The "personal pension" is coming. What does this mean? What does it have to do with basic pension? How to treat the changes it has brought to China's pension system? Will there be a blowout in the purchase of personal pension products in the future? Recently, Lu Quan, a professor at China Renmin University and secretary general of China Social Security Society, was interviewed by the Beijing News reporter and talked about his views on various aspects of the personal pension system.
Lu Quan said that personal pension is a supplement to, not a substitute for, the public pension system, which will neither occupy the public pension system nor have a negative impact on its long-term sustainable development. He believes that the most important significance of establishing individual pension system is that the multi-level pension system framework in China has been initially established.
Personal pension is a supplement to the public pension system, not a substitute.
The personal pension system has entered the landing stage. As the third pillar of the national old-age insurance system, what is the relationship between it and the basic pension?
Lu Quan: Personal pension system is a new source of pension income besides basic pension insurance and occupational annuity (enterprise annuity). Its payment comes entirely from individuals, and its products are all kinds of financial products that meet the requirements in the market. The government gives tax incentives, and the final product income depends on the market, and the risk is entirely borne by the individual. It is a supplementary pension with government support, market operation and personal responsibility.
The so-called "substitution theory" (replacing the basic pension with personal pension, thus shirking the government's responsibility) and "government's capital preservation theory" (personal pension is completely risk-free and the responsibility is entirely borne by the government) are misunderstandings about personal pension, and its accurate understanding should be the "supplementary theory" of personal contribution and personal responsibility.
Beijing News: What do you think of the introduction of the current personal pension system? Does this mean that China's basic pension has encountered difficulties in meeting the needs of ordinary people for the elderly?
Land right: Public pension is a statutory compulsory social insurance organized by the government. Personal pension is an individual's supplementary pension. The introduction of individual pension system and the establishment of multi-level pension insurance system do not mean that there is anything wrong with the basic pension insurance. Personal pension is the result of independent choice, not a mandatory institutional arrangement, and it is not necessarily related to mandatory public pension.
The reason for establishing a multi-level old-age insurance system is that the demand of ordinary people for old-age care is increasing, and the demand of the elderly for a high-quality and beautiful life is increasing. For example, the replacement rate is 50%, the income before retirement is 5,000 yuan, and the pension after retirement is 2,500 yuan, which can maintain the basic life of the elderly, but it is not enough to meet the high-quality retirement life. After retirement, ordinary people should not only eat and wear warm clothes, but also have some richer living needs, which requires a higher pension level and a supplementary pension system.
The multi-level endowment insurance system in China consists of three levels. The first layer is the government-led public pension, that is, the basic pension insurance system for employees, residents, institutions and institutions. The second level is the supplementary old-age insurance system based on employment. The employer and the insured pay the same fees, including the enterprise annuity system for enterprise employees and the occupational annuity system for public officials in government agencies and institutions. The third level is the third pillar pension based on individual contributions and market-oriented operation, including all kinds of personal pension products on the market and the personal pension system established in an institutionalized way this time. Therefore, the most important significance of establishing individual pension system is that the multi-level pension system framework in China has been initially established.
"Personal account" is a highlight of this system design.
Beijing News: What's the difference between personal pension and other pension financial products that belong to the third pillar?
Lu Quan: At present, there are many major financial products for the aged in the market, including tax-deferred commercial endowment insurance in the pilot project of 20 18, exclusive commercial endowment insurance in the pilot project of 202 1, and various pension fund products and wealth management products for the aged.
The biggest difference between this personal pension system and the above products is that it is the third pillar pension product supported by the state, and this support is mainly reflected in tax incentives. Specifically, the expenses of purchasing personal pension products can enjoy a certain amount of pre-tax deduction in the annual settlement accounting, just like the expenses of raising minors, supporting the elderly and commercial loans at present.
The Beijing News: The fund account of individual pension adopts a "closed operation" mode, and the insured can only receive it if they meet the conditions such as the age of receiving basic pension. What is the purpose of this institutional arrangement?
Lu Quan: One of the highlights of the design of the personal pension system is the adoption of the "personal account" system, which aims to ensure that the personal pension really plays a supporting role.
