Retiring early in the Netherlands: the two routes, and which one is open to you

Stopping work early can happen two ways. Through your job and pension scheme, or through your own wealth.

The first route gets most of the attention and narrowed sharply on 1 January 2026. The second gets barely any attention, is open to everyone, and is the only one that reaches beyond three years.

This article sets both side by side, with the figures attached.

Two routes, and they aren't mutually exclusive

Route 1: through your work. Your employer, your collective agreement or your pension fund makes it possible. Think early-exit payments, drawing your pension ahead of schedule, partial pension, or accumulated leave. Almost all of it takes place in the final years before state pension age.

Route 2: through your own wealth. You've saved and invested enough to bridge the years to your state pension yourself. No permission needed, no collective agreement, no job requirement. But a considerable sum.

Anyone wanting to stop more than three years before state pension age is on route 2 by definition. The route 1 schemes don't reach further.

Route 1: through your work and pension

The early-exit scheme, and what changed in 2026

The Dutch early-exit arrangement (RVU) allows your employer to pay you an allowance to stop early without incurring a penalty charge.

This changed in two ways on 1 January 2026, and the difference is significant.

It became permanent. The temporary scheme ran from 2021 to 2025 and was due to expire. Instead it was made structural, with a first review point in 2028.

It narrowed to heavy work. Where the temporary version was broadly accessible in practice, the structural version is reserved for employees who demonstrably cannot work healthily until state pension age. What counts as heavy work is determined per sector by collective bargaining parties, and that definition is validated by a national expertise centre.

The main conditions:

• You stop at most 36 months before state pension age. Shorter is allowed.
• The payment stays below the threshold: €2,357 gross a month in 2026. That amount is net roughly equal to a net state pension for a single person, and is adjusted annually.
• For those on a low income or with little supplementary pension, a further €300 gross a month may be added, but only if explicitly agreed in the collective or company arrangement. It isn't automatic.

If your employer exceeds the threshold or you stop more than three years early, they pay a charge of 57.7% on that portion in 2026, rising to 65% from 2028. That's their problem, but it explains why employers rarely exceed the threshold.

Practically: check your collective agreement or ask HR. If you don't fall under your sector's heavy-work definition, this route is probably closed.

Drawing your pension early

Under virtually every pension scheme you can start your pension before the standard date. You then receive a permanently lower payment, because the same amount is spread over more years.

How much lower varies by scheme, but it's a substantial percentage per year of early drawdown. Your pension provider calculates it exactly for you, and that's the only reliable source: rules of thumb vary too widely.

Two things to know. The earliest start date under most schemes isn't far ahead of state pension age, so for anyone wanting to stop at fifty this isn't a solution. And the reduction is permanent.

Partial pension

You retire partially and keep working partially. You might draw 40% of your pension and work three days.

This is route 1's most underrated option. The transition is gradual, you keep accruing on the part you work, and your payment is reduced less than under full early drawdown.

Saving leave and generational schemes

For some years now you've been able to accumulate considerably more leave than before: up to a hundred weeks. Anyone doing that for years can bridge the final period before their pension without changing anything about their accrual.

Some sectors also operate generational arrangements: working less at a higher percentage of salary, with full pension accrual. Terms vary considerably by collective agreement.

What the early-exit scheme is worth in money

To compare route 1 with route 2, you have to convert the scheme into capital.

At €2,357 gross a month that's €28,284 a year, net roughly equal to a net state pension. Receiving such a payment for three years is worth, in wealth terms, roughly €69,000 at the moment you stop. With the additional €300 for hardship cases, roughly €78,000.

That's real money. But set it against what stopping at fifty requires, a bridge amount of €486,627 at €40,000 of spending, and the proportion becomes clear. The scheme covers roughly a ninth of what retiring at fifty costs.

Route 1 therefore carries you across the final three years. Everything before that comes from route 2.

Route 2: through your own wealth

This route works differently. You need no scheme and no permission, but you do need wealth that can carry the years to your state pension.

The calculation is set out fully in the article on your FIRE number. In brief: you need an amount for the bridge to your state pension date, plus a smaller amount for the gap remaining once state and occupational pensions begin.

