Funding the years between stopping work and your AHV
Which sources can fund the gap before your pensions start — Pillar 2, vested benefits, Pillar 3a, free assets and employer bridging pensions — and the earliest age each becomes available.
In one line: Stop at 60 and the AHV is still years away — the bridge is built from four or five sources, each with its own earliest access age and its own tax consequence.
The reference age for the AHV is 65. Pension funds may allow retirement earlier. The distance between the day you stop earning and the day your pensions cover your costs is the bridge, and it has to be funded deliberately.
What can fund the bridge
Your pension fund
Fund regulations may provide for retirement benefits before the reference age, but not before the age of 58 — that floor is set by law, and whether your fund goes anywhere near it is set by its own rules.
Taking it early means a smaller balance and usually a lower conversion rate, so this is the most expensive brick in the bridge. It is also the largest one available to most people.
Vested-benefits accounts
If you have money in a vested-benefits account or policy from a previous employer, old-age benefits from it can be drawn at the earliest five years before the reference age.
These accounts are often the most flexible piece: they sit outside your current employer's rules, and holding two of them (the maximum per exit benefit) allows the withdrawal to be split across two calendar years.
Pillar 3a
Also drawable from five years before the reference age, and each account must be closed in full. Several accounts closed in different years both funds the bridge and keeps the withdrawal tax down.
Free assets
Savings and investments outside the pension system. The most flexible source and the only one with no age rule attached, which makes it the natural first line — but drawing it down early means less capital compounding for later.
An employer bridging pension
Some employers offer a bridging pension (Überbrückungsrente) paid until the AHV starts. Whether one exists, and on what terms, depends entirely on your employer and pension fund. It is worth asking about explicitly rather than assuming it does not exist.
Drawing the AHV early
The AHV itself can be drawn before the reference age, at a permanent reduction that applies for the rest of your life. It shortens the bridge but makes every subsequent year poorer, so it trades a short problem for a long one.
The two costs people forget
AHV contributions continue. If you stop all gainful activity before the reference age, you still owe AHV contributions as a person without gainful activity, until 65. That is an ongoing cost inside the bridge itself.
The bridge is taxed. Money drawn from Pillar 2, vested benefits or 3a to fund these years is capital withdrawal, and it is taxed once at a reduced but progressive rate — with same-year withdrawals combined. Pulling the whole bridge out in one year is the most expensive way to build it.
Sequencing matters
The order in which you draw the sources changes the total tax, and the levers are the ordinary ones: spread withdrawals across calendar years, use separate accounts, keep at least three years between a voluntary buy-in and a lump sum.
Because these interact with your canton and your fund's rules, sequencing is worth modelling on your own numbers rather than following a general rule of thumb.
Common questions
How early can I retire?
Your pension fund's regulations decide, within a legal floor of age 58. The AHV reference age remains 65.
When can I access vested benefits and 3a?
Both at the earliest five years before the reference age, subject to the applicable rules.
Does an employer bridging pension exist for me?
Only if your employer or fund provides one. It is not a general entitlement, so ask rather than assume.
Do I still pay AHV during the bridge?
Yes, as a person without gainful activity, until the reference age. Skipping it creates a gap that permanently reduces your AHV pension.
Sources: BVG (SR 831.40) Art. 13 (retirement benefits, earliest age 58 under fund regulations) and Art. 14–16; FZV (SR 831.425) Art. 16 (payout of vested benefits relative to the reference age); BVV 3 (SR 831.461.3) Art. 3 (Pillar 3a withdrawal); AHVG (SR 831.10) Art. 40 (early drawing) and Art. 10 with AHVV (SR 831.101) Art. 28–30 (contributions of persons without gainful activity); DBG (SR 642.11) Art. 38; your pension fund's regulations.
Educational information, not financial advice. Figures and rules are for 2026 and may change.