Risks and opportunities of the new pension plans

Maternal pension, active pension, early startpension: With many ideas that CDU,, CSU and SPD In their coalition agreement, it is about the old -age insurance of the citizens – and thus about the wallet of many people. One of the topics, which are at least most controversial in economists, is the expansion of the mother’s pension. « The mother’s pension is coming, » was how CSU boss had Markus Söder Already in a good mood announced after the SPD and Union’s exploratory round. It was a core concern of his party to improve women on this question. In the contract, it says in concrete terms: “We will be the mother’s pension with three pension points for everyone – regardless of the year of birth of the children – for the same appreciation and Recognition for all mothers to ensure.  »

Despite the clammy health insurance funds from tax funds, the financing is to be carried out. The mother’s pension depicts a « social performance ». In addition, the contribution rate of pension insurance would have to increase by 0.25 percentage points, the expansion from this pot would be financed. According to the pension insurance, the extension of the mother’s pension costs around 4.45 billion euros a year. According to her, around 9.8 million women would benefit.

This is how child rearing times are counted

Background: Child education periods have been taken into account in Germany since 1986, but only to a very small extent. The mother’s pension was therefore introduced in 2014, but only a part of the women benefited. A total of three pension points were granted for children born after 1992. For children who were born in front of it, there was initially one point. It has been 2.5 since 2019. In the future, it should no longer play a role whether the children were born before 1992 or afterwards. Anyone who got children in the past can expect more money. A pension point currently corresponds to 39.32 euros a month (from July 1: 40.79 euros).

A central argument for the mother’s pension is that women are particularly often affected by old age. According to a study by the German Institute for Economic Research, men born between 1952 and 1959 have an average of 1420 euros in West Germany in West Germany. In women of these years, the claims are 37 percent lower even taking into account the child -rearing periods with 890 euros per month. However: Without the child -rearing periods, the gap would be only a little larger at 41 percent, it said. Another effect seems more powerful: because mothers in East Germany usually quickly get back into full -time jobs, the pension gaps in these federal states are significantly smaller.

Grimm: Reform backlog is cemented

Significant criticism of the plans of the future government comes from the economy Veronika Grimm. « Overall, the coalition agreement gives the opportunity to make the statutory pension insurance in the long term future -proof, » she says to our editorial team. « Instead, short -term distribution policy dominates – with long -term risks for contributors and federal budget. » The pension decisions would focus on continuity and expansion of existing services without structurally improving the long -term load capacity of the system. « The retention of the pension from 63 and the expansion of the mother’s pension contradicts the demographic realities. This further cemented a reform backlog, » warns Grimm. « This is exactly the course that many economists have been warning for years: popular in today, expensive for morning. »

After all, it is consequently to pay the mother’s pension via taxes and not through pension contributions. Because: The payments are not counter -financed by previously made pension contributions. The SPD in particular was on this way. « Nevertheless, the measure remains problematic: it increases the state grant to pension insurance and thus exacerbates the dependence of the pension on the federal budget – at the expense of other future tasks such as education or investments, » says the economist. « The federal subsidy is taking an increasing part in the federal budget. »

How good is the early start pension?

Union and SPD also want The current pension level of 48 percent Fixed by law by 2031 – tax funds are also used for this. This level of performance of the statutory pension insurance shows the ratio of the pension based on a certain calculation value to the available average fee. Without legal interventions, the pension level would decrease in the coming years, because due to the aging of society, less and less payer and more pensioners come. According to official calculations, it would drop to 46.9 and 2045 to 44.9 percent in 2030. That would not be synonymous with pension cuts, but the pensions would no longer increase as much as the income in Germany.

« Progress in the direction of generation justice is not recognizable, » criticizes the economy Grimm. On the contrary: by expanding services without counter -financing and without adapting to demographic development, future contributors will also be burdened – be it due to higher contributions, lower services or higher tax grants.  » This can cause future generations to terminate the generational contract, for example by emigrating.

A “early start pension” is to be introduced for the young generation from 2026. For every child from the age of 6 to the age of 18, which attends an educational institution in Germany, ten euros per month should flow into an individual, capital -covered and privately organized retirement pot. If you are grown up, you should be able to pay a certain amount privately. Joachim Ragnitz from the IFO Institute calculates: « That is only around 1400 euros per person, and even if you put it over 45 years to 5 percent, only around 12,600 euros will be released. » (with dpa)