What distinguishes this route: no age limit and no job requirement. Anyone wanting to stop at fifty can: if the wealth is there.

What each year earlier costs you

What you need at your stop date, at €40,000 of annual spending and state pension at 67:

Per five-year block, averaged annually:

The first year you buy is the most expensive, and each subsequent one is cheaper. That's because the amounts are measured at different moments: what you need at fifty, you only need at fifty, which gives your wealth fifteen more years to grow.

Note the trap in this table. It only says what you must have at your stop date. It says nothing about whether you'll get there in time, and that's the question that actually matters. Working five years longer lowers your target and gives you five more years to save. That double effect makes working longer more powerful than this table suggests.

Which route suits you?

Four questions, in this order.

How many years earlier do you want to stop? More than three years before state pension age: route 2, full stop. Fewer than three: both are possible.

Do you fall under your sector's heavy-work definition? If so, the early-exit scheme is a genuine option worth tens of thousands. If not, it drops away and you're left with early drawdown and partial pension.

Have you accumulated leave? A hundred weeks is nearly two years. Start early and you build route 1 yourself.

What's your wealth now? That determines whether route 2 is open, and how far.

Combining the two routes

For most people the answer lies in the middle, and that's also the cheapest outcome.

Say you want to stop at sixty with a state pension age of 67. That's seven years. Qualify for the early-exit scheme and it covers the final three. The four years before that you bridge yourself, and bridging four years is a fundamentally different amount from seven.

Same principle with saved leave and partial pension. Every year you extract from route 1 is a year you don't have to fund from your own wealth. And since each year earlier demands between €13,000 and €25,000 of wealth, that adds up quickly.

What people most often misjudge

They assume a scheme exists for simply wanting to stop earlier. It no longer does. Since 2026 the early-exit route targets heavy work, and the other route 1 options either reduce your payment or require years of preparation.

They understate their spending. Your required wealth is a multiple of your annual spending. Be 20% out and your target is more than a hundred thousand euros out.

They forget their spending changes. Stopping work often removes several thousand a year: commuting, clothing, convenience food. And if your mortgage is repaid by then, that removes more again.

They add their pension to their wealth. That isn't wealth you can draw on but a future income stream. It lowers what you need after your state pension date but doesn't help through the years before it. That distinction is worked through in the article on the three pension pillars.

How Gylder fits in

Both routes hang on the same unknown figure: what do you actually have, spread across everything.

Gylder brings that together into one continuously updated amount: bank, broker, crypto, precious metals, your property with the mortgage underneath. That figure is the starting point of every calculation on this page.

It also categorises your spending automatically, so your annual figure rests on measurement rather than estimation. And the bridge calculator works out your target and stop date, after which your progress is measured against it.

What can't go in: your accrued occupational pension and state pension. They don't belong in your wealth anyway, but in the calculation as future income streams.

What this doesn't tell you

Schemes differ by sector and by fund. Everything under route 1 depends on your sector, your employer and your pension scheme. The above is the general picture; the details are in your collective agreement and with your provider.

The amounts change annually. The threshold is adjusted each year, and the charge above it rises until 2028. Check current figures before deciding anything.

The scheme itself may change. A review point is scheduled for 2028 at which government and social partners assess whether the arrangement is developing as intended. That can lead to adjustment.

This isn't advice. What's sensible in your situation depends on your scheme, your income and your health. For a decision about early retirement, your own provider's calculations are what count.

Frequently asked questions

Can I simply stop working early? If you can fund it yourself, yes: no scheme required. To arrange it through your employer or pension fund, conditions apply, and since 2026 the main scheme is limited to heavy work.

How many years early can I stop under the scheme? At most three years before state pension age, and only if you fall under your sector's heavy-work definition.

What does stopping three years early cost? It depends on your spending and your age. Around sixty-five each year earlier costs roughly €25,000 of wealth; around fifty, roughly €16,000 a year.

Is partial pension smarter than full early drawdown? Often yes. You keep accruing on the part you work, and the reduction to your payment is smaller.

Does my home equity count? Only if you intend to sell or release it. But a repaid mortgage lowers your monthly costs, and that genuinely lowers the wealth you need.