How do I get my Social Security money?

[Timandahaf]

Lets just say I am leaving Finland permanently,

and I have paid to the Social Security contributions with my monthly salary,

for 7 years in total. How do I claim back that money, if I am not ever returning to this country.

In total 7 years of basic labourer salary with SS contribution is about 5000 Euros - how do I claim my money back?

[riku2]

what job are you taking up abroad? a comedy show? you don't get the money back, I don't think there are many countries that refund social security payments if you leave.

Perhaps the closest thing would be immigrant bonds as in australia where you put up a bond (deposit) before they let you in with a work permit. If you leave within some time limit you get it back. if you support yourself in your job and don't claim benefits then after a while (10 years?) you get the money back. But this concept isn't used in Finland.

I think you can claim the pension when you retire though (even if you have long since left finland). but that can depend where you retire because pensions work on the concept that if the government pays you a pension of 1000 euro then if you live in finland you'll spend that in finland and they get some of that money back from you in tax (when you buy things) and the rest goes into the finnish economy. They don't like the idea of posting 1000euro abroad and never seeing any of it again. only reluctantly do they pay it to retired finns in some places like spain.

[Upphew]

I think you can claim the pension when you retire though

When you hit retirement age in Finland.

[nisco]

I think you can claim the pension when you retire though

When you hit retirement age in Finland.

Do you mean that if somebody works in Finland for some years and then moves out of Finland, and someday s/he reaches retirement age, s/he can get nothing of the pension?

[riku2]

When you hit retirement age in Finland.

Do you mean that if somebody works in Finland for some years and then moves out of Finland, and someday s/he reaches retirement age, s/he can get nothing of the pension?

No, the "in finland" part means when you reach the age of retirement as defined in finland. this might be different to where you end up living in your old age. So you move to country X and the retirement age is 60 but you won't get a pension from finland until reaching whatever the retirement age in Finland is.

And the countries you can live in and receive your pension is explained here http://www.kela.fi/web/en/moving-abroad_pensioners

Basically countries like Finland don't like people retiring abroad since they go to warm sunny countries and the pension money is lost to the nation. But if enough people retire somewhere and kick up a fuss then something is done for them.

summary of where they will pay the pension to (seems that Non EU/EEA country apart from USA, Canada, Israel or Chile (why chile ??) means you get only 12 months of your pension and that's your lot):

pensions can be paid to persons moving from Finland to another EU/EEA country or to Switzerland. The social security agreements with the United States, Canada, Chile and Israel concern national pensions and survivors' pensions. The social security agreement with Australia only applies to old-age pensions. These pensions can be paid to you from Finland even if you move to one of the agreement countries for a period of more than 12 months. Pensioners moving to a non-EU/EEA or non-agreement country can be paid a national pension for up to 12 months from the date of moving. However, payment is stopped immediately if the pensioner had not been resident in Finland for at least 12 months prior to qualifying for the pension.

[betelgeuse]

When you hit retirement age in Finland.

Do you mean that if somebody works in Finland for some years and then moves out of Finland, and someday s/he reaches retirement age, s/he can get nothing of the pension?

No, the "in finland" part means when you reach the age of retirement as defined in finland. this might be different to where you end up living in your old age. So you move to country X and the retirement age is 60 but you won't get a pension from finland until reaching whatever the retirement age in Finland is.

And the countries you can live in and receive your pension is explained here http://www.kela.fi/web/en/moving-abroad_pensioners

That page is not relevant to earnings-related pensions.

http://www.kela.fi/web/en/pensions-and- ... ons-abroad

"Any earnings-related pension earned in Finland can be paid abroad without any restrictions, with the exception that unemployment pensions can only be paid to those living in another EU or EEA member state."

[Kössi K]

I may have misunderstood the OP (and I hope I did), but I actually laughed out loud for a while, with lots of eye-rolling.
That would be a genius plan: for example, a person living here their whole life, and say, working for 15 years (so still being young-ish to travel).. just gets up and leaves, and gets a nice travel money bonus package from the social security payments they've paid over the years! It's better than Plussa! Wohoo! Let me know where this can be done, and I might consider.
Wow, seriously, these people.

