Retiring at 60 with all your quarters validated requires meeting specific criteria related to insurance duration and the start of your career. The legal retirement age remains set at 62 for those born before 1968, meaning that retiring at 60 is still considered an exception.
Understanding the mechanism of quarters, the conditions for a long career, and the new rules for progressive retirement allows for the construction of a realistic plan.
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Validated quarters and contributed quarters: a distinction that changes the game at 60
The number of quarters required for full retirement depends on the year of birth. This number varies by generation and can exceed 160 quarters for younger individuals. Two concepts coexist, and their confusion is common.
Contributed quarters correspond to the periods during which retirement contributions have actually been deducted from a salary or professional income. Validated quarters (or assimilated) also include periods of compensated unemployment, illness, maternity, or military service. For early retirement at 60, it is the contributed quarters that count primarily, not just the validated quarters.
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An employee who has worked continuously since the age of 18 or 20 will naturally have accumulated more contributed quarters than someone whose career has been fragmented. Finding advice on Gagnez Net helps to make a clear diagnosis of one’s individual situation before taking any steps.
Early retirement for long careers: cumulative conditions at 60
The early retirement for long careers scheme is the main lever for retiring before the legal age. It is not a free choice but a right subject to strict and cumulative conditions.
To qualify for retirement at 60, three criteria must be met simultaneously:
- Have started working before the age of 20, with at least 5 contributed quarters before the end of the calendar year of the 20th birthday (4 quarters if the person was born in the last quarter of the year).
- Justify a total number of contributed quarters corresponding to the required insurance duration for their generation, sometimes increased by a few additional quarters depending on the case.
- Not to confuse contributed quarters and validated quarters: only certain assimilated periods (illness, maternity, military service) are taken into account within specific limits.
The Individual Situation Statement (RIS), available on the Retirement Insurance website, allows for precise verification of the number of recorded contributed quarters. Any error on the statement must be reported with supporting documents as soon as possible, as corrections take time.
Progressive retirement from 60: the rules since September 2025
Since September 1, 2025, the age for accessing progressive retirement has been lowered to 60 for all insured individuals, regardless of their year of birth. This scheme allows for receiving a portion of one’s pension while continuing to work part-time.
Three cumulative conditions now apply:
- Be at least 60 years old.
- Justify 150 insurance quarters across all schemes (including quarters for children or acquired in special schemes).
- Engage in exclusive part-time work, between 40% and 80% of full time. For executives on a fixed-day basis, this corresponds to a range of 87 to 174 days per year.
The portion of the pension paid is inversely proportional to the remaining work time. Working at 60% of full time entitles one to 40% of the pension calculated at that date. Quarters continue to be validated during the progressive retirement period, which improves the amount of the final pension at the time of full retirement.
Case of self-employed workers
For self-employed individuals, the portion of the pension depends on the actual decrease in professional income, calculated against the average of the last five years. This decrease must be between 20% and 60%. The amount is revised each year on July 1 based on declared income, which requires careful monitoring of one’s activity.
Buying back quarters and permanent incapacity: two special cases to evaluate
Buying back quarters (or payment for retirement) allows for completing one’s insurance duration by paying retroactive contributions. This mechanism mainly concerns years of higher education or incomplete years where fewer than 4 quarters have been validated.
The cost of buying back depends on the age at the time of the request and the income from activity. The later the buyback occurs, the higher the price. A buyback made after age 55 is significantly more expensive than one made at age 40. Profitability is not guaranteed: it depends on the number of years of pension received after retirement.
Permanent incapacity and retirement at 60
Insured individuals with a permanent incapacity of at least 50% due to a disability may benefit from early retirement as early as age 55 under certain conditions, and without penalties at 60 in some cases. This scheme is distinct from the long career and falls under a different regulatory framework. The application requires specific medical and administrative documentation, with often long processing times.
A work accident or an occupational disease that has resulted in a recognized permanent incapacity also grants the right to early retirement, according to specific scales for each scheme.
Progressive retirement since September 2025 is likely the most accessible lever to initiate retirement at 60 without a sudden break in income. Checking one’s career statement, correcting anomalies, and simulating multiple scenarios remains the most reliable approach to avoid unpleasant surprises on the day of retirement.