Navigating Retirement Savings: Minimizing Risk and Preserving Your Earnings
In Kazakhstan, it is essential for pensioners to keep their accounts active to avoid temporary suspensions or closures due to inactivity. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection temporarily suspends pension and benefit payments for safety reasons if accounts remain inactive for extended periods.
To ensure regular account activity, pensioners should manage their funds frequently. This could involve making transactions, such as regular small withdrawals or transfers within the pension system, to demonstrate account usage. Alternatively, pensioners might consider investing or reallocating funds, provided their pension scheme allows such activities, to generate account movements.
Moreover, pensioners can utilise their pension benefits or partial withdrawals, as long as they comply with pension rules, to demonstrate account activity. By doing so, they can help prevent their accounts from being flagged as inactive.
It is worth noting that, in some jurisdictions, laws protect accrued pension rights from being surrendered, forfeited, or assigned involuntarily. However, temporary suspensions for inactivity may still apply if account rules mandate it.
If pensioners have non-social (private or voluntary) accounts, managing these like active investment accounts or transferring funds periodically may help maintain account status. Pensioners should consult with their pension fund administrator for specific instructions on how to keep accounts active according to Kazakhstan’s regulatory framework.
It is also crucial to be aware of potential risks associated with inactivity. If accounts remain inactive for extended periods, they may be labeled dormant, leading to suspension of pension disbursements or closure of non-social accounts. Therefore, proactively engaging with the pension fund and conducting periodic transactions is key to avoiding such problems.
Additionally, it is important for non-social account holders to carefully study their bank agreement, as some banks may charge maintenance fees that could cause the balance to go negative if there are no transactions or the card is empty.
With over 20 banks operating in the Kazakh market, and 15 working with individuals, pensioners have a variety of options to choose from. The National Bank of Kazakhstan has issued guidelines, such as Online Calculators and Mandatory Notifications, to provide clarity on the rules for banks in Kazakhstan.
Lastly, the National Bank of Kazakhstan has warned parents about children being drawn into online fraud. Pensioners are advised to be vigilant and protect their personal and financial information to avoid falling victim to such activities.
By following these guidelines, pensioners in Kazakhstan can ensure they maintain regular account activity, secure their pension benefits, and avoid potential issues related to account inactivity.
- To maintain regular account activity and prevent temporary suspensions or closures in the banking-and-insurance industry, particularly in personal-finance accounts, pensioners might regularly make transactions such as small withdrawals, transfers within the pension system, or even invest or reallocate funds (if allowed by their pension scheme).
- Beyond managing their social pension accounts, pensioners with non-social (private or voluntary) accounts should treat them like active investment accounts, making periodic transactions or transferring funds, to avoid having them labeled dormant and risking suspension of pension disbursements or closure of the accounts due to inactivity in the finance sector.
