How to check your Afore balance and what it may pay

Your Afore holds your retirement account

The Afore invests your savings through investment funds called Siefores, matched to your age. As the CONDUSEF guide explains, the younger you are, the more varied the investments, and they become more conservative as retirement approaches. The Afore charges a commission for managing the account. Your housing subaccount is run by Infonavit or Fovissste; the Afore only reports its balance.

How do you find out which Afore you are in?

If you have worked formally, you probably have an Afore even if you never chose one. To find it, use the option to locate your Afore on AforeWeb, the official retirement-savings portal, with your CURP or, if you contribute to the IMSS, your social security number (NSS).

You can also call SARTEL, the system’s free phone line, at 55 1328 5000, or use the AforeMóvil app, which AforeWeb links to. Write down the name of your Afore, because every later step starts there.

Three ways to check your balance

The quickest is the AforeMóvil app, where you register with your CURP and verify your identity, then see your balance and request statements. Your own Afore’s website or app shows the same figures once you register with it.

The third is your account statement. According to the CONDUSEF guide, your Afore must send it at least three times a year, each covering a four-month period. If it does not arrive, your Afore probably has an old address or email on file; contact it to update your details.

What to check on your statement

Start with the total: how much you have in your individual account on the cut-off date, which adds your retirement savings, voluntary savings, and housing balance. Then check your personal data. Your name, CURP, RFC, and NSS must be correct, because a small error can become a problem when you want to withdraw your money or claim benefits.

The general summary shows, for each subaccount, the previous balance, contributions, withdrawals, returns, commissions, and the final balance. The reference data show the salary on which your employer contributed. Check that it matches your real salary: your contributions depend on it, and over the years so does your pension.

Finally, look at returns net of commissions. CONDUSEF suggests comparing Afores by that figure and notes that you can change Afore, generally once a year. Past returns do not guarantee future ones, but a large gap held over many years makes a real difference.

How much will you have when you retire?

What you will have depends on your current balance, the contributions you and your employer keep making, the years left, and returns after commissions and inflation. If you started contributing to the IMSS before July 1, 1997, the rules let you choose between two pension regimes, so ask your Afore which one applies to you.

The difference matters. As the CONDUSEF guide puts it, under the older Ley 73 regime the IMSS pays your pension and you receive part of the money in your Afore; under the 1997 rules, your pension depends mainly on what your account has accumulated. That is why your balance, and the salary on which you contribute, deserve attention.

To see the effect of each factor, enter your balance and monthly contributions in Lex’s free retirement calculator. It shows the balance at your retirement age in today’s money and lets you change the return, inflation, and fees. Even small voluntary contributions can change the result noticeably.

Three habits that keep your account in order

Open every statement when it arrives, or check the app after each four-month period, and compare the contributions with the months you worked. Missing contributions are easier to fix soon than years later.

Keep your contact details up to date with your Afore, and register your beneficiaries if you have not. Be wary of anyone who calls offering to unlock, transfer, or withdraw your Afore for a fee: the official channels are your Afore, AforeWeb, and SARTEL, and you do not need an intermediary to use them.

Lex’s calculator, and what Lex is not

Lex is not an Afore and does not replace one. Your Afore is part of Mexico’s social security system, and voluntary contributions to it can have tax benefits that savings elsewhere do not. Lex offers a free calculator to help you estimate, and an account where you can keep savings in digital dollars, separate from your Afore.

If you save in Lex, your US Dollar balance is USDC in a self-custodial account. It is not a bank deposit, it pays no interest, and no deposit insurance covers it. Use it for goals you want in dollars, not as a substitute for your retirement account.

An example: checking a statement at 34

Illustrative example. Lucía, 34, has worked in Puebla for eleven years and had never looked at her Afore. She finds it on AforeWeb with her CURP, installs AforeMóvil, and downloads her latest statement.

Her personal data are correct, but the salary reported by her current employer is lower than what she earns. She raises it with the company’s payroll team, because contributions calculated on a lower salary reduce her savings every month. She also sees that her Afore’s net return is below others for her age group and makes a note to compare before deciding whether to switch.

Then she enters her balance in the retirement calculator twice: first with no return, then with a modest one. The gap between the two results, and between both and the income she wants, tells her whether to start voluntary contributions now.