Retirement in China for my wife

[Dan777]

Hi, anyone know exactly about how to retire in China if you are a woman at 50? Is it necessary that you retire exactly at your birthday? Can you apply to retire several months later? My wife is extremely money concerned as some of you can relate with and I understand she would get more money if she went exactly on her birthday or a few days later. But does anyone know if there is a expiration date if she went later in the year? And I am guessing she would get minimum retirement. Anyone have a ballpark figure on that? I know of another women collecting retirement so I guess they get someone to sign their check (not able to ask her at this time). Here I think it is legal for people to retire and live somewhere else. Just curious and she wants to go around two major holidays which I think why the cost is so high on initial searches.

 

[credzba]

Hi, anyone know exactly about how to retire in China if you are a woman at 50? Is it necessary that you retire exactly at your birthday? Can you apply to retire several months later? My wife is extremely money concerned as some of you can relate with and I understand she would get more money if she went exactly on her birthday or a few days later. But does anyone know if there is a expiration date if she went later in the year? And I am guessing she would get minimum retirement. Anyone have a ballpark figure on that? I know of another women collecting retirement so I guess they get someone to sign their check (not able to ask her at this time). Here I think it is legal for people to retire and live somewhere else. Just curious and she wants to go around two major holidays which I think why the cost is so high on initial searches.

 

I'd like to know about this too.

My wife turns 50 in December, and we are both going to China to celebrate retirement for her, but any information on how this works would be great !

[yuehan123]

My wife is in China now. We just spoke about Retirement on WeChat.

 

She said:

 

1. Retirement age for women has moved up to 60. For men it has incresed to 65.

2. You can no longer simply 'buy' retirement.

3. Her mom did retire recently after obtaining proof of her previous work history and paying up the difference under a special program which has since been terminated. Her mom is and was over 60.

4. My wife's older sister is not yet 60 and is still making annual payments to 'catch up' her reirement account after she also provided proof of her previous employment.

5. Retirement rules are changing at least yearly.

6. Next year family Hukous supposed to be changed to individual only Hukou.

7. Next year Chinese local ID alledgedly to start having fingerprints added.

8. Next year supposed to start 'close' cooperation between local, state and national Police jurisdictions to eliminate Chinese ex-patriot (living outside China) retirement payments.

[Mick]

My wife is in China now. We just spoke about Retirement on WeChat.

 

She said:

 

1. Retirement age for women has moved up to 60. For men it has incresed to 65.

2. You can no longer simply 'buy' retirement.

3. Her mom did retire recently after obtaining proof of her previous work history and paying up the difference under a special program which has since been terminated. Her mom is and was over 60.

4. My wife's older sister is not yet 60 and is still making annual payments to 'catch up' her reirement account after she also provided proof of her previous employment.

5. Retirement rules are changing at least yearly.

6. Next year family Hukous supposed to be changed to individual only Hukou.

7. Next year Chinese local ID alledgedly to start having fingerprints added.

8. Next year supposed to start 'close' cooperation between local, state and national Police jurisdictions to eliminate Chinese ex-patriot (living outside China) retirement payments.

 

Wow, some of these policies sound mighty familiar. . . . . .

[Randy W]

It seems to me that there are more than a few different retirement plans available, including government, private, and corporate plans, all with different policies (and some similarities, of course) - and that your wife would be the best to know.

[Randy W]

From Caixin, that change in retirement age would be gradual and still in the works

 

Slowly, China Prepares to Raise Retirement Age

Eligibility ages for men, women, urban workers and farmers will be raised step-by-step by adding "several months every year" to the age when pension payments can begin, said Yin Weimin, who heads the nation's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

 

Speaking to the media recently on the sidelines of a National People's Congress session in Beijing, Yin said a complete plan for raising the retirement age would be drafted by his ministry in 2015 and submitted to the State Council next year. The first eligibility adjustment is likely to come in 2017.

 

The minister's comments offered the clearest roadmap to date for a long-debated proposal to update the pension system. The current system, including separate pension schemes for urban employed, unemployed and farmers, supports more than 200 million people nationwide with monthly payments ranging from an average 2,000 yuan for an urban pensioner who worked at a state or private company, to as little as 70 yuan for a retired farmer.

 

The system collected about 2.6 trillion yuan from active workers in 2014 and paid out about 2.1 trillion yuan to retirees. The pension fund finished 2014 with a surplus of 577 billion yuan.

 

The average age of the country's population is quickly rising. While today about 15 percent of the nation's 1.4 billion people are 60 years old or older, says the Ministry of Civil Affairs, that slice of the population pie is expected to grow to nearly 40 percent by 2020.

 

The human resources ministry estimates that without any change in pension eligibility, the nation's worker-to-retiree ratio will likely climb from 3.04:1 last year to 2.94:1 in 2020 and 1.3:1 by 2050.

 

. . .

 

The national pension system is a lot easier on women than men. It's also easier on city folk than farmers. An urban woman working for a state or private company can start collecting a monthly pension at age 50. Her colleagues who are men usually have to wait until age 60 to become eligible.

 

Today, Yin said, 54 is the average retirement age for the estimated 80 million urbanites working for state or private companies across the country.

 

Because the system includes separate payment programs for company workers and civil servants, bureaucrats tend to work about five years longer than state-owned enterprise employees. There's yet another program for farmers, both men and women, who can collect pensions no sooner than age 60.

