• @[email protected]
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    411 days ago

    I don’t think we really have the freedom to choose our own pension funds, do we? Possibly if you’re self-employed.

    • @[email protected]
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      311 days ago

      I work for a big company, and moved my pension. And I can invest it, in almost whatever I want. And because the yearly fee for the funds i choose is less than what my company payed before. I get payed the difference, which is nice.

      • @[email protected]
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        311 days ago

        Cool! So how do you do that? If I go to e.g. the ABP site, I see no way to sign up. (Both ABP and BPF Bouw are sector-specifc too, I suppose, maybe that’s the issue? But looking at a more generic pension provider, they mention either being part of HR, or self-employed…)

        • Johannes Jacobs
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          211 days ago

          Our company doesnt “meddle” in staff’s pensions. The idea is that i know better what fits me then my boss does.

          Next Monday i have talks about my pension, so i can tell you then ;-)

          • @[email protected]
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            210 days ago

            Ha, does that mean they simply don’t give you a pension? Or is it the case that you pick one and they handle it?

            But yeah, sounds like it’s specific to your company, unfortunately.

            • Johannes Jacobs
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              19 days ago

              No it means the money for my pension is added to my salary. Same goes for ehh… “Holiday money”. Normally the company saves a small part of your salary to pay out once a year. Usually end May i believe.

              So in my case, my monthly income is much higher, but it means i have to save it myself. Same goes for my pension. Instead of my employer paying the pension funds, i have to do it myself.

              • @[email protected]
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                28 days ago

                Ha I mean, that situation is indistinguishable from one where you don’t get a pension and your salary is the same, but sure :P

                You do miss out on the tax benefits that employer-provided pensions give you, but in many cases that’s a fine trade-off.

                Still, the actual point I wanted to make (but didn’t) stands: most of us can’t really switch our pension funds, which is a bit of a shame, because it means we can’t “vote with our wallet” for a pretty significant chunk of our wallet :( If my pension fund decides to invest in cluster bombs, I’m investing in cluster bombs…

                • Johannes Jacobs
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                  28 days ago

                  Thats exactly why i dont have employer based pension funds. Because i prefer not to invest in bombs, but maybe my collegue wants to.

                  Its the first time i work for a company that works this way so its all new and exciting still :)