In Portugal, there are workers who have paid into Social Security for decades and still end up receiving a smaller pension than they expected. The question is common and does not always have a simple answer: after all, do more years of contributions always mean a higher retirement?
The answer is not always straightforward. In some cases, additional periods of work may have a reduced, or different than expected, impact on the final pension amount.
According to Social Security, the calculation of retirement depends on several factors, including the contributory career, income recorded over the years, the age at which the pension is requested and the rules in force at the time of granting.
The detail that can change the value of the pension
The central point is how the pension is calculated.
According to , which regulates old-age protection in the general Social Security regime, the amount of the pension results from the reference salary, the overall pension formation rate and, when applicable, the sustainability factor.
As a rule, the reference remuneration is based on the revalued annual remuneration of the contributory career, but with its own limits. When there are more than 40 years of remuneration records, the law determines that the 40 highest revalued annual remunerations be considered.
Only here comes the factor that many are unaware of: not all years count in the same way.
When more years don’t mean much more money
If the contribution career has not yet reached certain limits, years with lower salaries may influence the reference salary. This can happen, for example, when there are periods of reduced salaries or career changes close to retirement.
However, this does not mean that those in lower income years automatically lower their pension. In careers lasting more than 40 years, the law requires the 40 highest annual salaries to be considered to determine the reference salary.
In practice, the worker can continue to deduct, but the impact of these additional years on the monthly retirement amount may be limited. Therefore, the decision whether to continue working or request retirement must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.
The rules are not the same for everyone
The calculation of pensions in Portugal has undergone changes over the years.
Depending on the date of registration with Social Security and the moment of retirement, different calculation formulas may apply, which makes the final result less intuitive.
The same Decree-Law No. 187/2007 distinguishes, for example, rules applicable to beneficiaries registered from January 1, 2002 and specific rules for those who were already registered until December 31, 2001.
There are cases where working more should be considered
Another relevant factor is the retirement age.
In 2026, according to the gov.pt portal and Ordinance No. 358/2024, the normal age for accessing the old-age pension is 66 years and 9 months. For 2027, Ordinance No. 476/2025 set the normal age at 66 years and 11 months.
In some situations, postponing retirement can increase the monthly amount, through a bonus. However, this increase must be compared with the additional working time and the months in which the pension would no longer be received.
In other words, it may be worth it in certain cases and not so much in others. It all depends on your contribution career, age, declared income and the date chosen to claim the pension.
What should you do before retiring
Given this scenario, the recommendation is to simulate the pension before making decisions.
Social Security itself provides the Social Security Simulator, through Direct Pension, which allows you to estimate the value of retirement based on data from your contributory career and in different scenarios.
This simulation is especially important for those who are close to retirement age, for those who have long careers or for those who have had significant variations in income in recent years.
Planning can make a difference
Understanding how each year influences the calculation can help you make more informed decisions.
In some cases, it may be advantageous to adjust the timing of retirement, confirm that all salaries are correctly registered with Social Security or simulate different dates before submitting the request.
It is also important to keep in mind that when retirement is requested before the normal age or personal access age, there may be penalties. On the contrary, when requested after the applicable age, there may be a bonus, within the limits provided for by law.
Not everything depends on discounts
Despite the importance of the contributory career, the value of the pension results from a set of factors.
Age, period of deductions, declared income, date of registration with Social Security and legal framework are variables that intersect and do not always produce intuitive results.
In the end, the conclusion is simple: working more years does not always increase the pension in the expected proportion. Before deciding, the safest thing is to consult your contributory career data and simulate the retirement value in Direct Pension.
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