Tuleva’s Third Pillar Pension Fund

We’re constantly adding to the range of services we offer our clients, which from 18 December 2023 will include the chance to invest in Tuleva’s pensions funds via our mobile bank. Our aim here is to help people in Estonia save more effectively.

Tuleva shares a lot of our values: both of our companies are Estonian-owned, and we both contribute to promoting the financial well-being of people in the country. Likewise, we both aim to encourage people to think about saving – including those who, for a variety of reasons, have never really given it any thought. Stage 1 of our partnership involves giving Coop clients the chance to start saving in the Tuleva Third Pillar Pension Fund via the Coop website.

Further down the line, our partnership will guarantee a win-win-win scenario for Coop Pank, Tuleva and our clients, which is to say we’ll prove that 1+1=3.

Tuleva is an asset management company that takes the form of an association. Its aim is to grow the assets of people in Estonia, creating the best conditions for investing money long-term for anyone wishing to join. Its founders include Tõnu Pekk, Indrek Neivelt, Taavet Hinrikus, Kadi Lambot and other well-known Estonians. Tuleva’s third pillar has already become one of the country’s biggest pension funds. The association’s principles are offering low fees and investing solely in good funds.

Tuleva has introduced modern, low-fee index funds to Estonia. An index fund is an investment fund which seeks to emulate the average market returns by investing proportionally in all (or almost all) of the assets on the market. Index funds constitute a passive form of investment, which means that the fund manager doesn’t actively look to choose shares or other assets that might exceed the average market returns. As a rule, index funds come with low fees.

The second pillar or mandatory funded pension forms part of the pension system. The mandatory funded pension is collected at the rate of 6% of a person’s gross salary: 2% is contributed by the person themselves, while the other 4% is contributed by the state. These payments are automatically deducted from a person’s salary unless they have exited the mandatory funded pension system. Mandatory funded pension assets can be used during a person’s retirement or earlier upon exiting the system.

The third pillar or voluntary funded pension also forms part of the pension system. Payments can be made into the third pillar at times of your choosing, and the money you save in it can be used at any time.

Payments into the third pillar are exempt from income tax up to 15% of your taxable gross income, but no more than €6000 per year.

The funded pension, which is to say the second pillar, is based on pre-financing – when you work in Estonia you save for your retirement yourself by paying 2% of your gross salary into your pension fund. The state adds 4% to this from the 33% social tax paid on the employee’s income. These payments are made automatically.

The voluntary funded pension, which is to say the third pillar, is an additional way of saving in which you decide on the frequency and amount of contributions yourself, as well as on how you make them. Anyone can transfer up to 15% of their gross income (no more than 6000 euros per year) to their third pillar tax-free.

The third pillar is a voluntary funded pension which offers flexibility in terms of making, amending and terminating contributions. The state offers a significant tax incentive for saving in the third pillar: income tax is reimbursed on all such contributions. Go to the Pensionikeskus website or the Tuleva homepage for more reasons why you should save in the third pillar or ask for more information by calling Tuleva on 644 5100.

Setting about saving in a Tuleva third pillar pension fund is easy: start by submitting your application (with your choice of fund) on the Tuleva self-service site via the Coop mobile bank. Once you’ve submitted your application, you can start making contributions straight away.

If you haven’t yet opened an account in a third pillar fund, log in to your pension account via the Coop mobile bank and fill in the straightforward application form. You can decide for yourself whether to make a one-off payment or set up a standing order. If you have a third pillar account in another bank and would like to transfer it to Tuleva, you can also do this by submitting an application.

Note: You can only apply to start saving in a Tuleva Third Pillar Pension Fund if you aren’t already saving in another third pillar fund. If you are, you can have it transferred to Tuleva. You can’t apply in the app to save in other third pillar funds or to partially transfer savings from another third pillar fund to Tuleva.

If you’re already saving in another third pillar fund, you can start saving in a Tuleva fund as well simply by making a contribution to the Tuleva Third Pillar Pension Fund.

For more information on joining Tuleva’s third pillar via the Coop mobile bank, e-mail kogumine@cooppank.ee or call 664 1824.

You can swap your existing fund units for those of another pension fund or leave them in the same fund and reroute future monthly contributions to another fund. Swapping pension fund units is free of charge.

