Apply for your old-age pension

• electronically (your application will be directed automatically to the correct place) by going to the pension application service, or 
• on a form using the instructions to help you.

If you know that your authorised pension provider is the Seafarer’s Pension Fund, send your written application to

The Seafarer’s Pension Fund
PO Box 327
00121 Helsinki
Finland

A person engaged in gainful employment should apply for the pension no earlier than two months before the desired starting date of retirement.

Applying any earlier than this will not speed up the application process because we have to wait for the final salary information from your employer before we can calculate your pension.

If you are not engaged in gainful employment, you can send your application for processing no earlier than six months before you retire.

Crew members and ship’s officers are entitled to retire on an old-age pension at the general retirement age – that is 63-68 years of age, regardless of their length of service at sea.

The criteria for retiring on an old-age pension at the earned, or lower, retirement age are

• you have accumulated a certain amount of service at sea
• you have reached the earned retirement age during service at sea, and
• within the last three years, you have accrued the minimum 18 months that entitle you to a pension.

How is earned retirement age calculated?

Earned retirement age is calculated to the exact month by subtracting from the age of 63 years the months of service at sea that exceed 324 months.

Read more about the retirement age for ship’s officers
Read more about the retirement age for crews

Let us use an example: a seafarer enquires about his or her retirement age and the Seafarer’s Pension Fund replies that he or she will be entitled to an old-age pension at the age of 60 years and 8 months, starting from 1 July 2011.

In this instance, when calculating the retirement age, the Seafarer’s Pension Fund has assumed that the seafarer will continue to work uninterruptedly in a MEL employment contract until 30 June 2011 and that his or her retirement will start on 1 July 2011.

Alternatively, if the seafarer has accumulated outstanding annual leave or leave to compensate for days worked, he or she can also spend the final period of the employment contract on annual leave or leave to compensate for days worked.

What is crucial is that the employer pays a salary for 30 days, including for the last month before retirement. If the seafarer does not receive a salary for 30 days, including for the last month, retirement may well be delayed.

Early old-age pension is less than pension awarded at earned retirement age for two reasons:

• The period of service from which the pension is calculated is shorter.
• A reduction for early retirement is made to the pension earned by the age of retirement.

The reduction is final and your pension will not increase when you reach the age for an old-age pension.

If you were born in 1950 or later, you can bring your old-age pension forward by one year. In this instance, your pension is reduced at a rate of 0.6% for each month of early retirement. Early retirement by one year will therefore reduce your pension by 7.2%. The reduction is permanent.

The possibility to retire early applies to the retirement age of 63 years as well as to the earned lower retirement age. However, the earliest possible age to retire is 55 years.

If you were born in 1949 or earlier, in line with the old regulations you are entitled to early old-age pension until you reach the age of 62; you can retire on early old-age pension as much as five years before your retirement age but the lowest possible retirement age is 55 years. The age for awarding early old-age pension is calculated from the general retirement age or from the earned retirement age by that time.

Early retirement reduces your pension permanently. The reduction is 4.8% per year of early retirement, or 0.4% per month. The reduction is calculated from the pension earned by the age of retirement.

The pension contribution is levied from an employee’s salary until the end of the month when the person reaches the age of 68. This also applies to an employee who is on a pension. New pension accrues from gainful employment while drawing a pension and you can apply for the new pension at the age of 68.