Pension investing means building a pension by investing in equities, bonds and investment funds, rather than only saving. The aim is extra capital alongside your AOW and any collective scheme.

Over the long term investing generally yields more than saving, but there is risk too: the value can fall. Because your horizon is long, there is time to absorb fluctuations. Read what pension investing is or see pension investing at Vive.

You contribute to a lijfrente account and that money is invested until your retirement date. In return there are three tax advantages:

• Your contribution is deductible from your taxable income, within your jaarruimte and reserveringsruimte.
• The capital built up does not fall into box 3 during the accrual phase.
• You only pay income tax once the benefit starts, often at a lower rate.

The trade-off: the money is fiscally locked until your retirement date. Calculate your room with the jaarruimte calculator or read how pension investing works.

Four advantages over ordinary saving or investing:

• Deduction. Your contribution is deductible from your taxable income within your jaarruimte and reserveringsruimte.
• No box 3. During the accrual phase your pension capital does not count towards wealth tax.
• Deferred taxation. You only pay tax once the benefit starts, often at a lower rate.
• Return. Over a long horizon, investing generally offers more growth potential than saving.

Against that, your money is locked until your retirement date and the value can fall. Also read the drawbacks of pension investing.

There are three kinds of risk to take into account:

• Market risk. The value of your investments can fall. You can lose part or all of your contribution and there is no guaranteed outcome.
• Lock-in risk. Your money is fiscally locked until your retirement date. Withdrawing earlier costs you the deduction plus 20% revisierente.
• Fiscal risk. Rules and rates can change; you build up under today's rules.

Vive matches investment risk to your situation and reduces it towards your retirement date, but that does not remove risk. Read the drawbacks of pension investing and the investment policy.

The investments can be similar; the difference is in tax treatment and access.

With pension investing your contribution is deductible within your jaarruimte and your capital sits outside box 3 during accrual. In return the money is locked until your retirement date. With regular investing you can always access it, but you miss the tax advantage and your capital counts in box 3. See pension investing and goal-based investing.

Your strategy is built around you, not picked from a list of model portfolios. We look at your age, your financial situation, your horizon, your goal and your sustainability preferences. Our model determines the investment mix from there.

If something changes in your life or your goal, the strategy adjusts automatically, and towards your retirement date we reduce risk step by step. Read more about the financial model or the article personalisation, for real this time.

Your total costs are Vive's management fee plus the fund costs of the underlying funds, and on the pension plans the monthly subscription and one-off start-up costs as well.

What is not added: transaction costs, deposit fees, withdrawal fees or performance fees. To work out your effective cost percentage, add the management fee and the fund costs together. All current percentages are on the pricing page.

Yes. Vive Invest B.V. holds its own licence from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) for wealth management, receiving and transmitting orders, and custody, and is supervised by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).

Among other things this means your capital is legally segregated from Vive's. Read our investment policy here, and find our registration in the AFM register.