At present, there are many pension financial products on the market, including various pension target funds operated by fund companies, various pension financial products operated by banks, and exclusive commercial pension insurance products piloted by CBRC on 20021. Among them, the market of pension funds and pension financial products is large, but both of them have the problem of short product term, which can not guarantee their use in pension.
The basic goal of the pension system is to cope with the risk of income decline after old age and provide a source of income after retirement. Therefore, the system design of personal account and the policy of closed payment period determine that personal pension can only be withdrawn after reaching the age of receiving basic pension, so as to ensure that personal pension can be used as a source of income after old age.
Beijing News: The personal account funds of personal pension can be used to purchase existing and designated pension products in the market. How is the personal pension rate of return determined?
Lu Quan: Personal pension is a new system, but it is not a new product. There are thousands of funds, securities and wealth management products on the market now. Among these products, only the related products purchased by using the personal pension fund account required to be opened in this personal pension implementation method are personal pensions, so as to enjoy the highest annual tax preference of 1 10,000 yuan stipulated by the state.
From the perspective of system design, individual pension fund accounts are closed and can only be collected if they meet the retirement age conditions. Its yield is determined by the yield of these products.
The second and third pillars can be considered in the future.
Beijing News: After the promulgation of the Measures for the Implementation of Individual Pensions, many banking institutions have begun to prepare related products and account opening channels. Some institutions estimate that personal pension will be a "trillion" market. In the future, will there be a "blowout" in the demand for personal pensions? What do you think of the personal pension market?
Lu Quan: According to the current situation of China's personal pension market and people's financial literacy and concept, I don't think there will be several times of blowout growth in the personal pension market, but the overall growth rate will be improved.
Although the personal pension system has preferential tax deduction, on the one hand, the total number of people paying personal income tax in China is relatively limited, and the scope of policy application is relatively limited; On the other hand, there is no capital income tax in China at present, so the incentive effect of tax incentives remains to be seen compared with other pension financial products.
At the same time, personal pension limits the conditions for receiving it through personal accounts to ensure that its funds can be used for providing for the elderly to the maximum extent, but it also limits the direction of use of this fund. If you encounter other major expenditure risks before you meet the conditions for receiving, you can't use this fund.
In addition, the income of individual pension depends on the investment return rate of market products, and in the current situation of large fluctuations in the global financial market, it can not provide stable income expectations for policyholders, so there is no significant advantage in terms of return rate compared with other market products.
Beijing News: What impact will individual pension have on the development of China's multi-level pension system? How should the personal pension system develop in the future?
Lu Quan: I think it is necessary to redesign the top pension system, especially to enhance the synergy between the second pillar and the third pillar.
At present, the three-pillar pension system was put forward by the World Bank in the 1990s. On the one hand, it is designed to meet the challenges brought by the aging population to the public pension, on the other hand, it is also designed according to the structure of the traditional industrialized society. The responsibility subject and operation logic of different pillars are different.
At present, the social structure, especially the employment structure, is undergoing major changes. The proportion of so-called "formal employment" characterized by stable labor relations in industrialized society is declining sharply, and it is replaced by more flexible and free "informal employment". Even the so-called "formal employment" has greatly increased the frequency of workers' cross-industry, cross-regional and cross-enterprise mobility. According to the traditional three-pillar design, the second pillar is based on the contributions of workers and employers. If employees change jobs and the new unit has no enterprise annuity plan, then the second pillar will be interrupted.
In view of this, in order to adapt to the trend of flexible labor market, I think that in the future, personal pension can consider opening up the second pillar and the third pillar, or establishing links between them. The so-called getting through means that when employees flow, if the new unit does not establish an enterprise annuity system, the balance of the existing enterprise annuity account can be included in the third pillar personal account; The so-called convergence is to transform the employer's contribution in enterprise annuity into an important source of subsidy or personal pension, that is, the employer's responsibility for personal pension is divided into payment in public pension system and payment in supplementary pension system, and supplementary pension can be presented in the form of enterprise annuity or by subsidizing workers to participate in personal pension.