How to save for an acceptable pension: save and become a creditor of the state

Yekaterina Maximova

In the past 2022, the Ministry of Finance, together with the Central Bank, thought about allowing Russians to invest in their pension savings themselves in the future, without relying on the Pension Fund (PFD) and non-profit pension funds (NPFs).

We are talking about 2.5 trillion rubles - this is the amount of pension savings (the so-called funded part of the pension) of citizens frozen since 2014. Now this money is managed by the FIU and the NPF.

The agency, discussing a possible innovation, calls it the "privatization" of pension savings of Russians formed under the system of compulsory pension insurance (OPS). The funds can be transferred to the property of future pensioners, but with an important caveat: the money cannot be taken in cash, they must be made to "work".

Simply put, to invest in investment instruments. And the main tool for stimulating savings for citizens of the country may be the system of individual investment accounts (IIS). The initiative of the Ministry of Finance, most likely, will echo the practice of the United States - Americans save for old age with the help of AIS.

Novye Izvestia reported that recently State Services sent the amount of their pensions to future pensioners of the country. It's time to be scared - 15-20 thousand rubles.

Nikolay Solabuto, an expert in the field of algorithmic trading, believes that if you independently deal with your future pension from a young age, you can ensure yourself a completely comfortable old age. And 28 million Russians, according to his estimate, use investment instruments.

Nikolay Solabuto gave practical advice on how to do this. In his opinion, there is no need to reinvent the wheel and it is worth taking a closer look at American practice. And here is just one of the possible formulas for increasing your capital in the long term.

"If you decide to retire, for example, at the age of 65, then 15 years before that, I would advise you to invest in high-risk assets that give maximum income. For example, shares of Russian companies. Next, 5% of the funds from this portfolio should be transferred to federal loan bonds (OFZ), that is, invested in debt instruments. When there are 10 years left before retirement, about 30% of the money should already be transferred to OFZ. 5 years before retirement: in this period, 50-60% of the funds should be transferred to federal loan bonds. The rest I would transfer to OFZ directly upon retirement. OFZ coupon is paid twice a year. You will live on this coupon," Nikolay Solabuto shared.

In any case, the earlier you start saving and investing on your own, the more chances you have not to remain directly dependent solely on the FIU. And it is quite realistic to provide yourself with an additional monthly income in the range of 70 thousand rubles.

According to Nikolay Solabuto, you can have about 20 million rubles on an individual investment account by the time you finish your career. But it is possible to do this only in one case: if you save 3 thousand rubles every month, starting from 20-25 years.

Recall that the size of the average old-age pension for non-working pensioners in most regions of the Russian Federation is 13-16 thousand rubles and about 22 thousand rubles in Moscow, taking into account urban additives.

Now, if an ordinary citizen does nothing, then the average pension in Russia is equivalent to no more than 30% of the average salary. Or 40% of the median salary. Ten years later, having gone on a well-deserved vacation, citizens will be able to count, even on indexed, the same 40% of the median salary.

Elena Kiseleva, an analyst at the Institute for Integrated Strategic Studies, previously noted that with a multitude of existing individual and corporate pension programs for voluntary pension savings (in NPFs or other organizations), voluntary pensions are now formed only for 6.3 million people. While more than 70 million Russians may be potential participants in the pension savings system.

In her opinion, the initiative of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank is aimed precisely at involving more people in this process. And the Pension Fund has not had enough income for a long time. According to data for 2020, incoming insurance premiums covered only 73% of the volume of insurance pension payments, and the remaining funds were transferred from the federal budget.