Why do you think the sosiaaliturvamaksu (sairausvakuutusmaksu) is being paid? It covers a lot of costs in the social insurance system, like healthcare, unemployment pay if you get unemployed, rehabilitation for sickness related payments, maternity, paternity and parental allowances, etc. And indeed, the pension, as mentioned by previous posters.

[caster]

If you take retirement within EU or couple of non-eu countries that are on list with Kela - you can claim your pension and your bank account will be credited every now and then.

That's the way it works

[caster]

I thought the second part comes from private system and the first one you get from the state - is it right

[betelgeuse]

I thought the second part comes from private system and the first one you get from the state - is it right

No. The other way around. Although the "private" system is only quasi private. The pension companies are only private in name.

[riku2]

there is something about this issue in the news this week since if the earnings related pension is paid to somebody living abroad then they pay tax on where they live. The government wants to change this since they lose the tax revenue in this case. It seems portugal has offered pensioners 10 years of tax free status if you retire there (and this pull no doubt angers the finnish government as they see even more pensioners considering leaving finland)

http://yle.fi/uutiset/finland_moves_to_ ... in/7950917

[Rip]

there is something about this issue in the news this week since if the earnings related pension is paid to somebody living abroad then they pay tax on where they live.

That depends on the relevant tax treaty between the two countries.

[foca]

If you take retirement within EU or couple of non-eu countries that are on list with Kela - you can claim your pension and your bank account will be credited every now and then.

Not quite.

As someone else above (almost) mentioned, there are 2 pension systems in Finland.

One is an earning's related pension which a person will receive from the Finnish state no matter where you live in the world. This pension is paid out based on a formula of what the worker paid into the system whilst working in Finland.

The 2nd system is Old Age Pension, paid to retired persons who have not paid enough in to the earnings related pension system and would struggle without a top up from the Old Age Pension system. This is the pension that has restriction on being paid outside of Finland.

Earning's related pensions are not paid by the Finnish state , they are only somewhat administered by the state in the sence that the state makes sure that a retired person gets the minimum. if enough comes from earning's related - nothing is added by the state from the old age pension fund. Earning's related pension is in essence private and is paid from diverse insurance and pension funds - your employer gets to choose which one you use (but if you want you can move your pension savings to any other company or fund). Some big employers keep their own funds, others use independent funds , while private entrepreneurs have to have YEL private insurance which is set at disired level of income at the the beginning of the retirement period.
So everyone who has paid installments to any of the funds from their salary shall get an earning's related pension irrespective of the place of residence , and if by that time he/she still lives in Finland and the earning's related pension is less than the minimum cap set by the government the old age pension kicks in.

[betelgeuse]

Earning's related pension is in essence private and is paid from diverse insurance and pension funds - your employer gets to choose which one you use (but if you want you can move your pension savings to any other company or fund). Some big employers keep their own funds, others use independent funds , while private entrepreneurs have to have YEL private insurance which is set at disired level of income at the the beginning of the retirement period.

For employees choosing where TYEL is paid to is not possible and neither is moving it. Moving it is pointless any way since the pension formula is set by law and the funds share liability. This means it doesn't make much different for employees how earnings related pension is organized.

[foca]

Earning's related pension is in essence private and is paid from diverse insurance and pension funds - your employer gets to choose which one you use (but if you want you can move your pension savings to any other company or fund). Some big employers keep their own funds, others use independent funds , while private entrepreneurs have to have YEL private insurance which is set at disired level of income at the the beginning of the retirement period.

For employees choosing where TYEL is paid to is not possible and neither is moving it. Moving it is pointless any way since the pension formula is set by law and the funds share liability. This means it doesn't make much different for employees how earnings related pension is organized.

I always though that it was possible to move your earning related pension TYEL. But in any case, you are right that the TYEL payment premiums are the same irrespective of the insurer and set by the state regulations.