Juho Salo criticized Finland's pension system and wrote that if the retirement age were to be raised, it could, in his opinion, be increased all at once to 100 years. He argued that in the system, a worker could pay pension contributions for 50 years, which would correspond to 25 percent of their salary, and receive a pension only at the age of 74. Salo pointed out that, according to him, pension accrual could not be collected. Salo called the system an economic catastrophe. He calculated the total amount of pension contributions and other shares to be 33.7 billion euros: 28.2 billion for occupational pensions, 0.7 billion for employees' shares, and 4.8 billion euros for state contributions. According to him, this amount could be used to pay a monthly basic income of 656 euros in addition to current social benefits and wages without tax increases. He compared the current system to a model where the retirement age would be 50 years and the pension would be 900–1,100 euros per month. Salo believed that money available earlier could be invested by individuals. He also criticized that those born before 1964 would receive the promised pension, while later generations would be left with the bill. Salo proposed that an investment of about 800 euros per month for 25 years would accumulate 240,000 euros without returns and over a million euros with investment returns. He related his comparison to the MSCI World index for the years 2001-2026 and said that wealth would remain for inheritance if 3-4 percent was withdrawn annually. According to him, such a system could make Finnish workers millionaires by the age of 50-60 and free up jobs sooner. Additionally, Salo criticized trade unions for not organizing strikes against pension contributions, development aid, and financing immigration, in his view. He compared the pension system to economic development aid and described it as an even worse solution. #eläke #perustulo #kansantalous (translated)
