The amount of a retirement pension depends on many factors, including in particular their date of birth and the length of their contribution to the retirement insurance scheme. With regard to the basic pension scheme, this contribution period is translated into quarters, the number of which is acquired in the formula used to calculate his future retirement pension.
In France, the pension system is made up of a basic scheme and a supplementary scheme. The latter is based on a system of retirement points accumulated throughout working life. At the time of retirement, the supplementary retirement pension is calculated by adding all the points acquired, multiplied by the value of this point on the date of retirement.
The basic pension scheme is based on a system of quarters. Throughout working life, that is to say when you are in employment, everyone contributes to their retirement. These contributions are transformed into quarters of retirement which make it possible to calculate his pension once his professional life is over.
In addition to these quarters which correspond to periods worked, others, called "assimilated" quarters, take into account periods of work interruption such as unemployment, illness, disability, maternity, military and, for employees in the private sector, accidents at work. Additional quarters may also be granted to people who have raised one or more children, and to those who have cared for a disabled adult, for example.
It is indeed the duration of contribution to the pension insurance, made up of all the validated quarters, which defines the amount of his future pension.
More specifically, the number of quarters validated for pension insurance allows a future retiree to know both whether he will be able to benefit from a full-rate retirement pension (set at 50% of the average annual salary), and calculate the amount of his future retirement pension.
Benefiting from a full pension therefore depends on the number of quarters validated for pension insurance, but also on your year of birth. Indeed, according to the latter, a minimum number of quarters is mandatory to have a full pension. For example, people born in 1953 must have a pension insurance period of at least 165 quarters, those born in 1973 and subsequent years, at least 172 quarters.
The validation of a quarter of the basic pension scheme does not depend on the number of hours worked but on the income received, more precisely on those who are subject to contributions. This is why a quarter can be validated more quickly if you have a high salary. However, it is not possible to validate more than 4 terms per year. In the same way, periods of inactivity, during which income is in principle down, logically have an impact on the number of validated quarters.
In the private sector, to validate a quarter, it is necessary to have contributed on the basis of a minimum annual salary. The amount of the latter varies according to the years of contribution periods. For years of salaried activity before 1972, the minimum income which gives rise to the validation of a quarter of insurance must be at least equal to the quarterly amount of the allowance for old salaried workers (AVTS), i.e. approximately 900 euros . Between 1972 and 2013, they must be at least equal to the amount of the hourly minimum wage in force during each period worked, multiplied by 200 hours. Since 2014, this income must correspond to at least the amount of the hourly minimum wage in force during each period worked, multiplied by 150 hours.
By knowing the number of quarters contributed to pension insurance, it is then possible to calculate the amount of his future retirement pension. For employees in the private sector, the formula to use is:
Average annual salary x Pension rate x (duration of the employee's insurance under the general scheme translated into quarters / reference duration to obtain a full pension ).
The average annual salary corresponds to the average of the gross salaries having given rise to contributions to the general scheme during the 25 most advantageous years of his career, or the average of all his gross salaries for those who have worked for less than 25 years.
The pension rate is calculated according to the number of quarters validated with the pension insurance and the retirement age. It determines whether you are entitled to a full retirement pension or not.
Each person can find out the number of quarters they have acquired during their professional life by creating their personal space on www.lassuranceretraite.fr, thus accessing their personal career statement which indicates all the quarters acquired since the beginning of his working life. In addition, given the complexity of the calculation formulas, this platform also makes it easy to calculate the amount of your future retirement pension in a personalized way.