 

[yuehan123]

Thanks Randy. That seems a reliable source. At risk of mop slapping, I'll ask my wife to double check her source(s). In the meantime, if somebody wants to retire they had best inquire about it.

[Dan777]

 

Hi, anyone know exactly about how to retire in China if you are a woman at 50? Is it necessary that you retire exactly at your birthday? Can you apply to retire several months later? My wife is extremely money concerned as some of you can relate with and I understand she would get more money if she went exactly on her birthday or a few days later. But does anyone know if there is a expiration date if she went later in the year? And I am guessing she would get minimum retirement. Anyone have a ballpark figure on that? I know of another women collecting retirement so I guess they get someone to sign their check (not able to ask her at this time). Here I think it is legal for people to retire and live somewhere else. Just curious and she wants to go around two major holidays which I think why the cost is so high on initial searches.

 

I'd like to know about this too.

My wife turns 50 in December, and we are both going to China to celebrate retirement for her, but any information on how this works would be great !

 

Ha Ha, I bet they are only a few weeks apart in age (mine a little younger)! The cost around the holidays seems higher.

[Dan777]

It seems to me that there are more than a few different retirement plans available, including government, private, and corporate plans, all with different policies (and some similarities, of course) - and that your wife would be the best to know.

My wife claims to know absolutely nothing about the retirement except she can get it when she turns 50. I read about them making the age higher soon but the dates on the internet I read about were in a few years. I heard all my life I could retire at 65, now 66 for me and I would expect higher for others. Thanks for the replies. I have asked my wife to ask her family but she claims they know nothing. She claims her friends know nothing. She claims she know nothing about how much she would get. I read on the internet some poor farmers get about $20 or so dollars a month and some people may make up to 2000 yuan. My wife sold jewlery in a store for about the last 15 years. I still can not get her to tell me if she made a monthly income or if she was given commission. I know her apartment was a basic no frills one room. My best guess she could get $75-$150 a month. She may even be able to live on that, ha ha. Best shopper I have seen. If she wanted she could buy anything she wanted but is a penny pincher. Getting to China exactly when she turns 50 or before seems very important to her is why I am asking. I think it would be better to wait a few months and I would feel better if she had a 10 year green card even though she has the year extension letter.

[yuehan123]

A Google search yields among others:

 

"...In China, men currently can retire at 60 years of age, while women who work in factories can retire as early as 50. Female public-sector workers can retire at 55. Changes to these rules would only be made after public consultation next year, Mr. Yin said."

 

From a Mar 10, 2015 article- http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2015/03/10/china-sets-timeline-for-first-change-to-retirement-age-since-1950s/

 

"...According to Minister Yin, the current mandatory retirement ages—50 and 60 for women and men, respectively, in labor-intensive fields; and 55 and 65 for white-collar women and men, respectively—will increase by “a few months” each year after the plan is released. A draft of the new retirement policy is expected to be approved by the central government this year and be released for comment next year....

 

From an April, 2015 article- https://www.uschina.org/china%E2%80%99s-mandatory-retirement-age-changes-impact-foreign-companies

 

These two articles confirm what Randy said which included, "...It seems to me that there are more than a few different retirement plans available..."

[tsap seui]

My wife retired 2 years ago (turned 50), almost to this very day. I had helped pay into her retirement funding for a few years to catch it up. She went back before her 50th birthday in late July 2013 and made the deal shortly there after. She tells me she is supposed to show up to whatever agency, produce her ID card and show that she is not dead...yearly.

 

I don't know much more about this. She who must be obeyed is happy....that makes me happy. She was a nurse (trained as a physicians assistant) for awhile, worked for some bus company for awhile, and who knows what else....surprised me that she gets a pretty tidy sum direct deposited into her bank account each month...never would have got that much in America. I know I paid in a few bucks, but it wasn't even a grand USD total, over a 6 year period.

 

Good luck with yawls wives retirement stuff. My wife is no US citizen so I don't know how any of that works. Not that there is anything wrong with US citizens, mind you.

[johnxiaoying]

My wife is saying she must return to China to show up at the retirement agency between July and December this year with her ID and a current photo. Then she will be able to check in yearly using a cellphone, skype or some such shyte to prove she is still upright. Supposedly this comes from several good sources. Sounds sketchy as hell to me.

[tsap seui]

My wife is saying she must return to China to show up at the retirement agency between July and December this year with her ID and a current photo. Then she will be able to check in yearly using a cellphone, skype or some such shyte to prove she is still upright. Supposedly this comes from several good sources. Sounds sketchy as hell to me.

How ya doin' John? Hey man, it's China buddy, anything goes.

[Dan777]

My wife is saying she must return to China to show up at the retirement agency between July and December this year with her ID and a current photo. Then she will be able to check in yearly using a cellphone, skype or some such shyte to prove she is still upright. Supposedly this comes from several good sources. Sounds sketchy as hell to me.

Thanks. I am happy your wife your wife knows that much. I am trying to get my wife to find out more. I figured she would have a few months to sign up but she seems to want to be there on her birthday. Thanks for sharing the info. What Yuehan123 pasted is what I was able to see from a Google search.

[Dan777]

 

 

 

Good luck with yawls wives retirement stuff. My wife is no US citizen so I don't know how any of that works. Not that there is anything wrong with US citizens, mind you.

 

I was told by one woman she found out that if she became a U.S. Citizen she would lose her retirement. That changed her mind about becoming one.

Edited August 2, 2015 by Randy W
fix quote (see edit history)