"National Pension, indeed a filial son".. A couple receives a combined monthly pension of 5.43 million won, 'highest recipient' emerges

[Financial News]  The trend of couples joining the National Pension together to prepare for retirement is increasing. The combined monthly pension amount for couples has reached a maximum of 5.43 million won, with the amount increasing each year.

According to the National Pension Service on the 29th, the number of couples receiving old-age pensions has steadily increased.

Looking at the figures by year: ▲ 355,000 couples at the end of 2019 ▲ 427,000 couples at the end of 2020 ▲ 516,000 couples at the end of 2021 ▲ 625,000 couples at the end of 2022 ▲ 669,000 couples at the end of 2023 ▲ 783,000 couples expected by the end of 2024, showing that the number of couple recipients has more than doubled in the past five years.

As of the end of January this year, the number was tallied at 792,015 couples, approaching 800,000.

Along with the increase in couple recipients, the average monthly combined pension amount they receive has also increased to 1.11 million won as of the end of January.

There is also a case where a couple receives the highest amount of 5.43 million won per month (260 million won for the husband and 283 million won for the wife). This amount far exceeds the appropriate monthly living expenses for a couple of 2.969 million won suggested in the 10th National Old-Age Security Panel Survey published by the National Pension Research Institute.

High-income National Pension recipients among couples are mostly long-term subscribers who paid premiums from the early period of the system implemented in 1988, when the income replacement rate was relatively high.

The National Pension is a social insurance applied individually to subscribers. If both spouses pay premiums for at least the minimum subscription period of 10 years, both will receive their respective pensions until death.

Even if a spouse has no income and is not subject to mandatory National Pension subscription, it is advisable to join if possible through the voluntary subscription system.

Even those who cannot become workplace subscribers or regional subscribers among nationals aged 18 to under 60 can meet the pension eligibility requirements through voluntary subscription if they wish.

The claim that "even if both spouses join the National Pension, only one can receive the pension in old age, so it's a loss for both to join" is misinformation.

However, if one of the couple recipients dies first, the surviving spouse must choose between their old-age pension and the survivor's pension left by the deceased spouse. This is called 'duplicate benefit adjustment'. The intention is to ensure that more recipients receive benefits by allowing only one choice when more than one pension benefit entitlement arises for one person, for the sake of fairness across society.

However, if you choose your old-age pension, you can additionally receive a part (30%) of the survivor's pension, so you can choose the option that is advantageous to you.

The survivor's pension is a pension benefit paid to ensure that the dependents of a deceased National Pension subscriber or former subscriber, or an old-age pension beneficiary or a person with a disability grade 2 or higher, can continue to maintain their livelihood.


gaa1003@fnnews.com An Gaeul Reporter