State pensions

Quote from Rice

A lorryload of KitKats is on its way to Chivilcoy as we speak.

Only if they're on an offer. They're normally wanting to charge 1700 pesos for one!! Rip off!!

Out of curiosity, I checked what does Italy do. They require 10 years of contributions for the minimum pension, and it is given only if your income is below a very low threshold. The amount is approx €614 per month.

There is another sort of pension, called subsidy for the indigents, if you don't meet the contribution years threshold, but it is very low, less than half of the minimum pension.

My dad, who was a freelancer all his life, gets a pension from Italy which is the same amount as the minimum pension (he told me so, I didn't check personally). He has worked a number of years in Switzerland and he gets a small pension also for that, paid in Switzerland. Then he has some passive income from a rental (small stuff, and I am not even sure if he takes those money or my brother does). He is still working, although being almost housebound due to mobility issues is limiting him quite enough. He is 74. He said he couldn't live on his pension alone, even now that he is a homeowner.

My mother, on the contrary, was a public servant for over 40 years and her pension is about the same as her salary, if not a tad more. She retired with the maximum years of contribution and seniority (age requirement). Speaking with a friend of mine, whose mother was a teacher in high school (State school), she also has a generous pension. To be frank, our mothers' pensions are more than our salaries (of when I was working in Italy and hers is her current salary as an office clerk for a courier company). We are talking about around €2000/month in pension for public servants. My mother can live comfortably on that kind of money and can save a bit. City taxes and real estate taxes have gone up quite a bit, so there are months on which she can't save at all and has to use her savings from past months.

The amount of pensions in Argentina is ridiculously low, especially considering the increase in the cost of living and that there is also a cap to pensions here. The cap for this month ( April 2025) is $1.923.114,11.

At the same time:

Quote

Un hogar tipo conformado por dos adultos económicamente activos y dos hijos menores de edad necesitó al menos $1.713.065,96 en febrero de 2025 para ser considerado de clase media en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (CABA), según datos del Instituto de Estadística y Censos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (IDECBA).

[source: https://www.infobae.com/economia/2025/…e-media-en-caba]

Of course, retired people do not usually have a household consisting of 2 adults and 2 children, but some retirees live alone and rent, so putting a cap on a retirement pension seems absurd, considering there is no cap to contributions, on the other hand!

There are many nice apartments for sale in Palermo and Recoleta, but the building expenses are around 200k pesos per month or more. I don't see it doable for a pensioner, especially if they are renting. On the same note, a friend of mine has a large office in Vicente López, in front of the big Carrefour just across the city limit. It was an investment his family did over a decade ago, to put up fully furnished office space for rent. The monthly building fee is around 350k ARS. It is not a fancy building and quite old (at least 40 years old). They have put it up for sale because they are just losing money every month (the 350k do not include utility bills!).

The mainly Peronist opposition is successfully pushing for a rise in state pensions of 7.2% and a bonus of $110k, both of which have been frozen since March 2024.

The new pension, including the bonus would be about $437k per month, but has to get through the senate to become law. The government says it can't afford it, but frankly, Milei should rethink the fact that pensioners votes are important.