Bert (61): “You only retire once in a lifetime, so you want everything to be well organised.”

An interview with Bert den Ouden, an employee of NN Group who is heading for his retirement on 1 January 2021. At that time, his age will be 62 years and 3 months. Read this article to find out how Bert is preparing and what tips he has for the pension fund and for you.

Bert has been working at NN Group for 40 years. He has decided not to continue working until he turns 68 and instead opt for early retirement. He shares his experiences with us.

Once in a lifetime
You only retire once in a lifetime, so you want everything to be well organised. That’s why I started preparing quite a while ago, by visiting the Pension Planner and consulting a financial adviser. I found out what date would be the best starting date for my retirement and that the pension option ‘high-low’ would be ideal in my situation. This means I will receive higher pension benefits during the first years of my retirement, until my Dutch state pension (AOW) starts paying out, and lower benefits after that.

All set
Since January, I've been been corresponding with the Pension Desk by email. Pension isn’t something I deal with regularly, so I had questions about several practical issues.

Two pension funds, two applications
I have a pension with NN CDC Pensioenfonds as well as with Pensioenfonds ING. I thought I’d be able to use one form to report the starting date of my retirement to both funds, but that isn’t possible – the Pension Desk pointed that out to me. So I completed and submitted a separate ‘Retirement starting date’ form for each fund. The form for NN CDC Pensioenfonds can be found on the website as well as in ‘My Pension’ (your personal account in the pension fund’s secure online environment).

Form for pension choices
I didn’t know there was a separate form for reporting pension choices, and that you receive this form automatically about 3 months before the starting date of your retirement. In my case, that will be in October. Having prepared well, I already know exactly which pension options I will choose. The form is also available on the website.

Benefits paid in the first month
I read that NN CDC Pensioenfonds will make the first benefit payment on my birthday, the 28th, while Pensioenfonds ING will start paying out on the first day of the month. I wanted to check how this would affect the total amount of my benefits in the first month. The Pension Desk informed me that it meant NN CDC Pensioenfonds will not be paying out the full amount of my monthly benefit in January 2021, while Pensioenfonds ING will pay out the full monthly benefit in January. It's good to be aware of that in advance.

Digital agreement
Due to the coronavirus crisis, all of us have been working from home since March, so my manager was unable to co-sign the form ‘Retirement starting date’. How was I supposed to solve this? The pension fund gave me the solution quite quickly: a digital agreement is adequate during our stay-at-home situation. As soon as things reopen, I’ll submit the signed form. The pension fund staff really helped me out!

Tips
All in all, the Pension Desk staff were very helpful. Other employees might have the same questions I did, which is why I’m sharing my story here.

My tips for the pension funds*: point out to participants that they need to submit separate application forms for early retirement to NN CDC Pensioenfonds and Pensioenfonds ING; that they'll receive a pension options form three months before their retirement date; and that the first month’s benefit payment can be different for each pension fund.

My tips to colleagues: make sure you look into your pension well ahead of time, so you know which pension options tie in best with your situation. The Pension Planner** is a very good tool to use in this process. Don’t hesitate to contact the Pension Desk if you have any questions. They help you out, send reminders if needed and point your attention to things you wouldn't have thought of yourself!

* The funds take notice of this tips to further optimise the (digital) processing regarding retirement.

** The Pension Planner is not up-to-date for Pensioenfonds ING.