Social Security has updated the Pension Simulator and the main new feature is simple: in addition to the legal age, the tool now indicates the various possibilities for accessing the pension, including the earliest possible date with penalty and, when applicable, the earliest option without penalty.
According to Notícias ao Minuto, the announcement appeared this Monday, December 15th, and aims to provide more transparency and support decisions about the best time to request retirement, based on the age and contributory career of each citizen.
In practice, the simulator immediately answers two very common questions: “when can I retire as soon as possible, even with a penalty?” and “when can I retire as soon as possible, without penalties (if applicable)?”, presenting the date and estimated value in each scenario.
What changes in the simulation and why this can make a difference
Social Security has insisted on strengthening digital tools to plan retirement, and this update goes in that direction: helping to reduce doubts and compare scenarios without relying on “hand” accounts or incomplete interpretations of the rules.
Even so, there is a warning that remains crucial: the simulations are informative and are based on the rules in force and data recorded in the contributory career, that is, they may change if there are career corrections or future legal changes.
Therefore, the simulator is especially useful as a planning tool: it shows trends, intervals and impacts (such as cuts/bonuses), but it does not replace final confirmation in the pension application process.
How to access the Social Security simulator and what you need to use it
Access is through Direct Social Security, and it is normally necessary to be registered and authenticated to consult simulations with personal data.
On the portal, the most common path is to enter the Pensions area and select the Pensions Simulator, where you can choose between automatic simulation (based on existing data) and “tailored” simulation, adjusting some parameters according to your case.
Social Security also reminds you that the value presented is, as a general rule, an estimate in gross values and depends on the information available in the system, so it is worth confirming that the contribution career is complete and up to date before drawing conclusions.
The detail that matters: “as soon as possible” may not be the same for everyone
The new results screen aims to make it clear that “early retirement” can mean different things: there may be a date with a penalty (due to early retirement) and, in some cases, a date without penalties, depending on age and years of discounts.
Furthermore, there are specific regimes (for example, situations linked to long-term unemployment, very long careers or professions with their own limits) that can change the framework and which, in part, were already covered in the “tailored” simulation options.
According to , the update does not change the retirement rules, but it can make it faster to understand what your best scenario is (and what the “cost” of leaving early is), before moving on to decisions with a direct impact on monthly income.
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