Old-age pension


Your lowest retirement age depends on your year of birth (see the table below). You can retire flexibly between your lowest retirement age and the upper age limit, which is 68–70 depending on your year of birth. 

Year of birthLowest retirement age
1954 or earlier63 years
195563 years 3 months
195663 years 6 months
195763 years 9 months
195864 years
195964 years 3 months
196064 years 6 months
196164 years 9 months
1962–196465 years
1965 or laterLinked to life expectancy

 


You can also calculate an estimate of the amount of your retirement pension in the Loki service.

Log in to the Loki service with your online banking credentials or an electronic ID card.

If you postpone your retirement beyond your lowest retirement age, your pension will be increased by 0.4% for each month of postponement.

Your employment relationship must end in order for your retirement pension to start. However, you can work during your retirement. This work income will accumulate new pension which you can claim when you reach the upper age limit for insurance (68–70, depending on your year of birth).

From 2025 onwards, the earned lower MEL retirement age is determined using the same rule, but only MEL service before 2025 is taken into account. To retire at the earned lower retirement age, your MEL employment must continue until you reach that age.

Old-age pension
Flexible partial old-age pension
Disability pension
Years-of-service pension
Vocational rehabilitation
Survivors' pension
  • Does pension begin automatically?

    Since the commencement of old-age pension is flexible and generally up to each individual to decide, the payment of pension does not begin automatically. For this reason, it is a good idea to submit your pension application for old-agepension approximately one month before your desired retirement date. 

     

    Old-age pension can begin at the start of any month as long as you have reached your minimum retirement age and you have stopped working. 
  • What is a pension record?

    The earnings and benefits you receive throughout your working life are entered in your pension record. According to the law, a paper version of the pension record only shows the six years preceding the year in which the pension record was issued. 

    The electronic version also contains earnings from the current year if the data has been registered in time. As a result, the private sector employment pension record is not required to show the early years, although the earnings have been included in the estimated total pension amount.

    Check your pension record via the Loki online service.

  • How much pension?

    The length of your working life, the amount of your earnings and the accrual rate affect how much pension you will receive. Estimate your pension amount via Loki on line service with the pension calculator.

  • I live in Finland - How to apply for pension for work carried out abroad?

    You can apply for a pension accrued in an EU or EEA country, Switzerland, Great Britain or a social security agreement country with the same application that you use to apply for a pension from Finland. If you have accrued a pension from another country, apply for the pension directly from that country.

    With the Appendix U, you provide more detailed information about residence abroad, such as information about your employer and the periods you worked and lived abroad. You should fill in the Appendix U carefully as the information will always be delivered abroad and the information you provide affects the time it takes to process the information abroad. 

    The Seafarers Pension Fund delivers your pension application and its appendices (Appendix U and potential other appendices, such as employment certificates) to the Finnish Centre for Pensions. 

    The Finnish Centre for Pensions takes care of sending your pension application and its appendices to EU and EEA member states, Switzerland, Great Britain and social security agreement countries. 

    The foreign pension institution processes and makes the decision on your pension application according to their local legislation and, if necessary, contacts you to request additional details. The foreign pension decision will be sent directly to you.
  • I live abroad - How do I apply for a Finnish pension?
    The claim process varies depending on in which country you reside. As a rule, if you live outside of Finland, you must apply for your pension from Finland through the pension authority of the country in which you reside. The pension authority will forward your claim to Finland. In Finland, your application will be forwarded to your earnings-related pension provider and/or the Kansaneläkelaitos (Kela), depending on which pension benefit you are claiming. 
  • I have worked while receiving old-agepension. Does the payment of the additional accrual begin automatically?
    If you have worked after the commencement of old-age pension, you can apply for the payment of the additional pension accrual when you have reached your maximum retirement age. You can opt to continue working even after this date, but then the work will no longer accrue additional pension funds for you. Your maximum retirement age depends on your year of birth. 

     

    Note! You can apply for the payment of pension funds accrued from work done alongside partial early old-age pension once you reach your minimum retirement age and the work has ended. The same is applicable to pension accrued while working alongside disability pension or partial disability pension.

  • Working while on a pension – Is there a specific income amount?

    You can work as much as you like alongside your old-age pension and partial old-age pension, without it affecting the gross pension that you are receiving. If you work while on a disability or years-of-service pension, you can only earn a specific amount. To find out your personal earnings limit, please contact our customer service.

    If you work while on a pension, you need two tax cards, one for your pension income and one for your earned income.
  • How can I follow the progress of my case?

    When the application has been registered in the system, we send out a general information letter/e-mail to the applicant, which contains e.g. the name and contact details of the pension specialist that is handling your case.

    This info message is only a sign that your application has been received. There is no need to respond to this general message unless you have specific questions. Salary information is automatically visible through Finnish registers, but in the case of old-age pension applications, the pension specialist may have to wait for the final salary before the actual calculation can be carried out. A waiting period may occur if the applicant has worked under the Finnish flag until retirement.

    The pension specialist will contact you if any specific information is missing.
    If you have Finnish bank codes, you can follow the progress of your application via our electronic Loki-service.
  • Payment and taxation of pensions

    Pension is paid on the last banking day of the month. Pension is taxable income. The tax authority sends the tax rate information to both the Seafarers’ Pension Fund and the pension recipient. There is no longer any need to send the tax card to the pension fund.

    If you wish, you can increase the tax rate that the tax authority has provided to us. You can notify us of the increase securely and easily through the Messages function in the Loki online service. We do not accept this information by phone.

  • If you are entitled to a lower earned retirement age and you are faced with a possible temporary layoff - how does the layoff affect the Seafarer’s Pension Act earned retirement age?

    A temporary layoff has an impact on the individually earned lower Seafarer’s Pension Act (MEL) retirement age.

    If you have received information about a temporary layoff or you are about to be laid off and you are close to your individually earned old-age retirement, or you have already decided to retire, please contact the Seafarer’s Pension Fund.

    We will review your situation based on your current work history and your temporary layoff situation.