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4 misconceptions about your new pension

On 1 January 2026, we switched to the new pension rules. For many of you, those rules will take some getting used to. So now is a good time to explain four common misconceptions.

1 Because my pension is linked to the fund’s investment results, my pension benefit can vary from month to month.

Under the new system, your personal pension assets will fluctuate in line with the economy. However, your actual pension benefit will change no more than once a year. If the investment results are good, your pension is likely to increase as well. If the results are disappointing, your pension may be reduced, but that’s not necessarily the case. For older members and pensioners, we invest with less risk. We spread the returns on our investments over several years. That way, we can reduce the likelihood of reductions if the results for a given year are disappointing. We also spread good results over several years. That’s how we ensure the pensions remain stable. We also have a solidarity reserve, i.e. a buffer that allows us to absorb any reduction in the pensions. With these measures, we attempt to minimise the impact on your pension benefit.

2 Pension funds are using my pension money to gamble on the stock market.

That’s not true. We spread the risk by holding a wide variety of different investments, for example in real estate, equity (shares), government bonds, and infrastructure. And we invest for the long term, meaning that we look for investments that will generate a profit over a longer period. The results may fluctuate from day to day, but if you look at the long term, you’ll see that the value usually rises. In any case, investing over the long term yields a better return than just saving.

In the article ‘In the engine room’, you can read more about how the pension fund invests.

3 You don’t take my investment wishes into account.

At least once every five years, we conduct an investments survey of all our members. In it, one of the things we ask is how much risk you are prepared to accept where your pension is concerned. We think it’s very important that you take part in the survey. We use the findings to determine an investment policy that’s appropriate. That enables us to tailor our investment advice to your wishes as closely as possible.

4 I now have my own pension pot. If I get to be very old, it’ll become empty.

That’s not true. You can be confident that you will continue to receive a pension for as long as you live. First of all, because we invest the money in your pension pot, which means that it can grow over the years when you are receiving your pension. Secondly, some people live beyond the average age that we use in our calculations, while others pass away before that age. That means we can continue paying your pension.