If you want to invest for your retirement in the Netherlands with low fees, a tax refund every year and no stock-picking headaches, the Brand New Day pension account (pensioenrekening-beleggen) is one of the most popular options. Here’s exactly how it works, what it costs and what you get back from the tax office — no jargon.
Key facts at a glance
- What it is: a tax-friendly retirement account that invests in low-cost index funds.
- Tax refund: your deposits are deductible — the tax office refunds roughly 37% to 49.5% of what you pay in, depending on your bracket.
- Box 3: the money in this account is not counted for Box 3 wealth tax.
- Costs: €49 one-time to open · 0.44%/year service fee · 0.50% per deposit · ~0.15–0.26% fund costs.
- Safety: Brand New Day is a licensed Dutch bank, supervised by the AFM; your funds are held separately.
- Catch: you can’t withdraw as a lump sum — at retirement it converts into a pension income (annuity).
Investing for your pension is one of the best things you can do with your money: the younger you start, the more years your money has to compound and grow. The Brand New Day pension account works much like a regular investment account for beginners, but with one big difference — it comes with tax benefits. What you deposit is tax deductible, and the Belastingdienst (tax office) refunds part of it when you file your return the following year.
How can you invest in it?
Like the regular investment account, the pension account offers well-diversified equity and bond index funds. You can choose between three ways to invest:
- Model portfolios (modelportefeuilles). You pick one of 5 profiles, from very aggressive to very defensive, and your money is spread across funds holding more than 20,000 stocks and bonds. You can also opt for automatic risk reduction: about 15 years before retirement the profile gradually turns more defensive to protect what you’ve built.
- Green model portfolios (Groene modelportefeuilles). The same idea, but investing only in sustainable stocks and/or bonds, significantly cutting the CO2 footprint of your investments.
- Free investing (Vrij beleggen). You decide which funds to invest in — choosing among 8 equity funds and 6 bond funds.
With model portfolios, the mix of stocks and bonds depends on the profile you choose. Brand New Day can automatically rebalance your portfolio once a year, free of charge. Here’s the stock/bond split for each profile:
| Profile | Stocks | Bonds |
|---|---|---|
| Very aggressive (Zeer offensief) | 100% | 0% |
| Aggressive (Offensief) | 70% | 30% |
| Neutral (Neutraal) | 50% | 50% |
| Defensive (Defensief) | 30% | 70% |
| Very defensive (Zeer defensief) | 10% | 90% |
How does the account work?
There are two ways to invest: deposit manually whenever you want, or set up a scheduled monthly deposit, where Brand New Day takes the money from your bank account and invests it for you within 5 working days. There are no minimum amounts — it’s an easy, automatic way to invest for retirement. Your money goes into different funds depending on the model you chose, and the risk is automatically reduced as your retirement date approaches.
What are the returns?
Below are the average annual returns of each model portfolio since 2010, after service and fund costs. Remember: past performance is no guarantee of future results.
| Model portfolio | Average annual return* |
|---|---|
| Very aggressive (Zeer offensief) | 9.55% |
| Aggressive (Offensief) | 7.38% |
| Neutral (Neutraal) | 5.70% |
| Defensive (Defensief) | 3.98% |
| Very defensive (Zeer defensief) | 2.20% |
What are the costs?
The Brand New Day pension account costs are:
- Opening fee: €49 one-time, deducted from your first deposit (free if you open it through a financial advisor or open a second account).
- Service fee: 0.44% per year on the total balance, calculated daily and charged quarterly.
- Deposit fee: 0.50% on each deposit (deposit €100, pay €0.50). There are no charges for exchanging or selling investments.
- Fund costs: 0.15–0.17% per year for standard model portfolios, 0.25% for the green portfolios, and 0.15–0.26% in free-investing mode, depending on the funds you pick.
- Spread and swing pricing: tiny, barely noticeable adjustments when buying or selling certain funds. This is common to all banks and investment providers.
