Do you need the 13th AHV pension? The Blick fact check: this is what Swiss retirees really think about it

What is true? Is the pension no longer sufficient, as the unions claim, or are the pensioners so rich that a 13th AHV pension would be a waste of money? Blick does the fact check.

“What poor old people!” a week ago the headline read “NZZ am Sonntag”. New data would show that seniors are much wealthier than the rest of the population: retirees would have, on average, six times as much wealth as people under 65. Three-quarters of retired couples own property, while only half of the rest of the population can afford to own their own home.

Retirees have more assets, that’s true. But the distribution is not so clear: if you deduct debts (usually mortgages), people over 65 have an average of 250,000 francs in assets and people under 65 have about 100,000 francs.

There are reasons why assets increase upon retirement: quite a few retirees are then paid out part of their pension fund assets, which are considered assets. In addition, legacies now often arise around one’s own retirement age – thanks to increased longevity.

But that doesn’t change the fact that seniors have more wealth than people of working age. However, possessions only say something about your financial situation to a limited extent: you cannot pay your electricity bill with the value of your own home. A sale would mean that you will incur rental costs in the future.

When you look at everyday life, possessions are much less important than income. And the retirees are not at the top of their game. Logical: wages are higher than pensions.

According to a federal survey, the average monthly income of a pensioner is 4,069 francs and that of a female pensioner is 3,474 francs. Retired couples typically have 6,761 available. 25 percent of retirees even have to live on about 1,000 francs less. The figures are from 2015 and are therefore almost ten years old, there are no more recent ones.

But with the help of the prosperity center’s pension barometer it is possible to say how things have developed since then. “Pensions are declining – and this has been the case for years,” it clearly states. Since 2002, pensions have shrunk by an average of 21 percent. Although the AHV rose by 19 percent in the same period, second-pillar pensions fell by more than 40 percent.

And that means: in 2002, a 55-year-old man with an income of 120,000 francs per year at the age of 65 could expect a pension of almost 75,000 francs from AHV and PF. Today it still amounts to 59,200 francs. And this will probably remain the case: pension funds will further reduce their conversion rates. This must be said, among other things, because the capital we save must last longer because we get older.

Conversely, this means: An increasing share of the pension comes from the AHV: in 2002 the AHV contributed one third of the total pension and the pension funds two thirds; now it is 50:50.

Accordingly, not all seniors have a smooth sailing, as the federal survey cited above shows: While 15 percent of people under age 65 have less than 60 percent of the median income, for retirees the figure is 22 percent.

The difference becomes even clearer when you look at single-person households: 29 percent of women and 26 percent of single retirees are below this threshold. This is 17 percent among working people. The reason is that many retirees still live exclusively at the AHV. And as many as twelve percent of retirees receive a supplementary benefit.

However, it must also be said that single mothers of working age have even less money at their disposal.

If you compare the income of Swiss retirees with that of retirees abroad, the latter are in a better position. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) calculates the so-called net replacement rate every year. This reflects disposable income after retirement, compared to income during working life.

And Switzerland is doing poorly here: an average earner still has 45 percent of his or her earned income available after retirement. In the EU countries this is 70 percent, in neighboring Austria even 92 percent. These comparisons show a trend, but should be viewed with caution: the social systems and living conditions are too different.

But here too, a look at the calculations of the prosperity center, which calculates a similar key figure, provides a little more clarity: a man who earned 100,000 francs gross when he retired in 2002 received a pension of 62,420 francs. That corresponded to 62 percent of his last salary. In 2022, this net replacement rate will have fallen to 53 percent.