It is a fact: civil servants make compulsory contributions, from their possible bonuses, to a capitalization pension system, invested in bonds or French shares, but also international ones. Since the debates launched on the pension reform, everyone wants to protect a pay-as-you-go system when the question of capitalization could very well arise. Recently, an advantage precisely reserved for civil servants for retirement savings was opened for private sector employees. Here are some explanations to better understand.

The French pension system is based on pay-as-you-go, i.e. the contributions of working people finance the pensions of retirees. However, the prospect of opening up to capitalization remains present, as shown by the amendment voted against the opinion of the government, which wishes to observe the introduction of a share of collective capitalization in the system. In the line of sight, it would then be a question of evaluating the possibility for working people to save with a view to their own retirement. In this way, progressive contributions would be possible.

Thanks to the progress of a funded pension scheme, contributions would thus be used for financial or real estate investments. The accumulated amounts would then be intended to be paid, at the end of his contract, in the form of capital or a life annuity, in order to guarantee an additional retirement. It is possible to set up this pension by capitalization individually or collectively: it is the company agreements that determine this possibility.

It was Senator LR from Meurthe-et-Moselle, Jean-François Husson, who raised the possibility of this amendment by taking a closer look at the Additional Public Service Pension (RAFP) and the PER managed by the Prefon. While this system is normally reserved for civil servants, it may ultimately concern all assets.

Initially, the PER managed by the Préfon was exclusively reserved for civil servants but, since the Pacte law of May 22, 2019, “anyone who wishes to build up retirement savings, regardless of their professional background, can subscribe to it”, as notified. Christian Carrega, the managing director of Préfon. From now on, employees and self-employed can contract this type of contract.

Like the classic PER, the PER Préfon “gives the right to a retirement benefit in return for the payments made during the period of activity”, as Le Figaro reports. The Préfon PER saver can thus make scheduled payments, which can be suspended if necessary. He also benefits from the tax incentive attached to the PER, which offers the ability to reduce his taxation during the savings period.

The Préfon PER also provides access to capitalization by points. As Christian Carrega explains, “with each payment, the saver capitalizes points, which are then converted into a pension according to a scale fixed in advance”. Since the annuity is calculated on the value of the point, the saver can thus know the minimum amount of his annuity from the age of 60. The average pension paid to members of Préfon-retraite is estimated at 249 euros per month.