When the retirement date approaches most of us we begin to ask questions about different issues that can affect our life as retirees and the financial planning of this stage of our life. These doubts usually appear in the environment of 55-60 years, and although there are still a few years left for retirement, it is convenient to have clear questions about retirement, to avoid making mistakes without any margin for action. Here you can know more about the best things to consider for retirement.

1. Ordinary retirement age
The most well-known change introduced by the latest reform of the public pension system is the delay in the retirement age to 67 years from 2027.

Until the year 2027 is reached, the ordinary retirement age will gradually increase so that the retirement age for workers who retire in 2017 is 65 years and 5 months.

2. Requirements for access to retirement
Since 2013, the age of access to the retirement pension depends on the age of the interested party and the contributions accumulated throughout their working life, requiring that they have reached the age of:

67 years
65 years when 38 years and 6 months of contribution are credited

In addition to reaching a certain age, it is necessary to have a minimum of 15 years of contributions, of which 2 must be included within 15 years immediately prior to retirement.

3. Can I retire before?
Yes, although there are different forms of early retirement, and consequently the answer is not unique for all workers, since the reform of the pension system we can access early retirement from two situations: voluntarily or from unemployment.

4. If I retire before will my pension be reduced?
Yes, one of the drawbacks of accessing early retirement is that it involves a reduction in the amount of the public pension to be collected during a lifetime as a retiree.

5. How many years of contribution are used to calculate my pension?
Another of the changes introduced by the last reform is to increase the number of years used to calculate the public retirement pension.

6. Do years work in other countries count towards my pension?
The contributions made in other countries can be considered to calculate the retirement pension in Spain as long as it has been quoted in EU countries (except Denmark) or in countries with which the Spanish Social Security maintains a bilateral agreement through which take into account the periods of time quoted in each country.

7. Sustainability Factor of public pensions
Another factor to take into account for all those workers who retire from 2019, is the new adjustment factor of public pensions, known as sustainability factor.

8. I am in time to save for retirement
Yes, it is never too late to start saving for retirement, because in addition if contributions are made to a pension plan or to a PPA (Insured Pension Plan) you can reduce the income tax payment until you decide to start charging the benefit Retirement of the pension plan, which may be later than the effective retirement date, does not have to coincide.

9. Take advantage of the tax advantages of pension plans!
Although there are few years left for retirement if you make contributions to pension plans or PPA you can benefit from a more beneficial tax treatment until you rescue the pension plan:

Contributions to pension plans reduce the tax base of the personal income tax. The reduction will depend on the income of the work obtained and the Autonomous Community in which it resides since it defines the applicable marginal rate.

10. What pension plan is recommended at this age?
Given that there are few years left for retirement and there is less and less room for error, the general recommendation is to reduce the risk assumed in investments so as to protect as far as possible the accumulated assets to date.

Author's Bio: 

Hasan Root, a dream lover!