Can personal pensions make up for the pension gap?

"China Economic Weekly" reporter Xie Wei | Beijing report

"It is more terrible than no money when you are young, and you have no money after you are old."

In recent years, keywords such as "intensified population aging" and "third pillar" have frequently appeared on hot search, and the issue of pension guarantee related to it has also become a concern for ordinary people.

The "third pillar" that was discussed for many years was finally revealed.

In April this year, the "Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting the Development of Personal Pensions" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions") was officially released, establishing the top -level design of the third pillar of personal pension. On June 28, the CSRC solicited opinions on the "Interim Provisions on the Management of the Business Management of Public Pension Investment Public Investment Fund (Draft for Soliciting Opinions)" and further refined the relevant management system for personal pension investment funds.

So, what is the use of pension insurance currently paid? What is personal pension? For ordinary people, will it be willing to open a personal pension account and put money in inside for 20 years? Can I really preserve the value -added?

Lack of 2 million for the elderly?

Recently, Ms. Liu, born in 1990, found that a "pension" column appeared on the salary account of the ICBC's mobile banking. Click to enter the column and find that by the simulation of the basic data in the basic data, the level of salary, and retirement, the pension gap is as high as 2.57 million.

How can this be good? Ms. Liu began to be anxious.

"Our husband and wife are the ordinary working class, and they are both only children. To raise children, to repay the mortgage, and to support the elderly on both sides. Now there is such a large pension gap. "China Economic Weekly" reporter said frankly, "And now 35 years old, I really feel on the edge of unemployment every day."

Indeed, how to ensure the living standards after entering the elderly is a test for many people.

According to the advice of international labor organizations, the minimum standard for pension replacement rates is 55%. This means that the level of pensions after retirement must reach at least 55%of the salary level before retirement. But now, the basic pension insurance replacement rate as the "first pillar" of the pension has declined year by year. As the second -pillar corporate annuity, occupational annuity is also linked to individual employment, coverage is not high.

In other words, it does not seem to be realistic to rely on traditional "pensions" (Note: Basic endowment insurance). It seems that it is not realistic to have a rich life in old age. So, how to make a source of pensions more in retirement?

As a supplement to the basic pension insurance, the third pillar formed by the accelerated construction of personal pension savings investment is undoubtedly expected.

In April this year, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Development of Personal Pension" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions"), which established the top -level design of the third pillar of personal pension.

You can voluntarily participate in and enjoy tax benefits. So, do you have to take advantage of the policy to open a personal pension account and plan for your elderly life? How much policy dividends can ordinary people enjoy?

Personal pension account concept

Who can open a personal pension account?

The "Opinions" stipulates that workers who participate in the basic endowment insurance of urban employees or basic endowment insurance for urban and rural residents in China can participate in the personal pension system. Personal pensions implement a personal account system, and the payment is completely borne by the participants and fully accumulate.

The payment of personal pensions is limited.

The "Opinions" clearly states that the maximum limit for participants to pay personal pensions each year is 12,000 yuan. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Finance adjust the upper limit of the payment in a timely manner according to factors such as economic and social development and multi -level, multi -pillar pension insurance system development.

Although the personal pension regulations and implementation rules have not yet been introduced, the Opinions have outlined the basic appearance of the personal pension account.

Personal pensions implement a personal account system. According to reports, two accounts are required to participate in personal pensions: one is to establish a personal pension account on an information platform for information records, inquiries and services, etc.; Used to pay, purchase products, collect income, etc.

This is not a "savings account" in the traditional sense, but "investment accounts". Through personal accounts, you can "one -stop purchases" that meet the prescribed bank wealth management, savings deposits, commercial pension insurance, public funding and other financial products, choose independently, and bear the corresponding risks.

If Ms. Liu just started the work at the age of 25 and deposited 1,000 yuan in personal pension accounts per month, account investment can achieve an annualized return of 5%. Then when retirement after 30 years, the account will have about 1.56 million yuan.

But investment is risky, can personal pension accounts be profitable? What should I do if I lose money?

Professor Dong Dengxin, director of the Institute of Finance and Securities of Wuhan University of Science and Technology, pointed out in an interview with the reporter of China Economic Weekly that the integration investment and long -term investment of personal pension accounts have sufficient ability to achieve value -added and value -added.

"The average annualized return rate of the National Social Security Fund in the past 20 years is as high as 8%, and the average annualized return rate of corporate annuity in the past 15 years is as high as 7%." Dong Dengxin said that as a reference, the average annualized average return of all personal pension account It should not be a problem when the rate reaches 5%.

Closed operations have also reduced relative risks. The "Opinions" stipulates that the personal pension fund account is closed, and its rights and interests are owned by the participants. When can I receive this pension? The "Opinions" stipulates that the participants have reached the age of receiving basic pensions, the ability to completely lose their labor, settling abroad (border), or other situations that meet the state regulations. In addition, after participating in the death, the assets in their personal pension funds account can be inherited.

