For years, the political debate has been about how people can stay in working life longer. The government of Friedrich Merz (CDU) is trying to promote working beyond the age of 67 with programs such as active pensions. The number of people who are working beyond the standard retirement age is increasing. At the same time, many people have been thinking about the question of when they want to leave working life for years in advance. There are different reasons for this: high stress at work, time with children and grandchildren, a hobby that was always neglected, or even that Care from relatives. At the age of 60, many people think about quitting and how much time they have left.
In fact, many Germans retire before the normal retirement age. In 2024, around 937,000 people received an old-age pension from the German pension insurance for the first time. But only around 378,000 of them had reached the normal age limit of around 66 when they started their retirement, so the majority – more than half a million – left earlier. Some were able to advance pension for those who have been insured for a particularly long time (the so-called “pension at 63”, which today is closer to 65) after 45 years of contributions, others have accepted high deductions and chosen early retirement. Those who can’t or don’t want to do both often look for other ways to bridge the last few years until retirement.
There are those who use a social package from their employer that compensates older people and receives such a high severance payment that it is worth leaving a few years before retirement. Others go into semi-retirement to ease into the world retirement to slide – often associated with financial losses, but not always. And then there are those who use savings rounds with job cuts at their employer as a personal exit strategy: If employees are laid off, they are entitled to unemployment benefits. Beyond the age of 60, unemployment benefit I is paid for 24 months. This, plus a high severance payment, with which you can perhaps also buy missing statutory pension points, also secures for some people an early pension without deductions for those who have been insured for a particularly long time.
We want to better understand which ways people actually use to leave work earlier – and what reactions they experience to them: Why have you tried – or are you currently trying – to retire earlier? What strategies or detours did you use to stop working earlier or to bridge the period until retirement? Were there any doubts or criticism? Have you been criticized by other people for this? How do you view the political demand to continue working after retirement age? Can unemployment be a building block in the transition to retirement or is it unfair to use social security for this?
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