New contributions to the second pillar can only be made to one fund, which is the active fund. You can change your active fund at any time by submitting an application. This will take immediate effect, and all new contributions (starting from the next one you make) will be paid into the new fund.

Units amassed in the second pillar can be swapped for those of another fund three times a year on fixed conditions. The deadlines for the submission of applications to swap units are 31 March, 31 July and 30 November. Applications can be submitted on the Tuleva website or the Pensionikeskus website. You can change funds via your bank’s Internet bank as well.

If you have more specific questions, e-mail tuleva@tuleva.ee or call 644 5100.

Tuleva currently offers three funds for you to choose between:

• The second-pillar Tuleva World Stocks Pension Fund invests 100% of its funds in listed companies driving the global economy, making it suited to those younger than 55. It’s the right fund to save in if it will be quite some time before you dip into your savings and your aim is to earn the best possible returns over a long period.
• The second-pillar Tuleva World Bonds Pension Fund invests 100% of its funds in the global bond market and may be partially suited to those whose retirement is approaching and who aren’t prepared to risk the fluctuations on the share market. This is a lower-risk fund compared to shares, but returns are also likely to be lower.
• The Tuleva Third Pillar Pension Fund invests 100% of its funds in global market shares, just like its second-pillar share fund. It’s suited to those younger than 55. For those over 55, the fund is suitable in combination with a low-risk fund or bank deposit. It’s ideal if you want to secure the best possible returns and aren’t put off by short-term market fluctuations.

Find out more (and ask for more information) on the Tuleva website.

Choose a pension fund with low fees. Tuleva started when Tõnu Pekk, Annika Uudelepp, Taavet Hinrikus, Indrek Neivelt and other like-minded Estonians began looking into why their retirement savings were so small and reached the conclusion that the high fees charged by banks had eaten away most of their returns. That’s why they set up Tuleva, where pension fund money is invested in low-fee index funds.

Tuleva believes in passive investment. Put simply, this means that all the money paid into our funds is distributed between the shares of thousands of the world’s biggest companies or government bonds. This ensures that risks are nicely hedged. After that, what’s needed more than anything else is the patience to stick with it and ignore scaremongering bank tellers and silver-tongued salesmen. Investment funds which invest their money passively are known as index funds.

Tuleva’s pension funds focus on long-term returns and aren’t put off by short-term fluctuations. Mitigating short-term risks would be expensive and leave those saving for their retirement less likely to achieve the returns they’re hoping for on their assets.

Tuleva doesn’t dabble in forecasting and never tries to outsmart the market, instead investing on a factual basis. The funds contributed by those saving for their retirement are distributed between the shares of the world’s most successful companies, because this has been shown to bring the majority of the world’s investors the best results.

Tuleva keeps its costs very low and only involves itself in activities that will generate value for savers, because the higher a pension fund’s management fees, the less money this leaves people with for their retirements. Tuleva doesn’t spend its money on expensive ad campaigns, the short-term mitigation of risks or armies of salespeople.

If you transfer money into a third pillar fund, this amount is automatically reflected on your tax return at the end of the year and the state reimburses the income tax on the amount you paid into the fund. You yourself have to make sure that the amount you pay in doesn’t exceed 15% of your annual gross salary or 6000 euros (whichever is lower).

If you ask your employer to transfer funds directly to the third pillar from your gross salary, they won’t deduct income tax from it, so none will be reimbursed to you when you submit your tax return. As such, if your employer withheld 20 euros from 100 euros they were paying you as part of your salary, meaning you received 80 euros in your account, you would receive the full 100 euros in your third pillar. Here your employer keeps track to ensure that the contributions they’re making don’t exceed 15% of your annual salary or 6000 euros.

People who haven’t joined the second pillar or are no longer saving in it can also start saving in the third pillar.

Get in touch with us if you would like more information about joining a Tuleva pension fund via Coop Pank: e-mail kogumine@cooppank.ee or call 664 1824. If you have specific questions about changing funds, e-mail tuleva@tuleva.ee or call 644 5100.

If you did not manage to find the answer(s) to the question(s) you have, take a look at the Tuleva website, where you can also ask for more information.