Pension: Marriage is the greatest danger to the pension

There are dozens of websites that can be used to calculate your own pension gap. So that gap between the last salary and the expected pension, and the result makes many shudder. An even larger pension gap gaps elsewhere. It is the distance between the average pension of men and Women in this country. It is an impressive 43 percent. While the age income of men is an average of 2295 euros net, women are only 1306 euros for women. This is how the Federal Government’s latest retirement report is broken down.

First to clarify: the numbers name the personal net income from their own requirements. So what male and female pensioners have developed themselves. Any widow’s pensions or other transfer payments are not included here. In addition, this data does not mean that pensioners really only with this average amount. Because of course many older people live together as couples and thus share a household income that is higher than these individual amounts. Nevertheless, the gap is terrifyingly high.

But it can also be explained well: it results from the fact that women generally earn less than Men. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the salary distance, the so -called gender Pay GAP, is 16 percent in the event of full -time work. Especially because women are more common In poorly paid professions Working or getting stuck on lower qualification levels and career levels more often. But even if you do the same work as men, there is an average of a salary gap of six percent that remains. And cannot be explained really.

The lower earnings lead to women also pay less into the pension fund. Because their contributions are measured by the salary. In addition, they get out of their job more often for a while than men because they raise children, take care of family members or care for parents. In these absenteeism, they usually do not pay into the pension fund. And even if women work, many only do it part -time. This also reduces income and pension claims.

The salary gap also leads to follow -up effects when saving private: Because women earn less, but generally have no less living costs, they have less freely available income every month – around 1000 euros, while men are around 1400 euros. So women can save less money. Only 28 percent of women cover more than 200 euros per month. 38 percent can do that among men. Accordingly, the income from private savings contracts in women in old age is often less. All of this leads to the fact that 43 percent suddenly turned from a 16 percent salary distance in retirement.

At this point, however, it is worth taking a look at the details: First the younger pensioners between the ages of 65 and 70, the average pensions have good news: They only gap a gap of 32 percent. The pensions of men and women are the same. While the men’s pensions in this age group are slightly smaller with around 2230 euros, the women’s pensions in this age group are higher at around 1500 euros. It can be assumed that the distance will become even smaller in the future, since younger women are much more active on the job market than their predecessors were.

The view of the old and the new federal states is even more exciting: while in West German countries an even bigger one Pension gap Between the sexes (47 percent), it is less than 21 percent in the East German federal states. The work of women in the east of the Republic was much more natural than in the West. So normal that the younger pensioners even find only a hairline tear between the age income. They are not more than 5 percent apart.

This can also be seen in the average years of employment: in the eastern federal states, men work on average only two years more than women, a total of an impressive 42 years. The women come average on 40 Professional years. That is much more than in the rest of the Republic. On average, men in Germany create 39 years with pension deposits, women only 35 years. So four years less. The following also applies here: younger generation of women work increasingly, but still less years than men. You can overturn: If you have spent around 40 years of work with a reasonably average salary, you should be a legal pension at around 1600 euros. Not the world, but at least above the current pension agent. And enough to Double earner couple to live from it too.

This is exactly where the most exciting finding follows, you have to see the pension gaps dependent on the living and relationship status: men who live alone have 1920 euros in their own net income in old age. And women living alone? They even get a good 1960 euros, so they are even easy here. In contrast, however, the men bring 2400 euros in married couples, but the women only 1300 euros. The pension gap between a single and a married one Woman So is a proud 660 euros. The gap between a married woman and a married man is even around 1100 euros. And that is not because of the children, on the contrary: on average, mothers even get higher their own age income than “only” married women.

One would therefore have to say it exaggerated: Not the salary gap is the decisive reason why the pension of women is often so small. But the Before For them, the greatest risk of sliding in old -age poverty later. At least if the federal government does not think for life. Because marriage apparently massively prevents women from working, while married men, according to statistics, extend their income sharply. When women alone Life and unmarried, they are as good in old age as single men.