Glossary
Pension Advice and Retirement Planning
Pension advice and retirement planning denote two services of different scope around retirement provision. Pension advice takes an ongoing view of all three pillars across the entire working life. Retirement planning starts later and addresses the transition into retirement: timing, form of withdrawal, and tax staggering. Neither term is legally protected.
At a glance
- The terms are market designations, not legal terms. What a provider means by them follows from its service description, not from the name.
- Pension advice typically covers the first, second, and third pillar across the entire working life, including coverage gaps in the event of disability and death.
- Retirement planning usually starts five to ten years before retirement and addresses the timing of withdrawal, the choice between a pension and a lump sum, and the staggering of withdrawals across several tax years.
- Both services can, but do not have to, involve a financial service under FinSA. Whether rules of conduct such as a suitability assessment and cost transparency apply depends on what is actually provided.
Frequently asked questions
Pension advice is the broader, ongoing view across the entire working life, looking at all three pillars and at coverage gaps. Retirement planning is the narrower, near-term view of the transition into retirement: when, in what form, and with what tax staggering balances are withdrawn. Neither term is legally protected.
In practice, a lead time of five to ten years is cited, because decisions such as a staggered withdrawal, voluntary buy-ins to the pension fund, or the choice between a pension and a lump sum can only be structured tax-efficiently with sufficient lead time. No binding starting point follows from this; it depends on the individual situation.
Part of the topic
Vorsorge & Pensionierung
Sources: Bundesamt für Sozialversicherungen (BSV) · Systematische Rechtssammlung (fedlex)