Frequently asked questions
Answers to questions about the top-up scheme
Are you new to Robeco and does your gross annual salary exceed €88,175? Then you participate in the gross supplementary scheme and may choose what you want to do with your premium.
Every year there is something to choose from: At the same time as the annual salary round, you can choose what you want to do with your available premium in the supplementary pension scheme(s). You may have received an e-mail message about this and have already had a chance to read about it on Robeco’s intranet. Below you can read the most frequently asked questions and their answers.
This is an individually available premium scheme, with which you build up a capital to purchase a pension benefit on retirement date. Depending on the level of your salary, you can participate in this gross defined contribution scheme.
Use this handy decision tree to see which schemes apply to you.
Your pension contribution is paid by the employer into your personal pension account.
Once you are a participant, you can log in to a portal and determine your attitude to risk and choose a life cycle.
Based on your risk profile, a lifecycle is assigned that matches your age. The investment mix that matches your risk profile becomes less risky as you get older.
If you do not enter a risk profile, you will follow the neutral life cycle. Here you will find the life cycles that are available. With no investment mix it is possible to say in advance what the returns on investment will be.
However, the employer also offers the option not to transfer your premium to your personal pension scheme, but to have it paid out as salary. We call this opting out.
Every year in March, the employer gives you the choice of whether or not to opt out. If you do not opt out, your pension premium will automatically be transferred to your personal pension account each month for one year.
Here you can read about the pros and cons of opting out.
The choice moment for what you want to do with your available premium is when you join the employer or at the annual calibration moment on 1 April. However, the letter from the pension fund with the scenarios will come later. So possibly after you have already made the choice.
If you want to wait for the letter with scenarios, you can opt out now and reconsider your choice at the next calibration moment on 1 April. You can also choose to have your premium transferred automatically to your pension account and reconsider your choice at the next calibration moment on 1 April.
Once a year (in February), you will receive a query from the pension fund allowing you to change your risk profile and/or lifecycles.
The primary objective of the available premium provided by the employer is to build up a pension. So if you do not make the choice, then you know that at least pension is being built up for you.
If you opt out, then you know that you can make the choice again the next time in March. You can then decide to join.
Keep in mind that the premium once deposited in your personal pension account has a pension destination. So you can no longer dispose of it freely.
Conversely, if you do not contribute for a year, you will not be able to make up for that ‘lost’ year in the future. So if you still want to save extra for your pension, you have to arrange this outside Pensioenfonds Robeco.
Pension fund Robeco no longer offers the option of making additional contributions yourself.
If you want to know whether you have extra free tax space to save extra for retirement in private (e.g. via bank savings), get proper information from a financial expert.
You can also read more about this on the Tax Administration’s website: Bereken uw aftrekbare lijfrentepremie (vanaf 2016) (belastingdienst.nl)
The premium provided by the employer as a condition of employment may be higher than the maximum available premium that can be deposited into your top-up account according to the tax graduated scale. For example, because you have been employed for longer and receive compensation payments as part of your supplementary premium.
The change that the 13th month, which now falls under the pensionable base for the basic scheme, also has an effect. So you already build up pension on that in the basic scheme, leaving less tax space for the DC premium.
The ‘excess’ premium is automatically paid monthly as salary.
Whether contributing or not, your survivor’s pension remains insured.
In our pension scheme, you build up a survivor’s pension over your pensionable salary up to the end of scale 100. In addition, there is gross insurance of your survivor’s pension over future years of service up to the maximum taxable salary: € 137,800 (2025).
Even if you opt out of your DC contributions, your survivor’s pension will remain insured as long as you are an active member. The capital you build up in your supplementary account will be used to purchase an additional survivor’s pension in the event of your death. So if you opt out, your survivor’s pension will be reduced.
Although you can choose to opt out every year, we want to give you insight into the consequences of your choice at the start of participation in the supplementary scheme.
After you become a participant, you will automatically receive an information letter from the pension fund indicating the level of your expected retirement pension under three different scenarios if you were to continue participating in the supplementary scheme until your retirement date. This information is required by law.
In the scenarios, we take into account that you get older and that your pension contribution increases with your age.
You can continue investing with the capital in your top-up accounts even after retirement date. You cannot do this with your accrued pension in the basic scheme. If you continue to invest, your pension benefit will continue to depend on investment returns after your retirement age. We call this a variable benefit.
Advantages and disadvantages of variable benefits
Investing further after retirement has the advantage that you can earn extra returns on your ‘pension pot’. This can be an interesting option. Of course, your pension benefit may also become worth less by reinvesting.
Are you considering opting for a variable pension benefit?
Then it is wise to talk to a pension adviser about this. That way, you can properly list the pros and cons. Here, it is good to know that a combination of fixed and variable benefits is also possible.
At the moment, Pensioenfonds Robeco does not offer the option for reinvestment itself. If you want to take advantage of the option to continue investing after retirement, we would be happy to refer you to an insurer that does offer it.