As I cannot push off retirement planning* too much longer anymore , I was looking for an overview on what early / late options exist across the three pillars. The closest I could find was this thread so I decided to make a humble attempt at compiling a table myself. Not perfect for sure, volunteering to edit with any much-encouraged additions / corrections posted here.
*there doesnât seem to be such a forum category so posted it here
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This is an abridged summary only, have included links to more exhaustive pages, mostly from the other thread.
Non-age-specific withdrawals (real estate financing, leaving CH etc.) not shown.
Thanks. What about the couplesâ ahv pension being reduced by 25% when drawn simultaneously? Does it mean that the person with the larger pension should withdraw earlier (60?) and the other one later (70?) to minimize overlap? Or do survivorship tables come into play here also?
AFAIK, itâs not a 25% reduction, but a 150% cap.
I guess if you are only each eligible for a 75% pension, there is no reduction.
It would be interesting if taking early doesnât reduce the cap (fairness would maybe say the cap should be reduced, but maybe this is a loophole). If so, then there would be a strategy of having the higher pension withdraw early to reduce the overlap and reduce the pension amount.
However, it might also be better for the 2nd person to withdraw early, then you would be weighing up overlap vs reduction in pension which could reduce/eliminate the cap.
If you take 2 years early, you get only 86.4% pension, so if limit is uncapped, the 2nd pension could be 63.6% without hitting the 150% limit - which would also be equivalent of 77.2% pension taken 2 years early and reduced to 63.6%.
For me it doesnât matter, as I was not in Switzerland long enough so my pension could only be max 75% anyway.
I find calling it âa capâ misleading. My understanding is that if, say, each of you contribute to the system for 30 years, youâll get both the ~1/3 reduction for not living in Switzerland long enough and the 25% couples reduction on top. So you end up with a ~68% pension if not married and ~51% pension if married.
What I donât understand is how the capped amount for the 5 months is calculated:
From April to August 2026 (5 months), the man receives a capped pension of CHF 1,397 .
Hold on maybe it assumes wife has full pension. so:
1478+2463 =3941
this is higher than the 3675 cap so:
3675/3941 = 93.25%
cap husband 60%: 1478 x 0.9325 = 1378
ok. not the same number but close. maybe with rounding it is 1379 and they made a transposition error and swapped the last 2 digits?
Anyway, from the calculation, it is clear that early retirement doesnât circumvent the cap as the reduction is calculated post-cap.
However, it seems that having a lower pension e.g. due to fewer years of contributions, doesnât reduce the cap further. This would imply that a couple with each a 68% pension would get a 68% pension each as 68*2=136 < 150 so not capped and not 51% per the pessimistic interpretation.
So, I now understand how they do the calculations in this example. It seems, however, that at the point where they apply the cap of 2520 \times 1.5 both spouses have contributed fully, so thereâs no further reduction. Iâd like to see an example of a couple which only lived for a fraction of their carrier in Switzerland. In fact, I think, I saw one, just canât find it right away.
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, I was looking for an overview on what early / late options exist across the three pillars. The closest I could find was this thread so I decided to make a humble attempt at compiling a table myself. Not perfect for sure, volunteering to edit with any much-encouraged additions / corrections posted here.
Result: The man receives CHF 1,767 per month starting in September 2026.