Retirement Age

The term retirement age denotes the age at which a person participating in a pension scheme becomes eligible to claim an old-age pension.

In Switzerland, retirement age differs between retirement categories:

1. OASI (pillar 1)

The Swiss social security Old Age and Survivors’ Insurance has a standard retirement age of 64 years old for women and 65 years old for men. It is possible to claim an OASI old-age pension up to 2 years before standard retirement age (from age 62 for women, age 63 for men). In this case, the pension is reduced to account for the early retirement.

It is also possible to claim an OASI pension as much as 5 years after standard OASI retirement age (up to age 69 for women, age 70 for men). In this case, the pension is increased to account for late retirement.

Important: From 2025, the OASI retirement age for women will gradually be raised from 64 to 65 years old. From 2028, the retirement age for both women and men will be 65 years old. So the retirement ages for women shown here will shift by one year.

2. Occupational pension funds (pillar 2)

The standard retirement age for Swiss occupational pension funds is identical to that of the OASI. As with the OASI, you can begin receiving your old-age pension as much as 5 years after standard retirement age (up to age 69 for women, age 70 for men). Pensions based on the compulsory portion of benefits can be claimed as early as age 58, but pension funds are free to set higher early retirement ages. Pensions are adjusted to match early or late retirement.

Pension funds which pay pensions based on both compulsory and voluntary contributions may have different retirement age requirements for the voluntary portion of benefits (pillar 2b). For example, a pension fund may have a retirement age of 65 for both women and men, higher early retirement ages or in some cases lower early retirement ages than those legally stipulated for compulsory benefits.

Vested benefits can be withdrawn up to 5 years ahead of OASI retirement age (from age 59 for women, age 60 for men).

3. Pillar 3a tax-privileged retirement savings

You may withdraw tax-privileged retirement savings from pillar 3a retirement foundations up to 5 years before standard OASI retirement age (from age 59 for women, age 60 for men). If you continue working, you can postpone withdrawal of pillar 3a assets up to 5 years after OASI retirement age (up to age 69 for women, age 70 for men).

More on this topic:
Pillar 3a retirement account comparison
Vested benefits account comparison
Retirement fund comparison