Yes, you still have years to retire, but surely at some point you have fantasized about the idea. What will your retirement be like? Will you have a good pension left and will you be able to live with dignity?
Perhaps the retirement of a close person has encouraged you to reflect. What are you going to do? Will you dedicate yourself to traveling and taking care of the grandchildren, or do you think you will still be able to work and earn some money? If you have chosen the second option, you have several alternatives to collect the pension legally and generate new income. It is explained to us by Aurora Rodés, member of the Board of Directors and speaker of the Labor Commission of the College of Administrative Managers of Catalonia (COGAC).
Partial retirement is the formula agreed upon between the worker and the company, by which the worker retires, but does not do so completely, but will continue working with reduced hours (there must be between 50 and 75% of the day). . The reduction percentage is the one agreed between the parties. For example, if he decides to retire at 50%, he will collect half of the pension he would receive and will still work in the company, part-time.
The company must cover the half-day that is left free by hiring another person. Until 2012, a lot was done because the company stopped paying Social Security for partially retired workers. But as Rodés explains, currently it is not very worthwhile for small and medium-sized companies, due to the obligation to contribute for both workers.
Those professions in which it is mandatory to register, such as lawyers, psychologists, administrative managers, architects or healthcare workers, have an alternative pension insurance scheme.
By benefiting from this mutual benefit (and not the self-employed regime), professionals can make collecting the retirement pension compatible with an activity in their union, working as emeritus, carrying out specific jobs without contributing and receiving a salary without being linked to a schedule. “That's why you can find a doctor who is 75 years old and still working,” says Rodés. It is also admitted in artistic creations, books, journalistic articles, film direction, etc.
Self-employment is compatible with the pension as long as you do not exceed the minimum wage. Once retired, if you were salaried or self-employed, you can start working on your own and there is no need to become self-employed if you do not exceed the minimum interprofessional salary per year (currently it is 15,876 euros per year distributed over 14 payments). The expert comments that the operation is not developed by regulation, but is from the 2011 law and is poorly regulated. The only obligation is to register with the IAE and make the periodic settlements. If before the end of the year you exceed the maximum amount, you will have to return the pension you have collected and pay the self-employed workers that you would have had to pay, since you have exceeded the minimum wage (calculated annually).
Flexible retirement is similar to partial retirement, but, unlike the first, it can only be taken once retirement has been processed, and after working as an employee (not as a self-employed person). You can work part-time as an employee without a salary limit and collect the remaining part of your pension. For example, if you work 75% of the day, you would receive 25% of the pension.
“When the worker leaves his compatible activity and definitively accesses full retirement, the regulatory basis is recalculated, that is, it can mitigate cases of early retirement and improve the pension percentage,” adds Aurora Rodés.
Active retirement is the most interesting for many retirees, especially for the self-employed, as long as the requirements are met: you must have reached retirement collecting 100% of the pension that corresponds to you. You can benefit one year after having taken ordinary retirement and you can dedicate yourself to working for yourself or for others.
If you choose this option, you will collect 50% of the pension, but you have no limit on salary or hours in your professional activity (paying the relevant taxes and contributions). And if, in addition, you are self-employed and hire a person, they give you 100% of the pension.
These are all the options you will have when you reach retirement age. There are many variables and many details to take into account, apart from the paperwork that must be done in some cases. That is why we recommend that, if you are approaching retirement age and refuse to retire from productive life, consult an administrative manager, who will clear your doubts and find the option that best suits you.
