Many workers intend to "harvest unripe rice, plant a new crop" in paying social insurance.

Want to withdraw social insurance early

According to the revised Law on Social Insurance, effective from July 1, 2025, employees who have paid insurance for 15 years will be eligible for pension. Faced with this information, many employees, especially young people who have paid social insurance for many years, think about withdrawing social insurance at once, then continuing to participate to receive pension.

Mr. Nguyen Van Binh (born in 1987, from Ninh Giang), is working as a worker for a mechanical company. Mr. Binh has paid social insurance for more than 13 years. Recently, when he heard the news that he would receive a pension after paying social insurance for 15 years, Mr. Binh discussed with his wife and agreed to withdraw his social insurance at once, receiving more than 100 million VND.

Mr. Binh said: “I have calculated, now I can withdraw a relatively large amount of money to solve family matters. My age is still enough to participate in social insurance for 15 years before retirement. I will pay again soon.” Also because of this calculation, Mr. Binh said that since the beginning of the year, there are several other people working at the same company as him, all of whom have paid social insurance for about ten years, who have also withdrawn their social insurance at once.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuyen (born in 1983, in Viet Hoa ward, Hai Duong city) is currently working as a delivery person at a private company. She has participated in social insurance for more than 20 years. While her job is unstable and her retirement age is still very long, Ms. Xuyen thought about withdrawing her social insurance at once, especially when there was information that in the future, she only needed to pay social insurance for 15 years to receive a pension. Therefore, Ms. Xuyen went to the social insurance agency to ask about the procedures and the amount of money she would receive. When the insurance staff advised her not to withdraw but to keep the years of payment, Ms. Xuyen seemed hesitant before making the final decision.

“I would rather regret withdrawing my social insurance at this time because I have contributed for a long time, but if I stop paying to reserve until I receive my pension, the percentage will be deducted too much. I calculate that if I withdraw at this time, I will have some money to spend and wait a while longer to participate in social insurance and still be eligible for my pension,” said Ms. Xuyen. In addition, Ms. Xuyen also shared that her health may not be able to guarantee her current job until retirement age. Therefore, if she withdraws her social insurance, she will save that money to participate voluntarily later.

Weigh the pros and cons

The fact that employees who are of retirement age and have paid social insurance for 15 years or more and are of the prescribed retirement age are entitled to receive a monthly pension instead of having to pay for 20 years as prescribed in the old regulations is a new step forward, stemming from the practical needs of employees. This regulation increases the opportunity for those who have withdrawn social insurance once before to still be able to pay for 15 years of social insurance on time; creating conditions for those who join late (starting to participate at around 45 years of age) or who participate intermittently to still accumulate enough 15 years of social insurance to receive a monthly pension.

However, besides the positive side, this regulation has fueled the thought of “harvesting unripe rice and planting a new crop” among a number of workers as above. Currently, the Law on Social Insurance and related guiding documents do not prohibit workers who have withdrawn their social insurance once from continuing to pay social insurance to receive pensions.

However, employees need to understand that once they have paid social insurance once, if they want to receive a pension, the social insurance payment period must be recalculated from the beginning.

Before the new regulation from July 1, 2025, employees who have paid insurance for 15 years will be eligible for pension, Mr. Nguyen Van Nghiem, Director of Thanh Ha District Social Insurance analyzed, employees need to consider the value they receive. Paying for many years will result in a higher pension rate.

According to regulations, the monthly pension is calculated by multiplying the monthly pension rate (%) by the average monthly salary for social insurance contributions. In which, the pension rate depends on the number of years of social insurance contributions. That is, the more years of social insurance contributions, the higher the pension (maximum is 75% of the average monthly salary for social insurance contributions and the minimum is 45%). If the employee has a short social insurance contribution period, only 15 years, the pension received will be at least 45% of the average monthly salary for social insurance contributions.

Social insurance is the top social security policy for workers after retirement age. It is regrettable that workers leave this policy system when conditions are almost ripe. Therefore, functional sectors, especially the insurance sector and trade unions, need to continue to promote propaganda to raise awareness among workers.