ended. File a new old-age pension application.

Example 3

You have two continuing employment relationships, A and B. You retire on old-age pension from the employment relationship A, and your employment relationship ends. The employment relationship B continues while you are on the pension. You continue to work in the employment relationship B for a year. After that, you conclude a new employment contract with the company C, for which you continue to work even after you have reached your upper old-age pension age.

• The old-age pension you receive does not include the pension accrued on the employment relationships B and C. Apply for the pension accrued on the employment relationship B by filing an old-age pension application when the employment relationship B ends. Apply for the new pension again for the employment relationship C once you have reached your upper old-age pension age. Fill in a new old-age pension application.

Example 4

You retire on disability or partial disability pension and you continue working in an employment relationship while on the disability pension.

• Your disability pension will automatically convert into old-age pension at your lower old-age pension age. The disability pension you receive does not include the pension accrued from the employment relationship during your pension. Apply for the pension accrued during the pension by filing an old-age pension application when you have reached your lower old-age pension age and your employment relationship has ended.

Fill in the disability pension application in the MyPension service for about three months before your possible sickness allowance paid by Kela ends. Attach a Medical Statement B to your application that includes your state of health that is no older than six months. Please send the Medical Statement B to us at the same time as your application, as we will not be able to process your application without it. Please note that we are not able to process your application based on photos, screenshots, or archive texts from My Kanta Pages. If you submit the statement afterwards, we expect it two weeks after receiving your application. If we do not receive the Medical Statement B within this time, your application will not be handled.

Read more about applying for disability pension

Apply for years-of-service pension by filling in the application. Attach a Medical Statement B and an account of your work to the application. You can sen the application with its attachments by post or using the MyPension service's 'Lähetä viesti' (Send a message) feature.

Read more about the years-of-service-pension

If you apply for an extension to your cash rehabilitation benefit, you do not need to file a new pension application, just send us a new Medical Statement B on your state of health. You can do it in MyPension service.

Read more about cash rehabilitation benefit