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One of the advantages of officially working in France is that you
qualify for a state pension. A French public pension can’t be hijacked
by a Maxwell clone in need of ready cash to renovate his yacht, but as
world demographics lean towards an older population the state pension
will diminish in value as fewer workers pay into a system which pays
out to more retirees. This is the “pensions time bomb”.
The minimum French pension is as paltry as the British one but for
high-earners a French state pension can be enough to live on. Many of
us don’t even know how much our state pension will be but you can
consult your “caisse primaire” to find out.
In principle,
pension information is gathered together by them according to payments
made by your employers or by you if you’re self-employed. If your
career has been segmented by periods of self-employment and salaried
activity, it’s quite possible that parts of your working life have been
forgotten. This can be rectified but you do have to tell them where
they’ve gone wrong and provide details.
How much?
Each year
you should have received a recap called “Relevé Annuel de Compte”
detailing the number of retirement “points” you have accumulated during
your working life. The value of each point varies from year to year. So
if a point is worth one euro and if you were to retire with 6000
points, your yearly pension would be €6000. Added to that would be any
complementary schemes you or your employer have been paying into
independently. These are also calculated on a similar point system. In
some sectors, these schemes are automatic and most “cadres”
(executives) benefit from these on top of the state pension.
As
retirement draws nearer you will be sent a “relevé de carrière” of your
retirement points. People born in 1947 and 1948 are automatically being
mailed this year’s. It’s important that you check for errors –
especially omissions – and that you inform the “caisse” of them. It’ll
be much more difficult to do so later.
When you gotta go...
So
you’ve decided that it’s time to retire? Get the paperwork going. If
your career was segmented there could be as many as four different
caisses to consult apart from any complementary and private plan you
may have subscribed to. Luckily, these separate entities work together
and you can consult any one of them in order to know the cumulative
pension you can expect to receive from the others. The four main
caisses are: la Cnav (salaried employees), la MSA (agricultural workers
including gardeners), l’Organic (small self-employed businesses) and la
Cancava (self-employed artisans and craftsmen). When you do decide to
retire, any caisse you’ve contributed to can initiate your pension
proceedings at your request.
Top it up!
Many of our
advertisers (AXA, Blevins Franks, European Financial, John Gwilliam,
Peter Johnson, Mike Lorimer, Mitchell-Johnson, Siddalls, Westerzee) can
offer private plans and other ways to supplement your state pension.
Give them a call.
Useful contact numbers concerning your French
pension rights are listed in the “contacts” section of our web forum – www.riviera-reporter.com/forum.
From Reporter 113 - Feb/Mar 2006
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