All in, ongoing costs are roughly 0.6–0.7% per year — low for a fully managed, rebalanced pension portfolio. To open your account or learn more, you can click the banner below (it also helps support the blog and future articles).
What about taxes?
Everything you hold in this account is left out of Box 3 (savings and investments), so you don’t pay wealth tax on it. On top of that, every year the Belastingdienst refunds a good part of what you deposit — roughly between 37% and 49.5%, depending on your income tax bracket.
At retirement age
When you reach retirement age you can’t take the money out all at once. You have to use it to buy a pension income (pensioeninkomen), either with Brand New Day or with another bank or insurer. Transferring the money to the provider of your choice is free when the time comes.
That pension income counts as income and is taxed accordingly, at the bracket that matches your total pension income. Within limits, you decide when you start drawing it.
What if I move out of the Netherlands?
If you move to another country in the European Economic Area, there’s no problem: the money you use to buy your pension income moves with you to your new country.
If you move outside the EEA it becomes very hard to access the money. You’d either need a provider willing to take over the pension income, or you cash out the whole account at once — which the tax office punishes: it reclaims the tax benefit through a 20% revision levy (revisieheffing) and taxes the full amount as income (up to 49.5%). In practice that eats up most of the account, so it’s strongly discouraged. If you don’t want to be tied to these rules, a regular investment account for beginners may fit you better.
How much can I put in? (Jaarruimte and Reserveringsruimte)
There’s a maximum amount you can deposit each year that is tax deductible. It’s called the jaarruimte (annual margin), and it depends on your income and the pension you already build up through your employer. You can calculate yours with the Belastingdienst’s official tool.
If you haven’t used your full jaarruimte in past years, you can still use it: this is the reserveringsruimte (reserve margin), which adds up the unused annual margins of the 10 years before the year you want to deduct. For example, for 2026 the reserve margin can include unused annual margins going all the way back to 2016 — a handy way to fill a possible “pension gap”.
What are the risks?
Whenever you invest, there’s a chance of losing part of what you put in — risk is always part of investing. But investing for the long term (many years) reduces that risk, and a pension is the ultimate long-term goal. If you start at 30, your money has more than 30 years to grow. The longer it stays invested, the lower the chance of ending up with a loss.
(Chart source: Brand New Day.)
Who is Brand New Day?
Brand New Day is a Dutch company offering savings, pension, children’s and regular investment accounts. It’s authorised as a bank and financial services provider, and supervised by the AFM (Autoriteit Financiële Markten). The money you invest in the funds is held separately from Brand New Day, so even in the unlikely event the company went under, your invested money is safe. Any cash that isn’t invested is protected up to €100,000 under the deposit guarantee scheme.
Which funds can you choose?
Brand New Day uses low-cost index funds: 8 that invest in equities (worldwide, Europe, North America, Pacific, emerging markets, small caps and a sustainable world fund) and 6 that invest in bonds (mostly euro government and investment-grade corporate bonds, including inflation-linked and short/long maturities). In the model portfolios these are combined for you automatically; in free-investing mode you build your own mix. You can see the full, up-to-date list of funds, prices and factsheets on Brand New Day’s funds page.
This post is part of our pensions series. If you’re just getting started, it helps to first read The Dutch pension system and Pension accounts in the Netherlands.
Just a quick heads-up:
I’m sharing this info to help you navigate your finances, but keep in mind that I’m just a blogger, not your personal financial advisor. Everyone’s situation is different, so make sure to do your own research to see what fits your life.
Investing always involves risk. You can lose money (even part of your initial investment), and past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. Also, remember that while cash savings are usually protected up to the legal limit, that safety net doesn’t apply to the value of investments—those go up and down.
This post contains affiliate links. If you open an account through them, I may get a small commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it helps support the blog! (the hosting does not pay for itself :-p) Any data or stats mentioned are historical and accurate as of the date published, but things change. Lastly, the comments section is for chatting and sharing experiences, not professional advice.
