But what happens during that time to the money saved up in the pension fund? Does it simply stay put, go to a bank account, or is it even lost? The answer is reassuring and follows a clear logic.
Anyone leaving an employment relationship without immediately starting a new position also leaves their current pension fund. The accumulated pension fund assets do not disappear, however, but are as a rule transferred as a vested benefits payment to a vested benefits account or a vested benefits policy. There it is parked and remains within the pension cycle until one takes up a job again and brings the money into the new pension fund. It does not move to a private savings account, not to pillar 3a, and not automatically into a partner's pension fund either. The legislator wants to ensure that pension money stays committed to pension provision.
For the world travellers this means: the savings wait safely in a vested benefits foundation until working life continues. This, incidentally, is exactly where solutions such as the PensFree and Independent foundations from PensExpert are at home.