The greater attraction of personal pensions is tax incentives.

Nie Mingyi, director of the Pension Insurance Department of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, bluntly stated that the most direct benefit of individuals to participate in the personal pension system is that they can enjoy preferential national tax policies.

As an example, Dong Dengxin said that taking an enterprise annuity as an example, after retiring, one -time enterprise annuity is received, and personal income tax may need to pay 300,000 to 400,000 yuan. If this money has a personal pension account with tax discounts and receives one time after retirement, the tax may be about 200,000 yuan, and the tax amount may be only half of the former.

At present, there are two ways to communicate with personal pension tax discounts, that is, only two models: tax levy (Tee) or tax deferred (EET). The TEE model is tax -free during the payment stage, and the investment stage and the collection stage are exempt. The EET model is tax -exempt during the payment stage and investment stage, and the taxation phase is levied.

In this regard, the relevant rules of tax discounts have not yet been clarified.

"Adopting the TEE tax system, its investment income and final extraction can exempt all personal income tax. This is extremely useful for those who are not eligible to pay for individual taxes for the time being." Dong Dengxin analyzed to reporters that 80%of China's workers in my country Never pay personal income tax, so I believe that the Tee tax system will be sought after and welcomed by low -income income.

In terms of payment quotas, some people believe that the annual payment limit for personal pensions is only 12,000 yuan, and the amount is too small to attract high -income groups to participate.

"According to international practice, the personal pension system is established to ensure that there are no second -pillar enterprise annuity or professional annuity. Arrangement. "Dong Dengxin said that in this way, people can also prevent high -income people from using repeated policies such as corporate annuity to make institutional arbitrage.

When can I participate? The "Opinions" states that some cities will be selected for a year first and gradually pushed away.

Recently, according to the official public account of the Sichuan Provincial Human Resources and Social Affairs Department, Chengdu was identified as a pension city in Sichuan Province.

From "savings pension" to "investment pension"

According to the "international practice", financial products that can be used in the personal pension savings plan include insurance, trusts, funds, bonds, etc.

The "Opinions" stipulates that personal pension account funds are used to purchase bank wealth management, savings deposits, commercial pension insurance, public funding, and other financial products that are safe, mature and stable, standardized, and focus on long -term value -to -time financial products. Participants can choose independently.

In this regard, with the pilot of personal tax deferred commercial endowment insurance in 2018, the third pillar pension insurance product has covered three financial segments of banks, insurance, and funds. The product type covers the pension target fund, and has a variety of forms such as commercial pension insurance, commercial life annual funds, and bank pension wealth management products.

On June 28, the CSRC also publicly solicited opinions from the "Interim Provisions on Business Management of Public Pension Investment Public Investment Fund Business Management (Draft for Soliciting Opinions)", which is expected to further clarify the institutional arrangement of the public fund industry to participate in personal pensions.

"In the end, the scope of personal pension investment must be the uniformly recognized and moderate financial products of the CSRC and the CBRC." Dong Dengxin said.

So, does this mean that participants can choose through their accounts, buy various products like stocks, and risk their own risks?

"It is impossible to buy Guizhou Maotai today, and buy tax extension insurance products tomorrow." Dong Xindang bluntly said to reporters of "China Economic Weekly" that according to the international practice of passing, personal pension account investment management model should be integrated investment. Because the annual payment of a single account is only 12,000 yuan, it cannot allow individuals to invest freely, but the account owner will have the right to select the "investment portfolio", and there is a limit on the number of investment portfolios each year.

In his opinion, it is costly for personal pension account management and investment portfolio replacement. To minimize management costs and transaction costs, it should be the principle that personal pension account investment needs to be followed.

"At present, there is no clear specification, but according to international passage, the participants in the future may be 1 to 2 times a year, but they can check the account balance and net value change at any time." Dong Xindeng said.

In the future, with the gradual pushing of the personal pension system, the financial market is very optimistic about the long -term incremental funds it may bring.

CICC predicted that based on certain assumptions, the proportion of equity assets in China's personal pensions in 2030 may gradually increase to about 20%, providing an incremental capital of about 200 billion to 600 billion yuan for the stock market.

China -Thailand Securities estimates that if 30%of the third pillar of the third pillar is allowed to enter the market, it is expected that the scale of my country's personal pension to enter the market in 2031 can exceed 500 billion yuan.In Dong Dengxin's view, once the personal pension is implemented, if it can form a consensus of the whole society, it will have a series of profound impacts on my country's financial institutions, family wealth management and capital markets.my country's family wealth management will gradually shift from the model of "short stir" and "making fast money" to family financial management with pension as the highest target or the final goal. Private pensions will become the most important part of asset allocation in family wealth management.

"In the long run, many personal pension accounts will be brought together into a huge" fund pool ", which will directly or indirectly transform into the most important source of long -term funds in the capital market." Dong Dengxin said.

(This article published in "China Economic Weekly", No. 13, 2022)

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