At last, a reasonable use was found for oil super-profits: the State Duma adopted in the third reading a law on additional contributions to the funded part of the pension and on state co-financing of these deductions. As conceived by the authors of the law, money from the National Wealth Fund will provide serious support for the transition to a funded pension system
Perhaps the most discouraging result of the pension reform launched in 2002 was the absolute passivity of the majority of that part of the population that received the right to choose whom to entrust their pension savings to. So far, more than 90% of workers have by default left their savings accounts managed by the state-owned VEB. In fairness, it should be noted that all these people are not necessarily indifferent to what happens to the money that they will someday be able to spend. It's just that VEB, due to legislative restrictions, is the most conservative investor, and this suits many. The conservative investment strategy in the past year, which was not the most favorable for the stock market, justified itself, and out of six dozen pension savings managers, VEB ended up in the not at all shameful 11th place.
Together with the state
And yet, even for those workers whose pension savings accounts continue to be replenished (that is, those born after 1967), the accumulated pension will be clearly insufficient to live on. The government has repeatedly hinted that it would be nice for the current thirty-year-olds to think about their own old age on their own. For those who decide to start voluntarily saving money in a pension fund - public or one of the many private ones, there is a “carrot” enshrined in the law. To each deferred thousand, the state undertakes to add one more from itself within 10 years. Generosity, however, is not unlimited. You can get a maximum increase of 12,000 rubles per year. In other words, it makes sense to transfer 1000 per month in order to get the maximum from the state. There is also a lower limit of co-financing - 2000 rubles per year. The procedure will be similar to that provided for when transferring to the Non-State Pension Fund (NPF) or to a private management company. Formally, it is necessary to write an application for the transfer of funded pension and submit it to your branch of the Pension Fund. However, this can be done in a comfortable environment in any management company that works with savings accounts, or in NPFs. Obviously, this practice will spread to the system of co-financing. True, in the latter case, it will also be necessary to conclude an agreement with the NPF and warn the accounting department at work so that part of the salary is transferred there.
The advantage of the new co-financing system is that it can be used by all employees, regardless of age, including middle-aged people born before 1967 who have lost contributions to savings accounts. As for working people of retirement age, the state will add four more to every thousand (but not more than 48,000 per year). True, for this they have to postpone the registration of the state pension. This provision is the most controversial in the law, since the state's proposed 48,000 a year does not compensate for the state pension. On the other hand, by refusing to receive a pension, a person loses only the smallest, basic part, while the insurance and savings remain with him - and he will receive them when he draws up a pension. Moreover, these amounts will be paid not for 19 years, as in the case of timely retirement, but in a shorter period.
Pros and cons
The fundamental question is whether it is worth saving something somewhere in the conditions of such high inflation as we have today. When it comes to tax, part of the bill is one thing. Here a person cannot change anything - the tax will still be paid, and it will not work to get the money due to you in your hands. Another thing is when you need to voluntarily give money that can be spent on something pleasant. Last year, not a single management company working with pension money was able to show a return higher than inflation. However, there are two considerations here. Firstly, last year was really difficult for investors, which affected the performance of management companies. In previous years, the statistics were quite different, and there is no reason to believe that when the problems in the global financial markets are over, managers will continue to lose to inflation over and over again. Secondly, the co-financing system can be viewed as a guaranteed return. In other words, putting aside 5,000 rubles a month, you can be sure that they are guaranteed to bring a 20 percent income. This is (at least in the current situation) higher than even the highest inflation.
Whether the system of co-financing of funded pensions will last 10 years, as it is declared in the law, is difficult to say today, but it does not matter. The authorities are honest for once. They make it clear that from now on, everyone should take responsibility for their old age, and oil money from the National Wealth Fund is just an incentive to help think about the future.
Head of the Ministry of Health and Social Development Tatyana Golikova: The Ministry will prepare the legal framework necessary for the implementation of the voluntary formation of pension savings ... Regulatory documents will be developed so that citizens can declare their decision from October 1 and transfer voluntary payments to the Pension Fund from January 1, 2009.
