Given the arrival of next year and the increase in both the ordinary retirement age and the years of contributions required to be able to receive 100% of the regulatory base in the pension, many workers are considering the possibility of requesting it early. However, and as Alfonso Muñoz Cuenca, a Social Security official, warns, before making this decision it is It is necessary to take into account a series of factors.
The entry of 2027 will not only mean the long-awaited revaluation of retirement pensions, but also an increase in the ordinary age to be able to request it, reaching 65 years for those who have 38 years and 6 months of contributions and 67 years in case of not reaching said minimum. Likewise, and as Ignacio Solsona warned on his YouTube channel, there will be a toughening of penalties for those who request it, even if they do not reach the age or the minimum contribution.
Due to this and the current political instability, with a call for general elections brought forward to November 29, many are considering the possibility of requesting early retirement before next year. A decision that it might not be entirely favorable for your economy if they are receiving unemployment benefits, as Alfonso Muñoz warns.
The reducing coefficients must be taken into account
According to the recommendation of the Social Security official, it is always essential to make a prior calculation of how the pension will remain by reducing the corresponding reducing coefficients for each case. These are the penalty percentages for early retirement and Its amount will vary depending on the years of contributions and the months in advance.. In the event that it is requested voluntarily, these may vary between 2.81% and 21% with respect to the total amount.
The longer said request is delayed and the more contribution time is accumulated, the lower the reduction percentage that will be applied to the pension. Because of this, caution is advised for those who are receiving unemployment benefits at the time of early retirement. Specifically, it refers to those who have lost their jobs and, while they are unemployed, they reach the age to be able to access to this modality.
The longer the contribution time, the lower the penalty will be.
A fairly common thought in this type of case is to request retirement even though you have not yet exhausted your unemployment benefit. Something that can be an error in certain cases, “because during contributory unemployment, the SEPE contributes for you and it does so taking as reference the contribution bases corresponding to previous periods. Specifically, the average of the bases of the last 6 months.”
This means that, even if they are not working for others or themselves, the worker is still contributing, something especially favorable for the subsequent calculation of their pension. Besides, “If we start collecting the pension earlier, the reduction coefficients that will be applied to us will be higher“Hence, the expert recommends solving two questions before making the decision to request early retirement.
The two questions that must be answered before making the decision
First, “how much would I earn if I retired now?” To resolve this issue, the electronic headquarters of the Ministry of Social Security has a retirement pension simulator in which you can indicate the desired withdrawal date and consult the estimated amount that would be received according to official contribution data. It is important to keep in mind that you can only advance a maximum of 24 months.
And secondly, “how would my pension change if I ran out of unemployment?” For this purpose, the simulator can also be used, only changing the withdrawal date to the one on which the right to the benefit currently being received ends. “A difference of a few months can be very important“, assures Alfonso Muñoz. Likewise, it must be taken into account how the reduction coefficients will change in 2027.
Specifically, next year penalty percentages are increased in those pensions higher than the maximum of the current system. In the event that you want to advance your retirement by 24 months and you have less than 38 years and 6 months of contributions, a reduction coefficient of 10.8% will be applied starting in January 2027, compared to the 9.1% that applies in the current year 2026.