Figures
How financially healthy is TNO Pension Fund? These figures give you an impression of how your pension fund is doing. That’s important because it’s about your pension and future.
128.4%
Coverage rate An important yardstick of a pension fund’s financial health is its policy coverage ratio. This is the average coverage ratio of the last twelve months. If this amount is 100%, then there’s exactly enough to meet all of the Fund’s commitments. We started this year at a policy coverage rate of 130.0% (end of December 2022), and by the end of June it was 128.4%. You can track how it has developed over recent months here. On the graph, the orange line is the minimum required coverage (De Nederlandsche Bank’s standard). The light blue line is the coverage rate that best fits the risks of TNO Pension Fund. This means we have sufficient reserves to absorb asset fluctuations.
4.74%
Return Another important figure is the return. How are the TNO pension fund investments doing? In 2022, the annual return was -19.1%. In the first six months of 2023, the return was 4.74%. If you take part in the Extra or Net Pension Scheme, you’ll accumulate capital at your own risk with Goldman Sachs Asset Management (previously NN IP). The average yield of this capital was -20.96% in 2022 and 4.35% in June. You can see how your capital is performing with Goldman Sachs at wn-mijnpensioen.nnip.com
Market developments
In the first half of 2023, the financial markets had to contend with a worsening economy, the threat of a recession, declining operating results, a banking crisis in the US, substantial interest rate hikes, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and stubborn inflation. Due to the fear of inflation, we saw central banks continuing to raise interest rates. In spite of the fact that such developments normally deter investments in shares and bonds, stocks are continuing to perform well for the time being, and bonds are also in good shape on average. The question is whether a period of adjustment will commence in the second half of this year.
If you would like more information, follow the news on our website.
Additional indexation over 2022
At the beginning of this year, TNO Pension Fund indexed pensions by 9.93% on the basis of what was allowed by law. We take inflation from October to October as an indexation target, which was 16.93%. So, despite the broad indexation, we have not been able to fully index pensions.
Scope for more indexation At its meeting on 15 June, the Board approved the remaining indexation of 7.00% for 2022. This is because, in May 2023, the Dutch government decided to give pension funds scope for more indexation as they transition to the new pension system.
Retroactive 7% additional indexation The pensions of all employees, former employees and beneficiaries will therefore be increased retroactively by 7.00% until 1 January. For pension beneficiaries, the aim is for the increase to be implemented in the payment this autumn, when the additional indexation will be paid out over the months of January to that date. There will be another announcement on this subject at that time.
Last year, the fund was initially able to index by 1.09% on the basis of what was allowed by law. Inflation for 2021 was 3.28%. At the end of last year, the fund was also able to allocate the remaining 2.19% on the basis of the additional scope that the government offered.
This enabled the Fund to grant full indexation in 2022 and 2023.
If you want to know more about the background to the decision, you can read it here.
If you have any questions about this information, then please contact our pension administrator, AZL. please call +31 (0)88 1162 401 or e-mail pf-tno@azl.eu.
*The month after the payout, the benefit will be 6.37% higher compared to the current pension benefit. This is equivalent to 7.00% compared to the pension at the end of last year. As pensions were increased by 9.93% in January, the additional indexation of 7.00% equals 6.37% compared to the current level.
How we deal with them We think it’s important to be clear about how we deal with complaints and for you to know what options you have if you don’t agree with our response.
We have put together this straightforward information on how you can submit a complaint or wish on a dedicated page on the Pension Fund website with an overview of the procedure. You can also find our complaints policy there or by reading the internal complaint and dispute settlement regulations.
Don’t even agree with our response? If you don’t agree with our response, you can contact the Board of the Pension Fund. If you don’t agree with the Board's response, you can turn to the Pensions Ombudsman, which will investigate how the pension scheme has been implemented. But we hope that we can come to a solution together.
So, if you have a complaint or request to make, go to the Contact page on our website and click the link in the margin to Complaint or request. Fill in the form at the bottom of that page to let us know about your complaint or request.
Your pension statement
It pays to check
Each year, we send you your pension statement with all the figures on how much pension you have accrued so far. Don’t just add it to the pile... check it out and see whether you’re getting the most out of your pension.
1. Always let us know if something’s not right Check the statement to ensure everything is correct. This is important when it comes to determining the final amount of your pension. If there is something that you don’t think is correct, or there are any changes that affect your pension, such as a partner moving in or splitting up, please contact our pension administrator AZL. There is also a handy checklist on the website. That is how we work together to ensure your data is up to date. We carry out an array of checks, but please help us to make sure that everything is correct and always let us know about any changes ahead of time.
2. Make sure your pension will be enough Check whether the amount of your pension will be enough. Don’t wait until you retire... act in good time to supplement your pension. Visit the Nibud website for a range of practical tips and tools. If your pension is too low, you can top it up over the coming years. You can provide a pension supplement yourself. Please see the website for additional explanations on how to accrue your pension.
3. Your income after retirement If there’s anything you don’t understand, please let us know. We think it’s important to give you a good understanding of your pension; after all, it’s your income after retirement. So, if you have a question, please contact AZL. Our pension administrator, AZL, is on hand to answer your questions. You can reach them at pf-tno@azl.eu or call +31 (0)88 116 2401. There are a few brief practical videos with pension explanations on the TNO Pension Fund website, at the bottom of the ‘Documents’ page.
Did you know? From this year, your pension statement shows information as of 1 January. Previously, it was 31 December. The benefit of this is that any indexation can now also be included in the calculations.
Green pension news
Developments In this issues of Life & Pension, we’re delighted to bring you an update on our sustainability policy.
Strategic ESG plan The year started with an update to the multi-year ESG plan. This plan serves to guide our actions aimed at socially responsible investment. The most recent update can be found in the News section of the website.
Pension scheme turns light green The percentage of our TNO Pension Fund investment portfolio with an environmental and social dimension is 45.2%. This has been determined on the basis of the SFDR, an EU regulation that also applies to pension funds. The TNO Pension Fund’s scheme has been classed as light green. This means that the pension scheme is a sustainable product that promotes environmental or social characteristics. The rationale for this classification can also be found on the website alongside the sustainability information.
The supplementary pension scheme has no sustainability characteristics.
New external consultant While we have our own ESG committee for the board, ESG policy calls for increasing attention and expertise. We have therefore sought an expert to support the Pension Fund on policy choices, legislation and regulations, reporting, monitoring, and other ESG tasks. We have appointed Cardano to do just that, and we look forward to making great progress.
Transparency and voting policy We think it’s important for you to see what we’re investing in. On the ‘Documents’ page, you can see all the details for Q1 . There is even a list of investment funds and corporate bonds in which we invested in Q1 2023. There you can see what we directly invest in, which funds we invest in, and which bonds we directly hold in the name of TNO Pension Fund.
If you want to know what we don’t invest in, you can view the exclusions included in the June 2023 update with the documents on the site.Wil je weten waar we niet in beleggen?
About to retire or retiring early?
Check out the Nibud Geldplan If you’re about to retire, it might help to take a look at the Nibud Geldplan for those retiring soon. This plan shows you the choices you have available. This is also useful if you want to retire before your state pension date or withdraw your TOP capital. With a simple step-by-step guide, Nibud helps you with a clear action plan tailored to your needs:
- Choose what you want
- Questions answered about your situation
- Check your pension scenario
- See what you can do
Go to www.geldplanbijnapensioen.nibud.nl and launch the Geldplan.