Postdocs funded by the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) will soon have a better way to save for retirement.

The organization this month announced the creation of an internationally portable pension plan for the 400 or so recipients of EMBO postdoc fellowships.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

In most European countries, scientists can pay part of their salaries into a country-run pension program. However, for Jan Taplick, who started his scientific training in Germany but traveled to Vienna for his PhD and Israel for his postdoc, the inability to transfer retirement savings from one government plan to another made saving impractical. By the time they settle into permanent employment in one country, scientists may be "35 or 40 [years old] before they start paying into a state system," which is a late start for retirement savings, said Taplick.

Taplick, now the EMBO fellowships program manager, and others decided to try to offer EMBO fellows a retirement option that they could easily transfer across borders. Under the plan, which starts January 2010, fellows will receive a match from EMBO of up to 100 Euros for the funds they contribute. The plan is currently set up with a conservative portfolio of investments, including a guaranteed interest of 2.7% plus additional interest based on market values. (The current combined rate is 5%. But that may increase as the economy improves, said Taplick.)

In the US, retirement options can vary widely for postdocs, and often depend on whether or not the postdoc is classified as an "employee" of their home institution, said Cathee Johnson Phillips, executive director of the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA). Without that classification, they are not eligible for employer-provided matches to their retirement contributions. NPA does offer its members an annuity through MetLife, a major financial services provider, but the organization does not match funds.

The EMBO pension program will be reviewed in three years, but barring a lack of interest from postdocs, Taplick expects it will become standard practice. So far, the signs are good -- "94% of the current fellows surveyed said they would be interested" in taking part, said Taplick.


Related stories:

Best Places to Work : Postdocs 2009
[March 2009]

NIH stimulus grants for postdocs
[27th March 2009]

Dutch postdocs treated like royalty
[15th June 2007]