How certain is your pension?

The accrual and payment of pension extend over a very long period. From the start of the accrual until the last pension payment may be as long as 80 years. The world changes over such a period, giving rise to risks that threaten your pension. The risks may lead to a deficit.

Our fund tries to prepare itself for the risks that could threaten your pension. This has not always gone according to plan owing to aspects such as a sharp rise in life expectation. That rise exceeded what we had taken into account. If members live longer on average, their pensions have to be paid out for longer. In that case the pension fund needs more money than initially accounted for.

The value of pensions is also affected by the interest rate. Pension administrators estimate the amount of money they will need to pay out the pensions. The lower the interest rate is, the more money Stichting Bedrijfspensioenfonds voor de Rijn- en Binnenvaart will need available to pay out all of the pensions when the time comes. The pensions become expensive if interest rates remain low for long periods of time.

Investment results may also fail to meet expectations. For that reason, Stichting Bedrijfspensioenfonds voor de Rijn- en Binnenvaart ensures that the investments are spread over several investment types. Profits on investments can make up for losses in other investments. A pension fund or insurer can hedge the investment risks, but this leads to costs being incurred.

There are more risks that Stichting Bedrijfspensioenfonds voor de Rijn- en Binnenvaart has to take in to account to protect your pension as well as possible. Stichting Bedrijfspensioenfonds voor de Rijn- en Binnenvaart literally has to manage these risks. More information about the risk management of Stichting Bedrijfspensioenfonds voor de Rijn- en Binnenvaart is available at this website. 

The fund management's decisions on the policy for the level of the contribution and indexation are largely based on the pension fund's policy coverage ratio. Since 2015 pension administrators have been obliged to operate the policy coverage ratio when making their policy decisions. The policy coverage ratio is the average over twelve months. You can find  more information about our financial situation and the policy coverage ratio on this website.

More information

The regulations set out precisely what you will receive in our pension scheme. The regulations can be downloaded here (in Dutch).