Reading your retirement projection: Social Security, CGA and ACT Bancários

Three regimes, three sets of rules and one question: what income will actually be available, and from when.

A retirement projection looks like a single number. In practice it is the output of a set of assumptions — career path, contribution history, valuation date, indexation — and changing any one of them moves the result.

Why one figure is never enough

The useful question is not "what is my pension?" but "how does my position change between retiring at date A and date B?". That comparison usually reveals more than the absolute figure, particularly for careers that combine private-sector employment with other regimes.

What an independent review checks

• The contribution record actually on file, not the one assumed
• Which regime rules apply to each period of the career
• The assumptions behind any projection already received
• The effect of retiring earlier or later, expressed as monthly income
• How private arrangements interact with the state or sector regime

This article is general information and does not constitute individual advice. Every projection depends on the specific contribution history and the rules in force at the time of calculation.